The Starless Sea

A Novel

Hardcover, 498 pages

English language

Published Nov. 5, 2019 by Doubleday.

ISBN:
978-0-385-54121-3
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5 stars (13 reviews)

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 certainty that he is meant for another place. When he discovers a mysterious book in the stacks of his campus library, he begins to read and is 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 …

14 editions

Stories within stories…

5 stars

It is very easy for the stories within stories within stories thing to fall flat, to not come together.

This book is what happens when it is done well.

Audiobook note: there’s a bunch of narrators, and because audiobook sellers haven’t figured out how to handle that well, it’s possible you’ll like the sample but then not like one of the other narrators.

Review of 'The Starless Sea' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

It’s very good but I think Zachary would say it has too many side quests.

There’s something wonderfully perverse about a story this obsessed with stories. Like the distilled essence of one of those people who just loves tea and books, not to drink or read but as a part of their identity (and also to drink and read).

For whatever reason I miss Dishonored. It also has a shoutout to one of my favourite games in theory, Sunless Sea.

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