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3.5 

The Starless Sea

By Erin Morgenstern
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world—a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.

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 of 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.

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17388 Reviews

3.5
Smiling Face with Heart-Eyes“This story was hard to follow in the absolute best way. You get to know the characters without knowing that you are. I actually laughed out loud when Zack is talking to “the Kitchen.” I am already sure I could read again and again with new perspectives each time.”
““It is easier to be in love in a room with closed doors. To have the whole world in one room. In one person. The universe condensed and intensified and burning, bright and alive and electric. But doors cannot stay closed forever.” — “Zachary : Where is everyone? Keeper : You and I are here. Your friend is in his room. Rhyme is likely watching him, or attending to her duties. And I do not know Mirabelle’s current location. She keeps her own council. Zachary : That’s it? There’s 5 of us and cats?! Keeper : That is correct Mr Rawlins. Would you like a number for the cats? It might not be acturate; they are difficult to count.””

About Erin Morgenstern

ERIN MORGENSTERN is the author of The Night Circus, a number-one national bestseller that has been sold around the world and translated into thirty-seven languages. She has a degree in theater from Smith College and lives in Massachusetts.

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