Reviews

Ormeshadow – A Little Slice Of Life

/ Cole Rush / Leave a comment

712zdrcfehlPriya Sharma’s Ormeshadow overflows with dark family secrets, generations of lore, and tragedy. Sharma has a knack for pitting characters against one another with beautifully selected words. Ormeshadow reads like a wood-carving: Sharma removes all the excess material and presents a pristine, sharp product that feels at once succinct and sprawling.

Gideon Belman’s life completely changes when his father, John, ushers the family to Ormeshadow farm on the heels of his failure as a scholar in Bath. The land rests near the Orme–a sleeping dragon, as legend puts it, upon whose back the land has grown. John regales young Gideon with tales of the dragon and his family’s inextricable ties to it. John’s wife, Clare, tolerates the stories. Ormeshadow is tended by John’s brother Thomas, a rugged farmhand supported by his wife Maud, his boys Peter and Samuel, and his daughter Charity. The reunion dredges up years of resentment and hatred, and Gideon is thrust against his wishes into a life that seems intent on dragging him into madness and cruelty.

A true novella, Ormeshadow reads at a brisk pace, following Gideon’s life after the move and skipping years of time. Sharma’s chapters are snapshots in time, and the blanks she leaves can be easily filled in by imaginative readers. It’s almost like a series of vignettes, each serving a simple purpose: to tell us how Gideon has coped with the innumerable tragedies that befall him in Ormeshadow. The short length serves to better the book by quickly leading the reader to new, darker territory with every turn of the page.

The plot itself could be described as predictable (and probably has been described that way by some). However, when a predictable plot point was finally revealed, I felt spurred on by it, rather than hindered. Sharma’s characters are so believable that I became ravenous for more detail. To experience the characters dealing with their struggles is the heart of the story. Moments of realization and heartbreak abound, but they’re overshadowed by the subtler character moments that follow. Peppered throughout the book are the stories of the Orme and how it came to be. These stories lend mystical context to the modern-day goings-on in the tale, and they’re the cherry on top of the Sharma’s prosaic cake.

All that said, if you read Ormeshadow for any reason, let it be the prose. Sharma writes with a lyricism and brevity reminiscent of McCarthy’s The Road. She says what must be said, and she does it with remarkable verbal grace. Simple, accessible, and beautiful descriptions lie on every page, and it’s a wonder to behold.

Stories of the Orme and legends of the Belman family give Ormeshadow a distinct mystical bent, as I mentioned above. These, presumably, are the reason for the novella’s “Dark Fantasy” genre-billing. I bring this up because, unless you sensationally interpret the story’s final moments, Ormeshadow is more of a dark realism story. It’s replete with family drama, plenty of lore, and a dash of mystery, but the fantasy elements are minimal. This doesn’t detract from the book’s quality at all. Instead, it’s a fair warning to readers seeking a grim fantasy tale. This novella may not satisfy that particular craving, but it is worth your time.

Priya Sharma’s novella bursts with character and flawless prose. She weaves a tale of family intrigue, dark pasts, and overcoming adversity. For such a quick read, Ormeshadow packs a hell of a punch.

Rating: Ormeshadow – 8.0/10
-Cole

Nevernight – Getting My Masters In Murderology

/ Andrew Mather - The Quill to Live / 1 Comment

28779776Magic school lovers rejoice, we have another book review to feed your ever consuming hunger. Today’s entry is Nevernight, by Jay Kristoff, and is a new take on the assassin school variant of magical learning establishments. An intense deadly curriculum, mysterious and lovable teachers with interesting lessons, and a school so dripping with lore and coolness that it leaps into your imagination with detail – the setting of this book is everything you want in a magical school story. But, do the characters and plot hold up? Read on and see in our review of the first book in The Nevernight Chronicle.

