The Starless Sea: A Novel
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world—a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood.
Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction.
Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.
Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks. As he turns the pages, entranced by tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, he reads something strange: a story from his own childhood.
Bewildered by this inexplicable book and desperate to make sense of how his own life came to be recorded, Zachary uncovers a series of clues—a bee, a key, and a sword—that lead him to a masquerade party in New York, to a secret club, and through a doorway to an ancient library hidden far below the surface of the earth. What Zachary finds in this curious place is more than just a buried home for books and their guardians—it is a place of lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also of those who are intent on its destruction.
Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose—in both the mysterious book and in his own life.
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Community Reviews
I so wanted to love this book. I LOVE The Night Circus but this book was overly complicated and overly philosophical. I was so excited to see all the loose ends get tired back together again but for me they just didn't. It made me feel like I want trying hard enough or wasn't smart enough to enjoy the book. I really liked some of the characters but the story lines got lost in the mist and the mystery. Beautifully written but not my fave.
If you aren’t paying attention you’ll miss things, this book too me longer to read than most books around the same length but I truly didn’t want the mystery to end I reread some of the stories in them cause they were beautiful each of them could’ve had their own book
This has been a roller coaster of confusion. I was lost and entregued the entire time, along with Zachary. The writing is stunning and I was unsure of where i was going.
I still don't fully grasp what i read and what it meant but i loved every minute of it.
I thought I would truly love this book- I adored how magical The Night Circus was so I was really excited to read this. However, although I liked it, it was difficult to get through due to the story becoming remarkably convoluted. The character relationships seemed superficial and unmoored and they were supposed to be the heart of the story. I had to keep flipping back to various points in order to try to figure out what was going on, and to try to keep the characters straight. It did not feel as though I was along for a fun adventure, it felt like the author was deliberately holding back major plot lines in order to be artsy or something.
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