The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern is a book written for true readers. I’m talking about the kind of person who spent their childhood in and out of libraries and bookshops; the kind of person who sits and imagines adventure and an escape from the mundaneness of every single endless day without magic; the kind of person who lives for books and reading.

This book tells the story of Zachary Ezra Rawlins who is an ordinary book nerd, studying something related to videogames for his thesis. One day, he stumbles upon a peculiar book, and as he reads on, he realizes that the story is about him. Soon he finds himself going on a journey to find out what is the case with this mysterious discovery and is determined to visit the Starless Sea, the place that his own story seems to lead him to.

This is definitely a tough one to review. To preface, I have admired Erin Morgenstern’s storytelling and the mystical lyricism of her writing since I read her first book The Night Circus, which did not fail to impress me once again. I do, however, have to admit that I did not fall in love with this book like I did, almost immediately, with her debut. Although the method of delivery is quite similar (jumping settings and stories every chapter, shifting points of view, and subtle changes in style between parts), The Starless Sea is much harder to follow and the pacing is ten times slower.

This is probably why I came extremely close to DNF’ing this book. The Starless Sea starts out very strong. It hooks you in through stories of pirates and girls in forests, of key holders and sword sellers, Fate, Time, the Moon, and some dude named Zach. The stories were intoxicating, like I was floating around in some hypnotic, dream-like daze, breathing in all of these beautiful short stories. They were beautifully written, imaginative little pieces of art, all squished together and delicately held in place. ““Everyone wants the stars. Everyone wishes to grasp that which exists out of reach. To hold the extraordinary in their hands and keep the remarkable in their pockets.” But somewhere in my wondrous haze, the magic started to slowly melt away. The fun and games just kind of disappeared all of a sudden, and it ultimately became more of a chore to finish rather than a magic carpet ride, or a trip to a Wonderland. The writing remained strong, but it felt like the plot was going nowhere, if you can even identify an overarching plot in this story, and there was nothing really moving the story forward. The only thing that really kept me going was the promise of what I knew was going to be a fantastic ending (and spite because I’d already read over 60% of the book at this point.) However, I am extremely glad I forced myself to finish this book, because the end was well worth the amount of patience required to get there.

This is not a book you’re going to consume super quickly. It’s immersive, and requires enough patience to allow yourself to savor the words, to envision the scenes, and to step into the world she has meticulously crafted. It is, inarguably, a phenomenal story. However, it will not be for everyone. The plot is intricate and confusing, and descriptions can be so heavy that I found myself skipping paragraphs. I think it definitely could have been much shorter, and it was a bit redundant at parts, but overall it was a magical read and I’m glad I was finally able to take the time to sit and enjoy it!