Based on the description, I thought this would be a definite like for me. I just can't get into it. Something about the writing style is not for me, but I see why lots of readers are interested in this one.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern was something! I honestly felt confused a fair bit, but overall, I did end up enjoying most of the book. Based on the author alone, I know there will be a waitlist of people wanting to read it at my library, so we will be purchasing several copies. Thank you for letting me read it early.

I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is amazing. Like its namesake, The Starless Sea is full of stories and magic. It is a wonderful interweaving of at least five or six narratives, and I can't wait to read it again and find more ways everything connects together. Highly, highly recommended.

Morgenstern's latest epic is a wonder for fantasy readers! Our libraries will be purchasing copies and book-talking them to our fantasy lovers and our bibliophiles. Stories about stories is a unique setting - those readers not intimidated by the length of the book and the amount of time to develop the plot will be rewarded for their patience.

This title will be popular because of the author's previous work so the library will purchase it. There is no plot to this title and I think this will put off a lot of readers.

Since reading this, Erin Morgenstern has become a new favorite author. Yep this book was that good. I spent an entire weekend reading it and I couldn't stop! The adventure takes a hold of you in such a beautiful way. The characters become your family, just like they become a family to each other. Morgenstern manages to make a perfect ending that leaves all the characters with what they do and don't deserve. This story is well-plotted, unique and unlike any other book out there.

The concept of an underground library world that has existed for centuries is AMAZING. Morgenstern comes up with many original ideas and plot lines in this book. I can't even compare it to another story! The pure uniqueness of it is what makes it stunning. I could never have guessed how the book ended. No spoilers, but what happens to the heart Dorian obtains is such an ingenious ending!

Just a warning for hesitant readers: the beginning is off to a slow start. It took me fifty or so pages to get into the story. There's so much plot and mythology to build up to so it takes awhile for the puzzle pieces to connect. However, the slow build up is worth it! No one will regret befriending Zachary, Dorian, Simon, Eleanor, Mirabel, Katrina, the Keeper and even the random cats that appear in the book. All of these lovable characters now have a special place in my heart. I love the gorgeous relationships, both romantic and platonic. The only critiques I have is that I wanted more scenes with Zachary's amazing mother and I wished the cats played a more important role in the story. This is a definite must-read for all fantasy fans and classic book lovers.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

The Starless Sea was a book of stories, love, bees, swords and keys. It was also so beautiful that when it ended I actually shed a tear or two. I don’t think it is for everyone but for the lucky ones, it is pure magic.

I will admit, it took me a few chapters to get into the book and it was confusing at first. But once you give yourself up to this magical story and the beautiful writing, it is well worth the amazing ride you experience. When the book ended, I wanted to start reading it from the beginning again!

Wow, this book! It is very hard for me to wrap up my thoughts and feelings about it in this review, but I will try.

This book is just brilliant in its writing and storyline. The writing is just exquisite and beautiful. The descriptions are otherworldly and I found myself rereading many passages just to hear them in my head again. The characters are very well done as well, with many of them being very memorable.

The structure of the book is a little hard to get into. It starts off with some chapters that are almost like short stories and don’t appear to connect in any way. These short vignettes continue throughout the book, but are interspersed with longer chapters told from mostly Zachary’s point of view, but some other characters as well. You can’t tell right away how all of these various little stories will come into play in the big overall plot, but by the end you are amazed at how the stories were all woven together into the most marvelous book I have read this year.

I liked Zachary from the start. He is a quiet and shy young man, who wants to just hang out in his room and read everything. But once he reads that one book with his story in it, he can’t let it go and that is what sets him off on the adventure of a life time. He doesn’t quite know what to make of the whole situation he finds himself in, but he doesn’t let anything stop him once he gets going.

Dorian was a bit harder to warm up too. He starts off as a bit of a villain, but eventually you come to see that he is just a victim of his own story. I ended up liking him and seeing how he felt about Zachary and the hidden world they find themselves helped with that. But the end of the book I was rooting for that happy ending for the two of them.

Mirabel was a fun character. She was feisty and always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else. She was always getting Zachary out of trouble and was sort of his guide through most of the book.

The setting of the library was amazingly well done. I often felt like this place really exists. I loved that there were cats that seemed to live there and the way things just seem to appear when Zachary or any character needs them makes it almost seem like a sentient being. The pacing wasn’t exactly fast, but it never felt slow. The story was always exciting enough to keep you reading into the night.

My only negative comment was maybe the ending. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, it was just a bit open ended and didn’t really feel like the story was over. But that could just be me, and I might change my mind when I read it again, and this is a book I will definitely reread, perhaps more than once.

This book is a must read if you liked the Night Circus or even if you didn’t. If you like books about stories with in stories then you must pick this one up.

