The Starless Sea

Last updated
The Starless Sea
The Starless Sea.jpg
First edition (UK)
Author Erin Morgenstern
LanguageEnglish
Genre Speculative fiction
Metafiction
Publisher Doubleday (US)
Harvill Secker (UK)
Publication date
November 5, 2019
Publication placeUnited States
ISBN 978-0-385-54121-3

The Starless Sea is a 2019 speculative fiction novel by Erin Morgenstern. It is her second book, following the best-selling The Night Circus , which was published in 2011. The novel reached number three on The New York Times Best Seller list, and was also a Los Angeles Times and Sunday Times bestseller. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Summary

The Starless Sea is told through a non-linear structure built around a number of overlapping embedded narratives; Each of the six books of the novel (apart from book IV) intersperses the linear primary narrative with excerpts from an in-universe text that the characters read through and analyze in step with the reader.

The frame narrative follows Zachary Ezra Rawlins, a graduate student who comes across a mysterious book titled Sweet Sorrows in his university library. Sweet Sorrows appears to be a fantastical short fiction collection, describing a book-filled labyrinth called the Harbor on the shores of an underground Starless Sea, but Zachary instead discovers one of the stories to be a perfect description of a experience he had as a child, when he discovered a door painted onto a wall. Zachary had considered attempting to open it, but dismissed the door as graffiti and returned the next day to find it painted over. Zachary traces evidence of the Starless Sea to an exclusive literary costume party in New York. He meets a storyteller named Dorian, who recounts a story of the embodiment of Fate being torn apart by a parliament of owls after she falls in love with Time.

Dorian warns Zachary that an organization called the Collector's Club is targeting him to retrieve Sweet Sorrows, confirming the Sea's existence. Dorian recruits Zachary to steal a fairy tale collection titled Fortunes and Fables from the Club, however Zachary's ruse is discovered on his way back to Dorian. Dorian explains that Mirabel, another party-goer, is responsible for painting functional doorways leading to the Harbor as he and Zachary attempt to escape through one in Central Park, only for the Club to catch up and capture Dorian just as Zachary travels through. Now in the Harbor described by Sweet Sorrows, Zachary finds it to be deserted apart from Mirabel, an acolyte named Rhyme, and Mirabel's lover, a seemingly ageless harbor-master called the Keeper. Mirabel and Zachary free a drugged Dorian, narrowly escaping the Club's leader, Allegra.

Zachary explores the harbor as Dorian recovers. He finds the Starless Sea itself had actually receded as the Harbor's population had dwindled over time, and receives mysterious notes instructing him to find a "man lost in time" mentioned in Sweet Sorrows. He finds a third book, The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor, which describes two residents of the Sea who lived generations apart, but met and fell in love through a temporal anomaly in the Harbor. The two conceived a child, revealed to be Mirabel, before both set out into the depths of the Harbor to find one another again after the anomaly was sealed. Allegra is revealed to have been Mirabel's adoptive mother before she was overwhelmed by apocalyptic visions of the Harbor's destruction and founded the Collector's Club to protect it.

Dorian and Zachary study the texts together, concluding that Simon is the man lost in time Zachary must find before theorizing that Mirabel and the Keeper are actually Fate and Time from Dorian's fairy tale. Allegra suddenly appears in an attempt to close all doors to the Sea from within, causing an earthquake that plunges both her and Dorian into the caverns below the Harbor. Mirabel leads Zachary into the caverns below, revealing the Harbors to have been built on top of one another as the Sea rose over time. Mirabel admits to her identity as Fate, having reincarnated countless times after her initial death, but insists she can only indirectly influence events and that Zachary must choose his actions for himself. They are separated by a swarm of owls and Zachary is rescued by Simon, who describes Zachary's story as a literal presence that has now followed him down, further dooming the already crumbling Harbor.

Dorian survives the fall when he lands in the Starless Sea, revealed to be a vast ocean of honey, and is rescued by Eleanor, now a proficient sailor. Allegra is found to have been killed on impact, and Eleanor drops Dorian off at an inn described in Fortunes and Fables. There, the characters from the collection hand him a living human heart recovered from Fate when she was first torn apart, and warn him against mysterious spirits and hallucinations that haunt the depths. Dorian battles his way past an array of illusions to find Zachary, only to accidentally slay him. In purgatory, Zachary negotiates a meeting with Mirabel, who thanks him for finding Simon and fulfilling his fate. Dorian resurrects Zachary by replacing his heart with Fate's as he, Zachary, and Simon are picked up by Eleanor's ship and ascend upward. The Harbor is flooded with honey and destroyed.

