The Starless Sea

When a novelist has a breakthrough success, expectations are that the second book will either be a sequel or a book with nearly identical themes and style.

Morgenstern's style and prose are still here. The sense of wonder is as strong as it was in The Night Circus, but this book took a much different turn.

You'll see a lot of reviews frustrated this book wasn't Night Circus redux, or that the narrative style is nontraditional. You'll see accusations of “there's no plot!” But there clearly is.

Starless Sea is labyrinthian in a lot of ways, with Zachary Ezra Rawlins discovering a strange, secret book society based on the symbols of bees, keys and swords. There are meta narratives spun throughout, aside chapters that are a part of the books within this world that Zachary reads.

You're left to interpret much of what happens, but it was clear Zach fell into the narrative worlds he adored and lost himself along the way, unable to determine real from hyperreal. Much like Dante's trip through the underworld was punctuated by a writer he revered, Zach's trip through the Starless Sea is dominated by his strong feelings for Dorian, the writer of many of these tales.

He falls hard and fast for the mysterious Dorian, like in a fairy tale, then chases him through interwoven stories.

We're given a few glimpses into what could be seen as the “real,” which Zachary has to fight through and cast aside to find his own definition of real, or at least what he was comfortable with. There were multiple outcomes, still. Was he dead in a ditch? Had a breakdown and fell into a romance with Dorian? Or did he actually disappear into the Starless Sea to become one of these characters?

His friend Kat served as an anchor to reality, only for her herself to potentially get lost in the meta narrative, although it's not entirely clear.

There's a lot to digest here and I eagerly await Morgenstern's next work. Be prepared for this to be “not for you,” though.