Our protagonist is Mia Corvere, and the narrative is very focused on her. Mia is the daughter of a noble who led a failed revolution against the powers of Godsgrave, and she is on a quest for vengeance. When her father’s coup went south, it ended with his head on a pike and his family thrown into prison to rot. Mia, just a young girl at the time, narrowly escapes this fate and ends up on the street trying to survive. After surreptitiously being pseudo-adopted by an ex-Blade (assassin) of The Red Church (assassin school), Mia begins by training for the application process to The Church. Her goal is to attend The Red Church in order to learn the requisite skills to avenge her family by murdering the people she holds responsible for their fall. So, in short, it’s a good ol’ fashioned vengeance quest.

I was trying to slow roll my praise for this book as long as possible, which turns out to be two paragraphs – but I can not keep up the charade any longer. Pretty much everything about it is excellent. The plot and pacing of the book are fantastic. It is divided into roughly three sections – applying to The Red Church, studying at The Red Church, and life after The Red Church. Each section has is own style and themes, all of which are both distinct and tie nicely into one another. The pacing is also lightning fast, without ever feeling like we are rushing through any section. As the book is about learning subterfuge, there are also a few twists that are delicious. The narrative has this nice balance between powerful worldbuilding/lore, a coming-of-age story, a murder mystery, and an action-adventure. The book is also genuinely funny and uses a nice mix of humor that should appeal to every kind of reader. If you end up reading it after this, make sure to read the footnotes as they are often laugh-out-loud funny. Finally, Mia is an unreliable narrator, with chunks of her memory and story clearly hidden from page one. Over the course of the book, this vault of secrets is slowly unlocked and disseminated in a very well-measured pace.

Speaking of Mia, the characters are phenomenal but uneven. There are about 15 supporting characters, and Mia herself. A few of them are fairly forgettable or inconsistent, but the majority of them are fantastic. The teachers have personalities that are both distinct and magnetic. Mia’s classmates are from all sorts of walks of life that give the cast a diverse set of personalities and flavors to work with while simultaneously having very powerful chemistry. Many of the characters are complex and make interesting and meaningful choices that fit their identities. Additionally, Mia herself is a very interesting character. She has a nice balance of both likable and unlikable qualities that evolve with clear and satisfying growth over the course of the book. The protagonist on the last page is almost unrecognizable from the start of the book, and yet the change felt completely organic. Much of this change is created through Mia’s exploration of the world around her, and what a world it is.

The worldbuilding is both the strongest part of the book and the only place I had notable criticisms. To start off, I should mention that the book is called “Nevernight” because the world has three suns that only collectively set once or twice a year. It’s a cool element that is delightfully worked into the lore and culture of the world that I greatly enjoyed. The world as a whole feels rich, complex, and imaginative – but the real joy is in Mia’s hometown, the city of Godsgrave, and The Red Church. Godsgrave is a giant metropolis built into the bones of a decaying titan. It has a fairly stereotypical fantasy world layout with the usual market, slums, and noble districts – but its morbid origins, distinct culture, and iconic landmarks lend it a lot of flare. Also, I saved the best for last, The Red Church is a school that rivals Hogwarts in its rich lore, entrancing facilities, and cohesive identity. Much smaller than the aforementioned wizard school, The Red Church uses its smaller space to enormous effect. The mannerisms and locations in the school are fun, engrossing, and terrifying all at the same time. I won’t reveal any specifics, but the entire place is awesome.

That being said, some of the worldbuilding felt surprisingly sloppy compared to the extremely buttoned-up nature of the rest of the book. The book pays special attention to logistics, which can add a layer of creative depth that makes the world feel more real. However, it also has some elements that logistically do not make sense – at all. Examples of this include: a travel system that is a lynchpin to the entire existence of the Church but is completely unreliable, blanket enchantments and spells that seem to work in very specific ways for plot purposes, and overly complex tasks and traditions that are meant to feel quirky but just feel archaic. None of them did much to slow the hype-train I was riding, but they did noticeably leap off the page to me.

