The Starless Sea

This is another one is by Erin Morgenstern, who wrote The Night Circus, my other favorite from 2023. As you can imagine, Morgenstern conjures up more magic and mystery! In this one, a university student named Zachary finds his way through a magical door and into a world somewhere deep within the earth (or so I imagined) full of books, strange people, and the pieces of a puzzle that tie him to the Starless Sea. Zachary takes us on his journey as he tries to find answers, and Morgenstern again dazzles readers with her crazy-wild imagination.

I was sucked… show more.

Stories within stories, each honing and enhancing the other, is one of my favorite tropes across literature, and it finds a special expression in Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea.

Unlike the other novels in this list, this one begins in our “normal” world, albeit a magically enhanced version of it. (You and I live there already, of course.) Fairy tales weave into and through the story as our young protagonist tries to find his way in the world, inextricably drawn back to these mystical tales.

Morgenstern’s prose will sweep you away while also meditating on the power of prose to… show more.

I first fell in love with The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern’s debut novel (a NaNoWriMo book, just like mine!).

I picked up The Starless Sea eagerly when it came out and brought it to my book club for discussion. We agreed that though the plot is loose, the descriptions and world-building are so vivid and beautiful that it suffices to enjoy it for those reasons first and foremost.

Consider this book a walk through a museum and let yourself sink into the splendor.

Erin Morgenstern is one of those authors who borrows words to create Art. Yes, that’s capitalized for a reason. She doesn’t so much construct prose as assemble a silent symphony that plays privately in the head of anyone who graces their eyes with her words. So, if you’re scrolling this list looking for the point where rainbow fantasy meets literature, congrats, you’ve found it. At some points, the story feels like it’s trying to be a bit too clever for its own good, but it does it so gracefully you might not mind. If you have a penchant for things… show more.