The Starless Sea

A Novel

De: Erin Morgenstern

Narrado por: Dominic Hoffman, full cast

From the New York Times best-selling 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.

Read by Dominic Hoffman, with a full cast:

Dominic Hoffman reading the Zachary Ezra Rawlins storyline
Dion Graham reading the Sweet Sorrows storyline
Bahni Turpin reading excerpts from the Secret Diary of Katrina Hawkins
Fiona Hardingham reading The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor
Allan Corduner reading Fortunes and Fables
Jorjeana Marie reading Another place, another time

©2019 Erin Morgenstern (P)2019 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Erin Morgenstern has magic to make...the author returns with a new fantastical fairy-tale for grown-ups.... Comparisons to the likes of Tolkien, Carroll, and C.S. Lewis abound. The Starless Sea poses big questions about stories - the ones we read, the ones we live, and the ones we tell ourselves. And at the heart of her work lies the themes that have provoked those comparisons: redemption, sacrifice, fate, time, reincarnation.... We’re willing to bet the embrace of this deeper, darker, more complex follow-up novel might be close to a sure thing. As Morgenstern posits, The Starless Sea is a door to another world - one just waiting for readers to open it." (Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly)

"Anyone who’s read Erin Morgenstern’s wildly successful fiction debut, The Night Circus, knows how meticulously she crafts her imaginary worlds...the reader [is] immersed in a multitude of stories, the threads of which gradually weave together to a haunting conclusion." (NPR)

"A high-wire feat of metatextual derring-do [and] a stunning array of linked fables, myths and origin stories.... It is exquisitely pleasurable to watch the gears of this epic fantasy turn once they're set in motion. As in The Night Circus, Morgenstern is at her best when she imagines worlds and rooms and parties in vivid detail.... This novel is a love letter to readers as much as an invitation: Come and see how much magic is left in the world. Fans of Neil Gaiman and V. E. Schwab, Kelly Link and Susanna Clarke will want to heed the call. An ambitious and bewitching gem of a book with mystery and passion inscribed on every page." (Kirkus Reviews starred review)

Timeless

This story is about stories in a library that's not a library, in a world underground with a honey sea and a starless night. It's about a boy who's now a man. It's about time yet it is timeless. Beginnings that are ends.

Don't delve into this book half hearted. Let it sink in and immerse you. It's complex and beautiful. I will perhaps re-read this in a year and it will be a new story with a familiar scent.

Great book, just not for me

This is beautifully written, has a great premise, and amazing performances. It is a slower paced book. But the main character is so different from myself. Because of this, his choices and actions frustrated me to the point that I just couldn't invest in him. As a result, I found the book boring and struggled through trying to finish with only about 5 hours left. When Max starts bitching Zachary out for asking what she was, I gave up. It's not like he put much pressure on anybody for answers for the entirety of the book and there she is getting all pissy. I just couldn't handle it. I think the book deserves all the 5 star reviews. Keep in mind that like all books, this one won't be for everybody.

Highly anticipated, did not disappoint

Excuse me while I head right back to the beginning to listen again. There is just so much texture and detail to absorb!

An entrancing and delightful read

I never wanted this book to end. It is luscious and delightful and magical. Also so very very clever. I feel that I need to start again and re-listen immediately as I am sure there are depths and connections I missed the first time around. Utterly special and an absolute work of art.

I loved 85% of this book. 📚📖📝🍸🚪🐝🗝🗡🦉👑🐭❤️

This book is a lovely lyrical jigsaw puzzle of a book.

The puzzle pieces are the cast of characters, and the fantastical locales, that the normal (human, mortal) characters encounter. While you can’t always be certain who is a human mortal, and who is something else. You can be assured that those who aren’t regular humans, will have their changing identities and various roles, revealed in bits and pieces through a series of fairytales, fables, and surprises.