Nevernight is a bomb of a book and earns top marks in almost every category I use to evaluate books. It’s dripping with lore, has a masterful plot, and contains characters you will find yourself deeply invested in. It’s one of the best magical schools I have visited, which catapults it easily into the “highly recommended” territory. On top of all of this, Nevernight does such a good job setting up the next books in the series that I ordered it the moment I turned the last page. This is a very good book and you should pick it up at your earliest convenience.

Rating: Nevernight – 9.5/10
-Andrew

Blood Of An Exile – Missed Gems Of 2019

/ Andrew Mather - The Quill to Live / 2 Comments

512bnk8esoglAlright, I am going to be honest here; I did Brian Naslund a disservice when I judged his debut book, Blood of an Exile, by its name and cover and shelved it for later. Although I hated both title and art, after finishing the novel I have to admit that they suit the book perfectly, and I am just being a judgmental ass. Released back in August of last year, the book is the start of the Dragons of Terra series and definitely would have been a contender for my top of 2019 list had I actually got to it in a timely manner. I apologize, Brian Naslund, and hopefully this review will slightly make it up to you.

Blood of an Exile is a book with powerful characters, a rich world, and a fairly inventive plot. Ostensibly, the story follows our protagonist Silas Bershad the Flawless, a man who was sentenced to exile as a dragonslayer for crimes that are revealed throughout the narrative. To be a dragonslayer is a death sentence, and they are forced to roam the land helping towns and cities kill dragons until they die (usually very quickly). However, Bershad refuses to go down and has managed to make a name for himself as the most famous and successful dragonslayer in the world. Very soon after we meet Bershad, he receives a task from the man who exiled him with the promise of freedom should he complete it. Using his status as a famous dragonslayer, Bershad is to sneak into a neighboring country that is gearing up for war, kill a king and save an innocent child in captivity, and then make it back alive with the child in hand. To fail would mean dying an exile, to succeed would mean saving the country that hates him and his freedom.

Initially, this book was looking a bit trope-y and I was concerned I was going to read something I had already experienced hundreds of times before. However, Naslund rapidly disabused me of this notion by showing Blood of an Exile is more than meets the eye. First off, while Bershad is our main protagonist, the story is actually told by four major POVs, an alchemist, an assassin, a princess, and Bershad himself – each of which holds a key piece of the narrative that slot nicely together. The major themes of the book are nature, ecosystems, and how destroying key pieces of any environment can greatly upset the balance. Multiple of the POV’s (including Bershad) are dragon lovers. While they recognize that they are dangerous animals that can cause great harm, dragons are common in this world and are a key piece of every ecosystem they are a part of. While Blood of an Exile is very much an action-packed adventure fantasy, it is also a story about amateur scientists desperately trying to keep humanity from destroying the Earth for fiscal gain – an angle I was not expecting and loved in equal parts. There is a huge focus on the study of dragons and the understanding of their nature. This does a very powerful job of painting them as real living and breathing creatures.

The world-building is phenomenal, with the various political entities feeling like they have clear and memorable identities that aren’t just cut and pasted real-world countries. The cast are all fantastic, even down to the side characters. Even the villains aren’t motivated by the simple goals and are engaging to read and think about. The book does an incredible job exploring how the quest for the betterment of civilization can cause horrible unforeseen problems if you aren’t very careful. Naslund does a very good job using a magical fantasy setting to get you to think about your own waste and usage in the modern world, so expect to be a little uncomfortable.

As for negatives, there are only a few. Although I found the book to be an exciting and compelling read, I felt as though there was a small mismatch in the narrative style and strengths of the book. The characters in Blood of an Exile are treated as tools to move the story along. They are picked up and put down as needed only when their POV makes sense to further the narrative. What this means is that it can sometimes feel like certain characters were getting uneven page time. This felt a bit odd, given that the characters of this book are so strong that I would have been happy to just spend time in their head. The aforementioned princess POV is one of my favorite protagonists, and she shows up as a POV only in the back half of the book with little to no warning. I would have liked a little more even pacing with my time with each character. The book is also fairly crass; which isn’t a problem for me, but it’s something others might take issue with.