Like everyone else who read The Night Circus, I've been eagerly anticipating whatever Erin Morgenstern came up with next. And The Starless Sea did not disappoint. The whimsy and magic of The Night Circus are certainly present in The Starless Sea, but the story unfolds in such a beautiful way that it can't really be compared to the previous novel. Morgenstern's writing is stunning, and the way she weaves stories within the story is captivating. This one moves slower than The Night Circus, at least it did for me, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy every minute I spent with it. This is the sort of book you take your time with, and the payoff is worth it. Highly recommend for anyone who loved The Night Circus, for fans of other magical prose (Neil Gaiman is the most apt comparison for me), or anyone who just loves stories about stories.

Being a librarian I couldn't help but love the idea of the Archives and the Collector's Club and the Starless Sea. However, the story wandered too much for my liking.

This is a Möbius strip of a novel, with a graduate student, an underground library, and layers upon layers of twisty stories to sort through. It’s magical and fantastical and oh so worth the delightful ride it takes you on.

I absolutely love Erin Morgenstern’s writing. Even when she had only published one book I knew she would be one of my favorite writers. This book proved me right! It is one of my top favorite books, if not my absolute favorite!! It’s so difficult to describe because it is about so much more than the synopsis. I found this book hypnotizing and once I really started it, impossible to stop thinking about and reading.

I have been waiting for another book by Erin Morgenstern as soon as I closed the cover of *The Night Circus*. I was nervous, however, for her second novel in case it didn't live up to the beloved first. Readers, you should know that this book is phenomenal! It doesn't read like a page turner. That atmosphere and the characters are so complex, I found myself savoring each word and sentence and scene. I made notes and thought about what I read and discussed it with a reading buddy. It made the experience even richer and complete.

I loved it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and especially the staff at Doubleday for the ARC of this book!

My librarian heart fell in love with this book. "The Starless Sea" is a sparklingly beautiful puzzle of a story wrapped up in magic. Every twist and turn through the underground world in which the story is set feels both ethereally dream-like and tangibly real. Zachary Ezra Rawlins stumbles into the fulfillment of his own destiny when he finds an old volume in the library that contains, unbelievably, the story of his own vivid childhood encounter with a mural of a door, that seemed to him like magic. The journey that ensues is aesthetically and emotionally beautiful, full of both love and loss and characters with whom you have no choice but to empathize with. Fans of magical realism, literature-within-literature, and Morgenstern's last incredible novel, "The Night Circus," will adore "The Starless Sea."

Wow. So beautiful. I love the lyrical beauty of Erin Morgenstern's writing. I love this love story of stories. I really cant wait to read again. If you love books, stories, and storytelling, this book will sweep you away.

As a lover of the Night Circus, this sophomore effort from Morgenstern was a long- anticipated pleasure. The dreamy style and lush descriptions are just as I remember them from her first book. This narrative also focuses on true love and the winding path it can take for various couples. While magic still features heavily in this book, the central theme is about the ways stories change their readers and their creators, and the near-immortality a tale well told can achieve. This book was worth the wait. I will be recommending it to people who enjoyed Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore and other books about books.

As a young boy, Zachary Ezra Rawlins missed an opportunity to open the door to a hidden world. Years later, as a gay graduate student studying video gaming, he discovers a book with his own story--a book that suggests he may have another chance at that world. Determined not to miss what may be his last try, he gets sucked into a world of literary intrigue and battles over a hidden underground world. Once again, Morgenstern's luminescent prose creates a world full of romance and mystery, slowly unveiled through folktales and unusual characters. Although there's a strong romantic component--two souls destined to find one another, only to lose each other again and again, the heart of Morgenstern's narrative is a compelling tribute to the power of story. Fans of The Night Circus won't want to miss her sophomore novel.

From the author of "The NIght Circus" comes a love letter to books and stories. Zachary Ezra Rawlins lives a life of solace, reading books and doing his graduate work. Until he checks out a peculiar book from the library, a book that happens to describe an incident from Zachary's childhood. What starts out as a library book, begins a journey about pirates, lover, and a starless sea.

I love Morgenstern's writing in Circus and although I loved the concept of this book, sometimes I felt like her writing got away from her. Some parts were too gaudy to the point that I wanted to skip over them. However, I appreciated the story and her obvious love for stories and books.

A bookish and surreal love story set in an underground magical world filled with secrets and intrigues. Also, there are cats! Recommended for fans of The Shadow of the Wind or A Discovery of Witches.

I hardly know what to say about this book. I loved The Night Circus but I am never sure whether to recommend it because it is so peculiar and particular. This book is both better and worse! An amazing story, so hard to understand how someone can write such a story. But also even more peculiar and particular. Enjoy it if you can!