Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Starless Sea

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern

11 reviews

eleanora's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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maeverose's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Very much ✨all vibes no plot✨ The characters are very flat, the romance felt very thrown in and instalovey. I liked the setting of the harbor with all it’s different rooms, the writing style of course, the vibes. This is one of those books that had so much potential because the concepts are really cool, but it just didn’t deliver and I was pretty disappointed.

The in-story book chapters were my favorite part, which is apparently an unpopular opinion? Idk I just thought the mini stories in those chapters were much more interesting than the main story jdashjdkgs. If Erin Morgenstern ever decides to write a short story collection I would love that

Spoiler

My main disappointment was that the synopsis made it sound like Zachary would get to see the starless sea in it’s prime. I was expecting a good portion of the story to take place there, but Zachary only gets to see it after it’s basically destroyed. And that part was like a fever dream and super confusing. It’s implied that he gets to see it after the book ends, but we don’t get to see it with him. I wanted a story that took place there. I think that could’ve been so cool.

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frankiejo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

"This is the rabbit hole. Do you want to know the secret to surviving once you've gone down the rabbit hole?"
Zachary nods and Mirabel leans forward. Her eyes are ringed with gold.
"Be a rabbit," she whispers.

GOD. god i loved this. i think i found my new favourite book.

I'm never going to be able to put all my feelings about this incredible story down, at least not in any meaningful way, all I can do is encourage you to read it.

The prose was breathtaking. I don't think I've ever written down that many quotes (yes I take notes when I'm reading! It's fun) The world that Morgenstern so artfully constructed was beautiful and it hurts my soul that I can't live in it. I have very, very few complaints about this book. As in two. And one of those complaints is just that I think some bits could have used a comma or two to make things clearer, but I;m very overzealous with commas in my own writing so that might just be me. And the other one is that the middle is endless but frankly I don't really care because I loved every minute of it.

Man, I'm always going on to my friends about how much I hate feedback thats just "I loved it" but. Oh my god. I truly cannot think of anything else to say. I've seen this book described as a love letter to stories and the art of storytelling and I wholeheartedly agree. On that note, I do feel I have to say that this is not a casual read. I don't mean that in a derisive way! If you would identify yourself as a casual reader, that is completely fine. All I mean is that this book, in addition to being a love letter to the art of storytelling, is a nonlinear narrative with a lot of moving parts. A lot of different stories are told at once, and not all of them seem especially related to one another until the end. You have to be patient. If nonlinear narratives are a no-go for you, or if you prefer to shut your brain off a little and read to relax, this might not be your cup of tea. Personally, if I was making a list of books you should at least try to read before you die, this would be number one. That's very specific. Anyway, what I'm saying is that while I do suggest giving this a shot, know that it's not a casual fantasy romp. Not that casual fantasy romps are bad, I love them, just that this isn't that. I saw some people saying that they were confused or thrown off by the nature of the narrative, which I found odd at first. I suspect that the people who were confused were unaware of the nonlinear narrative/overlapping stories and so got confused when the story jumped around so much in time, location, and character, which is understandable! Just a heads-up there: 'tis complicated.

I have no idea if any of that made any sense. I feel a little high right now.

A book is made of paper but a story is a tree.

rep; main character of colour (presumably afro-latino, as his mother is described as Haitan), gay main character, various other characters of colour ranging in narrative importance from "very" to "not at all", fairly important character who "hates labels" and is attracted (at least) to men and women, mlm major character

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jelliestars's review

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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kittyfan9hh's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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stellarheroics's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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dannythestreet's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This whole book is a metaphor (but still a book). You are just trying to keep up with all these symbols until you give up and sink into it. That was a wonderful experience for me, the writing style is the best thing that can happen to anyone and the atmosphere of the book makes you never want to get back to the real life. The character dynamic was also just magical and I'm glad I went on this journey with them

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li_reading's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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oliverreeds's review

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adventurous emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

i really, very greatly enjoyed this book. the book is basically a set of artfully woven stories from the past, present, future, and fairy tales that all feed into each other and all connect in literally the most beautiful ways. the characters are fleshed out. the writing is easy to read and yet poigniant. it was a little slow getting into the book because every other chapter is a "random" fairy tale which made getting to know the characters a little difficult for me, but less than half-way in, i was hooked. the romance is also magnificent and while important to the book/story, doesn't take away from the world-building or characters. my only issue with this book is that the time spent in the under-world with the starless sea takes up a LOT of time and was very confusing for me to read. i didn't quite understand what was going on (although kat's interludes helped a decent bit and were a fantastic addition to this story), and since i didn't understand, i got bored for like 75 pages. to be fair i was also never super sure what

Spoiler

dorian and zachary were doing in the under-world starless sea place. zachary was trying to find dorian and vice versa but there were so many strange side quests that happened, i started getting confused. i also wanted more on the Zachary/Dorian romance. i thought what was written was great, but i wanted more on where it came from. why were they so in love all of a sudden. i think that this book could have benefitted from additional scenes in which we got to see their relationship bloom a little more

Spoiler

. all said and done, this book is an incredible display of the author's knowledge of craft, attention to detail, and incredible mind when writing stories. she literally killed it. like every character is so important and it was beautiful and incredible, which is why i gave this book such a high rating despite my two qualms.

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