In the end, Blood of an Exile was a surprising gem of a book that went unnoticed by many in 2019. It brilliantly combines exciting action, sympathetic characters, smart themes, and a deep world to create a coherent and unique story. It is always rare when you find a book that is both smart and fun at the same time, and Blood of an Exile has both in spades. Brian Naslund should be very proud of his debut book, and I can’t wait for the sequel, Sorcery of a Queen, which comes out this year.

Rating: Blood of an Exile – 8.5/10
-Andrew

Crownbreaker – Don't Need A Crown To Be King

/ Andrew Mather - The Quill to Live / Leave a comment

511jnjhaqil._sx331_bo1204203200_Happy new year everyone! We started 2020 off strong with a whole slew of reads over our break and will have a number of interesting reviews and other pieces in the coming weeks. Up first we have the sixth, and final, book in the Spellslinger series, Crownbreaker, by Sebastien de Castell. This YA series has been one that has caught, and kept, my attention the past few years. However, in my review of book five, I mentioned that the series was starting to show signs of dragging on and needed a wrap-up. The question is, did de Castell find a satisfying and momentous way to close out his six-book series? Of course he did, de Castell is one of our favorite authors for a very good reason.

Crownbreaker is the final piece of a large tapestry that de Castell has been building with his Spellslinger series. The plot revolves around a magical god that arises to threaten everything that Kellen has come to cherish and love, and a quest with a lot of hard choices. Kellen begins the book finally somewhat at peace with his life and with a little hard-earned stability. He has made a decent home for himself in Darome and is finally coming to terms with what his life is going to be. But we can’t have that. An offer is brought to him by none other than his father: a new god has arisen that threatens the world and it must be put down. If Kellen infiltrates his gathering armies and puts him down, he will be unquestionably welcome back to his home.

As an independent book, I think Crownbreaker struggles a little bit. The god plotline isn’t really explored enough to my satisfaction, and Berabesq, the final region we visit in the Spellslinger world, isn’t really given the same level of screen time as the other countries in the past five books. However, what Crownbreaker struggles with independently is made up for in spades by how it serves as the perfect conclusion to the series at large. The sixth Spellslinger book takes every single lesson, theme, and plot element of the first five books and weaves them into a climactic finale that de Castell should be proud of. Kellen’s character arc is incredible, and I absolutely love where it ends up. Watching the culmination of his journey of self-discovery was incredibly satisfying and it’s emotionally fulfilling to see where he ends up. In many ways Crownbreaker feels like a “best-of” collection for the series, bringing back all the best characters and elements from previous novels. While there are elements of the greater story that I thought could have used some more detail, Kellen’s personal story takes a number of surprising and interesting turns. I really like where the overall plot nets out and I very much hope this will not be the last we see of Kellen.

As a series, Spellslinger is one I highly recommend. The story and worldbuilding place it a step above the majority of YA fiction I have read in recent years, and Kellen’s journey is something that most readers (particularly younger ones) will strongly resonate with. The Spellslinger world is a joy to explore and the somewhat episodic nature of the six books really works well for de Castell’s writing style. The prose is humorous and fun which balances out some of its heavier themes very nicely. My only real criticism is that I think the books drag a little around book five. In the end, I would have to say my favorite of the six stories is still book three, Charmcaster. Exploring cities of mechanical wonders will always hit me right in the feels.

Sebastien de Castell has proven once again that he is a master of conclusions, one of the hardest things to write as an author. Crownbreaker is the perfect ending to an already fantastic series and I cannot wait to share these books with everyone I know. The final two books felt like they had a tiny bit of trouble balancing their own episodic stories and the overall plot of the series, but this complaint amounts to almost nothing in the face of everything else the books do right. Crownbreaker is amazing and you should check both it, and the full series, out.