Zachary's old friend Kat secretly journals her efforts to find Zachary after his disappearance, eventually realizing the Sea's existence for herself. She declines an offer from Allegra to join the Collector's Club, but agrees to drop her investigation to keep the Sea secret. She moves on with her studies and career, only to receive notes directing her to a mysterious door in an abandoned building. Mirabel, Rhyme, and the Keeper reunite outside as Kat opens the door, revealing a new Harbor recreated atop the old.

Reception

Leigha McReynolds, reviewing for LA Review of Books, praised the ambition and structure of The Starless Sea, describing the plot as rewarding to unravel but requiring readers to have great tolerance for its use of metafiction. [4] McReynolds noted the focus on philosophy and metatext over a conventional plot structure, expressing difficulty with categorizing the novel in a specific genre and concluding that "it may not have given me all that I wanted, but it did give me something I appreciate." [4]

The Guardian review by Natasha Pulley describes The Starless Sea as a novel that rejects traditions and conventions of world building; a that rejects older stories to make up its own. [5] Pulley describes the myriad images, snippets of backstories, and tales within tales as "assuredly beautiful", but recognizes that "there is no logic that binds these lovely set piece tableaux. Nobody explains why the Starless Sea is honey, or how a honey sea isn’t full of dead flies. The novel reads like panel after panel of mythic illustrations: it expects a certain acceptance of unlikely images". [5] She writes that some readers might find this approach infuriating, while asserting that this is because it challenges deep-seated conventions of the fantasy genre. She further maintains that The Starless Sea demands to be read on its own terms, not those set in those different times and places readers have come to recognize: "Rather than a traditional fantasy novel, this is an artificial myth in its own right, soldered together from the girders of skyscrapers – a myth from and for the US, rather than inherited from older nations. Like any myth, it refuses to decode its own symbols. A reader might find this deliberate vagueness either uplifting or maddening, but the novel’s scope and ambition are undeniable." [5]

Lyndsay Faye, in her New York Times book review, finds the pastiche that is The Starless Sea to be unrewarding. [6] She doesn't find the main character compelling, but does praise Morgenstern's style, which "especially in the frequent Grimm-esque interludes, employs aggressively simple children’s literature syntax to describe outlandish settings that are either opulent or decaying. Her skill at rendering these spaces is remarkable, the smells of smoke and honey wafting through stone corridors and nameless cats slinking along secret passageways.... But a cigar is never just a cigar, and it’s impossible to settle in without being bludgeoned by mystique." [6] But she finds the crippled by "numbingly vague expostulation" and "pseudo-philosophical sentences". [6] Faye concludes: "The Starless Sea flounders as a novel. As an ode to an aesthetic, however, it is marvelous, rife with stags carrying lit candles on their antlers, fallen cherry blossoms and story-sculptors who put their chronicles in clouds. 'I’m not sure I’m following the metaphors anymore,' Zachary objects. He won’t be alone. But for those swept away by the romance of its imagery, The Starless Sea will provide hours of honey-drenched bliss." [6]

Kirkus' enthusiastic review calls The Starless Sea "an ambitious and bewitching gem of a book with mystery and passion inscribed on every page," [7] and Adrienne Martini, in Locus Magazine, describes how "Morgenstern takes great glee in subverting expectations for what a story needs to contain in this, um, story," explaining that the difficulty in describing or following the novel's plot narrative is because The Starless Sea is less about the narrative plot, and more about the philosophical underpinnings of stories themselves. [8] She concludes that "Like any story, The Starless Sea has a beginning and an ending. It also has a middle – a lot of middle. Morgenstern crams about a billion ideas – including but not limited to game design, folk tales, cocktails, and bees – into the endless-feeling middle. Some of them open up her tale in interesting ways; some don’t live up to their promises. She takes a big, admirable swing but doesn’t completely connect. Still, it’s a book full of beautiful moments, even if they don’t all work in concert." [8]

Amal El-Mohtar, however, writes for NPR that The Starless Sea made her feel like "a child falling into a story again," finding the narrative twists and turns exciting, and making her feel like she was "playing a puzzle game, being guided through a beautiful labyrinth of harbours and honey and bees." [9] Because of this regard for the conceptual, she is disappointed by the more conventional villain-driven narrative that develops later in the book, taking it to its denouement. [9] Her overall review, however, is unabashedly positive: "What did work for me, deeply and wholesomely and movingly, was the whole affect of the book, its warmth, its helpless love of storytelling and beautiful, polished fables. It's a book that's a pleasure to dwell in, a delicious experience to dip in and out of.... When I finished it, I was uncertain of my thoughts about the whole; the next night, when I realized there was nothing left of it to read, I felt lost and sad." [9]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<i>Time Enough for Love</i> 1973 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein

