Review: The Starless Sea

This review was probably one of the hardest that I've had to write, mostly because I couldn't wrap my head around this book. My brain was complete mush after reading this, and I couldn't form an opinion. I sat here, thinking about what to say for about 20 minutes, and then I decided that the best way to approach this was in a pro-con type of way. So, I'm sorry if you don't like this method, but this is the best way for me to order my thoughts and get them across the page to you guys.

Before I start, I want to clarify that this is not a YA book, but the author, Erin Morgenstern, deems it suitable for teens to read, and I agree with her. It isn't explicit in any way but is atmospheric and complex in a way that reminds me more of adult fantasy rather than YA. It is officially classified as: Fantasy Fiction, Historical Fantasy, and Romantic Fantasy.

Quick Synopsis: Our main character, Zachary Ezra Rawlins, finds a book in his university library that strangely has a story of his life in it. This book leads him on a quest where he meets Dorian and Mirabel, our other main characters. Mirabel takes Zachary to a Harbor on the Starless Sea, which is where our story really starts. The Starless Sea is like a puzzle, and it's one that Zachary intends to solve.

Now, let's start with the pros:

• Gorgeous, GORGEOUS writing. It was lush and beautiful and a main part of why this book was so captivating. It felt strangely disconnected from the character, even though it was in the third person. It was like I was watching the story unfold through the omniscient narrator's eyes instead of the main character's. At first, I didn't like it, but then I realized that there's no way the reader would've understood the whole story if it was told just through the main character's eyes. This book is just too complex for that, with all the different stories in it colliding and merging with each other. In any other book, I wouldn't have liked this type of writing, but it suited this story perfectly.

• I really like the whole dark academia plus fantasy aesthetic. I also really like the romance. It wasn't overdone and there wasn't a lot of it, but there was tension. And that's exactly what I like to see. It was practically everything I wanted. Also, for those of you who didn't know, this is an m/m romance.

• I LOVE how the little mini-stories between each chapter of the main story all end up connecting. It just makes my heart happy when all of the loose threads tie up at the end. In the beginning, the mini-stories were really annoying, since I didn't know how they were relevant and they just interrupted the main story, but I really got interested as they started to show up in the main story. All of those stories were REAL and that was honestly so cool.

• This is so creative. Erin Morgenstern has to have the biggest imagination out there. It's like she invented an entire fairy-tale and an entire connected world and stuck it in this book. I could actually imagine the Harbor and the Starless Sea through her amazing descriptions. This woman truly has a gift for storytelling. The Starless Sea is everything my heart craves, from its beautiful prose and storytelling to its magical, fantastical world that I have never encountered the likes of before.

And now, it's time for the cons:

• Firstly, the book was a little slow up until page 300. It was mostly Zachary figuring out his way in the Harbor and finding strange clues and puzzles to be solved. It was interesting, but a little action would've gone a long way. After page 300 though, it really picks up because that's when they get to the Starless Sea. It a whole, confusing adventure after that.

• The last 100 pages are VERY confusing. It's like a rush of different times and places. I feel like Morgenstern was just trying to make everything connect at the end because it didn't feel well thought out. I mean, the entire book was basically a maze, but the last 100 pages are just more complicated than they should be.

• The main problem I have with this book is the plot. Or lack thereof. It was a fairy tale adventure, but when you get through that haze of magic and pretty writing, you'll see that there really is no point to this book. At first, Zachary's motivation to start this quest was finding himself in a story, but after that, there was no reason for him to continue on his journey. The only explanation is that it appealed to his sense of adventure. And that's not a very good reason. There's no main mission that he's working towards; he's just blindly following Mirabel. So why go on this adventure? What is motivating him? The answer is nothing. There's no reason, no motivation. And "because he was destined to be there" is not an answer I'll accept.

• A couple of problems I found: One, the Owl King. That was never explained properly, and I still don't know how it is relevant to the story or what it means. Two, the villain. Allegra was clearly the villain, but she wasn't there for long. And she wasn't villainy enough. That part of the story wasn't fleshed out properly either.

• Lastly, the ending. After this whole story, the ending is particularly anticlimatic. It didn't satisfy me, and it feels like Morgenstern didn't know how to end it, so she just took the easy way out.

Overall, this book was beautiful but lacking in plot. I give it 3.5/5 stars. I hope this review was helpful!