Rating: Crownbreaker – 8.5/10
-Andrew

An Illusion Of Thieves – A Garden Of Larceny

/ Andrew Mather - The Quill to Live / 1 Comment

81zzj2jtx5lI am disappointed that I was unable to get to An Illusion of Thieves, by Cate Glass, sooner – as it likely would have made our best of 2019 list. The first book in the Chimera series, this (ironically) sneaky book has slipped under the radar for many this year, which is a shame. While this debut book has some issues, it is also a fresh and fun take on the heist genre and looks to be building to something incredible. With a little upfront investment and trust, you will soon find yourself in love with the cast and story.

Thieves has an interesting start that is both explosive and slow at the same time. An enormous amount of life changes happen to our protagonist, Romy, in the first few pages. She is a courtesan of a powerful lord in a corrupt city, but her younger brother Neri robs someone and is caught – shaming her into banishment. All of this is set up to place Romy and Neri in the slums of the city where they must both learn jobs to survive. Also, they are both sorcerers who are being hunted for their innate magic. That’s right, welcome to another round of “magic is super outlawed and we must hide our dark secrets”! I tease because it is an overdone trope, but I actually liked how the ban on magic contributed to the set up of this story. The first half of the book feels almost like watching someone play through a well-written life sim. Romy and Neri both struggle with learning basic skills that will keep them from starving to death and allow them to contribute to society. It sounds boring, but it’s actually really engrossing watching them slowly carve out a life together. That being said, hoooo boyyyyy, did I want Neri to die horribly for the first third of this book. A huge chunk of the first part of Thieves is devoted to the evolution of the relationship between Romy and Neri. While it ends in a really compelling and satisfying place, there is a lot of Neri being the absolute worst and Romy having to clean it up for the first 100 pages. Glass is definitely an older child because she has captured the worst frustrations of having a younger sibling perfectly. However, once you make it past the midway point in the book – something interesting happens. The plot and purpose of the book take a drastic, and fascinating, shift.

In the course of building up their meager lives, Romy and Neri meet a large cast of compelling characters who both help and harm them. As the story continues, the magic system in the world is slowly expanded upon more, and you learn that most sorcerers have a unique kind of magic that they can use to influence the world. Romy, for example, can implant memories in people and Neri can walk through walls. The siblings also eventually meet two magic users, who I won’t spoil, and eventually start to explore their powers. And then a catalyst changes the direction of the tale. A character approaches Romy and basically puts her in a difficult situation – she can either rob a very powerful and well-connected person, or watch the city burn down around her. And when placed in a position of helping the greater good at massive personal risk, she creates a super awesome crime-fighting band of super thieves. I cannot express how awesome this was.

One thing you see in a lot of heist novels is a short and colorful introduction into the crew before rapidly moving onto the stealing. Glass takes a much more leisurely and organic route and slowly brings this crew of people together naturally over the course of their lives. It is masterfully done and when push came to shove I honestly found myself thinking “I mean, of course, they are going to form a group of magical super thieves, it absolutely makes sense.” In addition, when An Illusion of Thieves wraps up, you learn about a new world-ending problem that only this crew of magical do-gooders can handle, and they immediately set out to go handle this new problem (which is the set up for book two). Look, if you don’t want to read an episodic series about magical Robin Hood saving the world through larceny than we don’t have a lot in common.

Some other general assessments include that the characters and worldbuilding are good, but a little inconsistent. I felt Glass did an amazing job bringing the city where the book is set to life – but the world didn’t feel like it extended beyond its walls. Similarly, the smaller cast of characters that the book focuses on had a ton of life and depth to them, but some of the side characters occasionally felt like they were mannequins just there to progress the plot.

Overall, I really enjoyed An Illusion of Thieves. It requires a little work at the start, but it rewards your dedication with a one of a kind heist novel with a ton of great character growth and magical fun. It is original, well written, relatable, and stands out amongst a lot of powerful books that came out in 2019. I am really hoping the Chimera series is more than a trilogy because I would enjoy reading many more books about this band of misfits saving the world through the power of crime. This debut is definitely worth your time, please come join me in watching this team of lovable rogues save the world.