Time Enough for Love is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in 1973. The book made the shortlist for the Nebula, Hugo and Locus awards for best science fiction novel of that year, although it did not win. It did win a retrospective Libertarian Futurist Society award: the Prometheus Hall of Fame award for 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Hobb</span> American fiction writer (born 1952)

Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, known by her pen names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, is an American writer of speculative fiction. As Hobb, she is best known for her fantasy novels set in the Realm of the Elderlings, which comprise the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies, the Rain WildChronicles, and the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. Lindholm's writing includes the urban fantasy novel Wizard of the Pigeons and science fiction short stories, among other works. As of 2018, her fiction has been translated into 22 languages and sold more than 4 million copies.

<i>Warriors</i> (novel series) Series of juvenile fantasy novels by Erin Hunter

Warriors is a series of novels based on the adventures and drama of multiple Clans of feral cats. The series is primarily set in fictional forests. Published by HarperCollins, the series is written by authors Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry, as well as others, under the collective pseudonym Erin Hunter. The concept and plot of the pilot series were developed by series editor, Victoria Holmes.

Erin Hunter is a collective pseudonym used by the authors Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Clarissa Hutton, Inbali Iserles, Tui T. Sutherland, and Rosie Best in the writing of several children's fantasy novel series which focus on animals and their adventures. Notable works include the Warriors, Seekers, Survivors, Bravelands, and Bamboo Kingdom book series. For each book, Holmes creates the plot and the others take turns writing the books. Dan Jolley, though not an official Erin Hunter author, also writes the stories for manga published under the Hunter name. James L. Barry, Bettina M. Kurkoski, and Don Hudson are included under the pseudonym as the illustrators of the Warriors mangas. Natalie Riess and Sara Goetter are also included as the illustrators of the graphic novel adaptation of The Prophecies Begin.

<i>The Last Unicorn</i> 1968 fantasy novel by Peter S. Beagle

The Last Unicorn is a fantasy novel by American author Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968, by Viking Press in the U.S. and The Bodley Head in the U.K. It follows the tale of a unicorn, who believes she is the last of her kind in the world and undertakes a quest to discover what has happened to the other unicorns. It has sold more than six million copies worldwide since its original publication, and has been translated into at least twenty-five languages.

<i>The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories</i> 2006 short story collection by Susanna Clarke

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, published in October 2006 by Bloomsbury, is a collection of eight short stories by British writer Susanna Clarke, illustrated by Charles Vess. The stories, which are sophisticated fairy tales, focus on the power of women and are set in the same alternative history as Clarke's debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), in which magic has returned to England. The stories are written in a pastiche of 18th- and 19th-century styles and their tone is macabre as well as satirical. The volume was generally well received, though some critics compared it unfavorably to Jonathan Strange.

<i>The Children of Húrin</i> Novel by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Children of Húrin is an epic fantasy novel which forms the completion of a tale by J. R. R. Tolkien. He wrote the original version of the story in the late 1910s, revising it several times later, but did not complete it before his death in 1973. His son, Christopher Tolkien, edited the manuscripts to form a consistent narrative, and published it in 2007 as an independent work. The book is illustrated by Alan Lee. The story is one of the three "Great Tales" set in the First Age of Tolkien's Middle-earth, the other two being Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Dahvana Headley</span> American author

Maria Dahvana Headley is an American novelist, memoirist, editor, translator, poet, and playwright. She is a New York Times-bestselling author as well as editor.

<i>Briar Rose</i> (novel) 1992 young adult novel Jane Yolen

Briar Rose is a young adult novel written by American author Jane Yolen, published in 1992. Incorporating elements of Sleeping Beauty, it was published as part of the Fairy Tale Series of novels compiled by Terri Windling. The novel won the annual Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature in 1993. It was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel.

<i>City of Bones</i> (Clare novel) 2007 fantasy novel by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones is the first urban fantasy book in author Cassandra Clare's New York Times bestselling series The Mortal Instruments. The novel, first published in 2007, is set in modern-day New York City and has been released in several languages, including Bulgarian, Hebrew, Polish and Japanese. It is the first book in the first trilogy of The Mortal Instruments which includes the books City of Ashes and City of Glass.

