Far beneath the surface of the earth, upon the shores of the Starless Sea, there is a labyrinthine collection of tunnels and rooms filled with stories. The entryways that lead to this sanctuary are often hidden, sometimes on forest floors, sometimes in private homes, sometimes in plain sight. But those who seek will find. Their doors have been waiting for them.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is searching for his door, though he does not know it. He follows a silent siren song, an inexplicable knowledge that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library he begins to read, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities, and nameless acolytes. Suddenly a turn of the page brings Zachary to a story from his own childhood impossibly written in this book that is older than he is.
A bee, a key, and a sword emblazoned on the book lead Zachary to two people who will change the course of his life: Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired painter, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances. These strangers guide Zachary through masquerade party dances and whispered back room stories to the headquarters of a secret society where doorknobs hang from ribbons, and finally through a door conjured from paint to the place he has always yearned for. Amid twisting tunnels filled with books, gilded ballrooms, and wine-dark shores Zachary falls into an intoxicating world soaked in romance and mystery. But a battle is raging over the fate of this place and though there are those who would willingly sacrifice everything to protect it, there are just as many intent on its destruction. As Zachary, Mirabel, and Dorian venture deeper into the space and its histories and myths, searching for answers and each other, a timeless love story unspools, casting a spell of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a Starless Sea.
I found this book to be intriguing at times and frustrating at others. When the book started out I was lost when it started talking about a pirate and a girl and then jumped to another story. When it came to Zachary and his story it was easy to follow for the most part and I found that I wanted to see him follow through with the mystery and see what happens, but from there it just became more confusing.
I found a review on goodreads.com that helped describe the book.
This is a review I did not want to write because this is a book I so desperately wanted to love.
The Starless Sea 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.
As such it is totally enchanting to begin with it. It hooks you in and will promise you storytelling delights, but these promises are false and lead to absolutely nothing but disappointment because the story will lose itself and collapse inward: it will fail in a spectacularly miserable fashion. And it is tragic because this book has been an exceptionally long time in the making. It needed a better editor to polish this lump of rock into the diamond it ought to have been.
So, do I think The Starless Sea could have been a good book?
Absolutely. What it needed was time, refinement, and a great deal of editing. The prose is written superbly; however, the structure of the book is a complete narrative mess that goes nowhere and becomes terribly confusing as it collapses on itself and forgets the very purpose of storytelling: to tell a story, not simply beguile with pretty words and cool fantasy elements. There needs to be a purpose.
I make no reservation in claiming that this book could have been as effective as Gaiman’s masterpiece The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It seriously had that much potential, but it was wasted. And I'm angry, bitter and frustrated because I do not want to write these words. I want to celebrate what this book could have been, not lament what it was not.
I suppose two stars will have to do for this brilliantly enchanting book that wasted everything it had and failed to deliver what it promised."