Rating: An Illusion of Thieves – 8.0/10
-Andrew

Scary Stories for Young Foxes: The Name Is A Trap It’s Actually Scary

/ Will / Leave a comment

scarystories

Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to judge a book by its cover. I occasionally see cover art so striking that I want to buy the book just for display, regardless of whether the content is all that good. Christian McKay Heidicker’s novel Scary Stories for Young Foxes is one such book. With expressive and stunning cover art and the promise of similarly styled illustrations for some of the stories, I knew I’d pick this book up just for how pretty it was, and I hoped that I’d end up enjoying the story as well. Luckily for me, Heidicker absolutely knocked it out of the park, and I will feel absolutely no shame placing this front and center on my bookshelf. 

Scary Stories for Young Foxes is a collection of eight short stories that are thoroughly interconnected and serve to tell a single overarching tale. Told through the window dressing of a group of fox kits sneaking out to hear scary stories from a nearby older fox, the novel strikes an interesting balance between outright horror and old-time fairy story morality tales. Each of the so-called scary stories is meant to teach the kits an important lesson while still having a distinct “stories around a campfire” spookiness to them. I thought that the individual stories were all very good as self-contained narratives while clearly building toward an overarching tale, and though the “twist” was incredibly clear from almost the beginning of the book, I did enjoy the slow reveal that went on over the runtime.

I was very interested to find out exactly where on the horror spectrum this book would land, what with the title including “for Young Foxes” and all. Particularly with the whole storybook illustration style and the campfire story window dressing, I was ready for this book to be mildly scary but mostly cute. Boy howdy, I was not prepared for what I got. Scary Stories doesn’t pull punches at all, and the first story absolutely wrecked me. The final three paragraphs are pretty much burned into my brain. Heidicker’s ability to scare through describing sounds is absolutely fantastic and really plays into the overall aesthetic of the book. You can imagine a good storyteller making the klikklikklak sound as the flames from the fire jump around them, and even on the page these descriptions just drip with suspense and terror. Not every story really spooked me, but most of them did, and there are a couple that were absolutely terrifying and would feel at home in any horror collection out there.

While slightly less stellar than the spooks, the characters were still very solid. We follow two foxes named Mia and Uly as they are separated from their dens as kits. Over the course of the novel we are shown them growing into adult foxes and experiencing a variety of frights in the process. All of the characters, main and side, felt well distinguished and unique enough to easily discern them from one another. Clocking in at 272 pages and containing eight distinct stories told by a third party to the events, this isn’t the book for you if you’re looking for in-depth character profiles, but I didn’t think the remainder of the book suffered for it.

After a chapter or two, I was ready to complain about how I would have preferred eight totally unconnected stories and how the fact that they were all related to each other would diminish the scariness and impact of the plot. As I read, though, I realized that wasn’t really the type of horror story I was in for. While I enjoy extremely dark stories and generally have found the “no one made it out okay” type of tale to be my favorite, I really enjoyed having Mia and Uly’s story slowly unravel for me. I thought the pacing was fantastic and felt that the breaks for the illustration and quick pauses where the storyteller talks directly to the listening kits were timed perfectly to add suspense. In addition to heightening the mood, I thought that the notes each of the stories ended on, upbeat or dark, were very well planned out and thoughtfully used to impact how I felt while I was reading it. It all added up to a sense of supreme intent and careful construction.

I think that Scary Stories for Young Foxes is great. I had a blast reading it and would recommend it to readers of nearly any age. Not leaning on “adult” themes of horror while remaining dark, scary, and impactful is a difficult trick to manage, and Heidicker pulls it off with aplomb. I would highly recommend giving this book a try, and while I am a devout Kindler would recommend even more reading it in paper to enjoy the fantastic illustrations that are included. 