<i>The Mortal Instruments</i> Series of fantasy novels by Cassandra Clare

The Mortal Instruments is a series of six young adult fantasy novels written by American author Cassandra Clare, the last of which was published on May 27, 2014. The Mortal Instruments is chronologically the third series of a planned six in The Shadowhunter Chronicles but was the first one published. It follows Clary Fray, who interacts with a group of Nephilim known as Shadowhunters while also discovering her own heritage and her family history. The Shadowhunters protect the world of mundane/human people, who are also called mundanes or "mundies", from dark forces beyond their world. The book series falls under the young adult genre, specifically that of the paranormal romance/urban fantasy and supernatural genres.

Mirabel is a female name stemming from the Latin word mirabilis, meaning "wondrous" or "of wondrous beauty". It was used as both a male and female name in the Middle Ages, but is now almost exclusively female.

The Orphan's Tales is a fantasy series by Catherynne M. Valente with illustrations by Michael Kaluta. The two novels of the series, In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice, are in turn split into two books apiece. While three of these four books begin with a story told by the same young woman, her stories branch out into other stories, often narrated by a completely different character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erin Morgenstern</span> American novelist

Erin Morgenstern is an American multimedia artist and the author of two fantasy novels. The Night Circus (2011) was published in more than a dozen languages by 2013 and won the annual Locus Award for Best First Novel. She is a 2012 recipient of an Alex Award. Her second book, The Starless Sea, was published in 2019.

<i>The Night Circus</i> 2011 fantasy novel by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus is a 2011 fantasy novel by Erin Morgenstern. It was originally written for the annual writing competition National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) over the span of three competitions. The novel has a nonlinear narrative written from multiple viewpoints.

Erin McGraw is an American author, known primarily for works of fiction, both short stories and novels. Her generous, genial works often depicts familial relations with cold-eyed optimism.

<i>Throne of Glass</i> Young adult high fantasy novel series by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass is a high fantasy young adult novel series by American author Sarah J. Maas, beginning with the entry of the same name, released on August 2, 2012. The story follows the journey of Celaena Sardothien, a teenage assassin in a corrupt kingdom with a tyrannical ruler, the King of Adarlan. As the tale progresses, Celaena forms unexpected bonds and uncovers a conspiracy amidst her adventures. The series concluded with the eighth book in October 2018.

<i>The Drowning Girl</i> 2012 novel by Caitlín R. Kiernan

The Drowning Girl: A Memoir is a 2012 dark fantasy novel by American writer Caitlín R. Kiernan, set in Providence, Rhode Island. The story's protagonist and unreliable narrator, India Morgan Phelps, has schizophrenia.

<i>Children of Blood and Bone</i> 2018 young adult fantasy novel by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone is a 2018 young adult romantic fantasy novel by Nigerian-American novelist Tomi Adeyemi. The book, Adeyemi's debut novel and the first in a planned trilogy, follows heroine Zélie Adebola as she attempts to restore magic to the kingdom of Orïsha, following the ruling class kosidáns' brutal suppression of the class of magic practitioners Zélie belongs to, the maji.

<i>The Changeling</i> (LaValle novel) 2017 fantasy/horror novel by Victor LaValle

The Changeling is a 2017 fantasy horror novel by Victor LaValle. The novel received critical acclaim, winnings awards including the 2017 Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel, 2018 August Derleth Award, 2018 Locus Award for Best Horror Novel, and 2018 World Fantasy Award—Novel. The novel was adapted into a television show of the same name which premiered in 2023.

References

  1. ↑ "Bestsellers". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  2. ↑ Adams, Matthew. "The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern review — a broken spell". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  3. ↑ "Best Sellers - Books - Nov. 24, 2019 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  4. 1 2 "Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. 2020-06-20. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
  5. 1 2 3 "The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern review – a myth from and for the US". the Guardian. 2019-11-01. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Faye, Lyndsay (2019-10-25). "8 Years After 'The Night Circus,' Erin Morgenstern Has a New Novel". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  7. ↑ THE STARLESS SEA | Kirkus Reviews.
  8. 1 2 "Adrienne Martini Reviews The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern and To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers". Locus Online. 2020-02-03. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  9. 1 2 3 El-Mohtar, Amal (3 November 2019). "You'll Float Away On The Warm Waters Of 'The Starless Sea'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.