Review of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

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 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.

2019 has authors knocking it out of the god-damned PARK, what we're knocking out of the park I don't know but basically they're all killing it with the writing this year. I read The Ten Thousand Doors Of January earlier this month which is eerily similar with it's wonderful writing and many, many doors. This one is much more surreal, with secret societies, masked balls and many, many cats. Also, bees.

If I had to squeeze this into a category I'd choose "magical surrealism", it's like Alice In Wonderland but bigger and with more drugs - probably. Zachary checks out a book from the library with no author and attempts to trace where it came from, leading him to Dorian (my heart, I stan), Mirabel, the greatest kitchen ever and people that might cut his hands off. It's complicated.

I refuse to talk to much about this book because you really need to go in blind, it's more fun that way, I promise. If you're into the trippy Alice In Wonderland style where you're never quite sure where you'll end up next, just trust this book to take you on a whole journey. It's incredible.