 

Rating: Scary Stories for Young Foxes – 8.5/10

The Starless Sea – Beauty And Dreams Personified In A Body Of Water

/ Andrew Mather - The Quill to Live / Leave a comment

81h2bkqvsgylOur second-place book in The Quill To Live best-of-2019 list was The Starless Sea, by Erin Morgenstern. However, given that the book was released about a week before we had to make the list, we unfortunately did not have a chance to review it yet. Now, we are remedying that and are here to give you a sales pitch for a positively incredible book. Given that we rated The Starless Sea as the second-best book that came out in 2019, you can probably guess that this is going to be a laudatory review. But, given the astounding success and popularity of Morgenstern’s first novel, The Night Circus, I doubt I will be the first to tell you that her second book is another masterpiece that will emotionally move and astound you.

The Starless Sea was a weirdly personal book for me and I don’t really know where to start with the plot. At the highest level, the story follows Zachary Ezra Rawlins, a son of a fortune-teller who moves through life without a lot of direction. He eventually stumbles upon a secret entrance to a strange magical underground library that is oceanic in size. However, the library is clearly not what it once was and is, in fact, showing signs of imminent destruction. Can Zachary puzzle out the mysteries of what happened to this titanic magical place and do something to save it?

The Starless Sea is a quiet, somber, and evocative love letter to storytelling. It feels like The Night Circus and The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, had a love child that was cherished and well raised. It is a slow and meandering book that explores captivating mysteries and masterfully controls the release of information to keep you fully invested. To me, its most powerful feature is its ability to effortlessly transport you into the role of the protagonist. The Starless Sea is both a story about stepping into books and appreciating the power of storytelling and it is a catalyst to pull the reader entirely into its own pages and tales. In addition, the characters are phenomenal. Full disclosure, the main character and yours truly share a frankly alarming number of similarities, so it was a lot harder to shake biases and give the book a neutral assessment than usual. Yet, I think almost anyone who picks up this book would be hard-pressed not to fall in love with the small cast. The single thing I didn’t love about the book was how few characters there were. Morgenstern seems to prefer to focus on a very small group of individuals to tell her stories. While this worked extremely well in The Night Circus, where the romantic focus benefited from its smaller focused cast; The Starless Sea was about an entire magical world and the emptiness sometimes broke my immersion. Then again, one of the themes of the book is feeling isolated and alone in the world at large, so even the one nitpick I had still contributed to the majesty of this novel. The tight cast does allow for a lot of powerful character development that would be harder to accomplish with a larger group of people. Given my similarities to the protagonist, I found his introspections particularly insightful and felt like I learned things about myself over the course of the book.

Despite all the praise I have heaped on The Starless Sea, I have saved its most powerful asset for last: the prose. For better or worse, Erin Morgenstern is a sample size of one when it comes to her writing style. She has a unique storytelling style that is whimsical, aesthetically gorgeous, and polished at the same time. There are a number of “parts” in The Starless Sea that break up the story. Each part has two different POVs: one from Zachary that progresses the overall story forward, and one that consists of chapters from a book from the Starless Sea. Each book in the various parts represents a different character in the narrative and helps to subtly expand on their character. The books all have unique styles of storytelling and do a lot to make the primary cast feel very deep. The books also do an incredible job of getting the reader emotionally invested in the story and help to create huge moments of payoff.

On top of the prose feeling like borderline poetry, the world that Morgenstern builds is a delight to explore. The Sea is a truly wondrous and imaginative place, and you would have to have a heart of stone to not feel its call. The sea spills off the pages as Morgenstern captures so many small details like grains of sand at the ocean’s edge. From the way the stories are kept, to the way the entrances are guarded, to the people who travel its waves, the Starless Sea feels like a real place the reader could go out and find. Morgenstern has created a living and breathing new world, and I want very badly to go there.

The Starless Sea is a masterpiece of prose, character growth, and worldbuilding. It is a treasure that is unique from other books I have read, and a monument to the skill and imagination of Erin Morgenstern. If you have ever felt that stories are more than words on a page, if you have ever wanted to change the choices you have made in life, or if you have ever wanted to be part of something bigger – The Starless Sea will tackle your heart in an explosive hug. I have only captured a fraction of its magic and ideas in this review, but you will have to discover many of its secrets by yourself.

Rating: The Starless Sea – 10/10
-Andrew