At first the protagonist, Zachary Ezra Rawlins is as confused as we, the reader are. But somewhere along the way you realize that even tho the various stories within the book span unknown, but likely enormous spans of time, that they are all connected, they are all pieces of the puzzle. But the narrative is not linear, there isn’t an easy beginning, middle, and end. To me that was one of the elements that made this book so engaging. But it is also the element that appears to be the most divisive as lots of folks don’t like this book.

But if you give this book the attention it, or any book, is due, you start to see the tapestry, you start to realize....oh you’re that guy, you were in that story, you used to be such and such, and now you’re this.

Some folks seems to feel the book is too hard or confusing. But all you have to do is remember the stories, and begin to make the connections, heck that’s half the fun when you can guess....oh you’re the one that did such and such, before the author tells you.

If you listen to audio books while you watch TV, and answer emails, well, that’s on you, you will not fully absorb any book, let alone one like this with an unusual structure. But if you listen carefully, you will be carried away to a place of the author’s imagination that will stay with you a long time.

That said, as much as I loved much of the story line, and most of the characters and locales, and the genre is Fantasy, there came a point where I was like, whoa, okay this fantasy stuff over here is cool, but that fantasy stuff over there is just ridiculous. At one point it felt like the whole story fell off a cliff, but eventually it came back around.

I truly enjoyed the puzzle, the mystery, the deep beauty of the writing, the incredible narration, and the very unusual format. I loved the themes of star crossed lovers, time, fate, dreams, and symbols. Okay she may have gone a bit heavy on the symbols, cuz wow, there are sooooooo many keys, and swords, and bees. And there are soooooo many ribbons, and snow, and did I mentions keys? And owls. And doors. After awhile the repetition of the same symbols got to be a bit much. But the images she creates with her writing are amazing. Would love to see this book made into a movie, cuz it would be gorgeous.

For folks that are interested in the book, but concerned about the unusual format, it might be easier to try the Kindle version, as with a Kindle you can look up all mentions of a word, or character’s name. But I found the use of various narrators for different parts of the book to be very helpful. And the primary narrator, Dominic Hoffman, was utterly brilliant, hope he wins some sort of award for his work on this book, and that he narrates a bunch more.

Interesting, captivating, creative characters

I loved this book not only because of the way the different worlds were connected and layered one on top of another, almost like in the Stephen King series “The Dark Tower”, but also because each of the characters became so beloved to me. The narration was absolutely superb, especially the different voices for the different parts. The imagery was incredibly vivid. I read this entire book on Audible and it felt as if I were watching a long series on TV, because everything was so bright and clear. I cried at the end, not because I didn’t love the ending, which I did, but because I felt as if the characters had become close friends of mine. I will miss them.

I don't know how I feel about this book...

This book was very difficult for me to get through. I can't say I didn't like it, though, so I'm torn. I absolutely loved The Night Circus. Though The Starless Sea has similarly complex and beautiful imagery, the story was (intentionally) all over the place. I wasn't able to stay focused on something with so many connected but seemingly unconnected relationships and timelines. I have never had my mind wander off of the story so often with any other audio book, and I've avidly listened to then for 20 years. If perhaps I was reading this as a physical book AND drawing graphical schematics of people and various timelines for them I could have followed along but 1) I don't have that kind of time and 2) I wouldn't have the patience if I did.

Compelling

I don't really like contemporary Earth- based fantasy, but I gave this book a try anyway and am so glad I did. Morgenstern is SUCH a good storyteller, which is the crux of the novel. It's hard to give other specifics without giving things away, but this is one of those books I didn't want to stop listening to. I'll definitely listen to it again and look forward to all the clues and bits I'm sure I missed the first time since I hadn't read the full story. Immerse yourself. It's worth it.

So confused...

Night Circus was my fave book!! Was so excited for this. I’m going to have to listen again. I just didn’t get it. :(

still confused

will I'm done and I still don't know what was happening , the audiobook is good but the story is confusing