The Starless Sea

A Novel

De: Erin Morgenstern

Narrado por: Dominic Hoffman, full cast

From the New York Times best-selling 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.

Read by Dominic Hoffman, with a full cast:

Dominic Hoffman reading the Zachary Ezra Rawlins storyline
Dion Graham reading the Sweet Sorrows storyline
Bahni Turpin reading excerpts from the Secret Diary of Katrina Hawkins
Fiona Hardingham reading The Ballad of Simon and Eleanor
Allan Corduner reading Fortunes and Fables
Jorjeana Marie reading Another place, another time

©2019 Erin Morgenstern (P)2019 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Erin Morgenstern has magic to make...the author returns with a new fantastical fairy-tale for grown-ups.... Comparisons to the likes of Tolkien, Carroll, and C.S. Lewis abound. The Starless Sea poses big questions about stories - the ones we read, the ones we live, and the ones we tell ourselves. And at the heart of her work lies the themes that have provoked those comparisons: redemption, sacrifice, fate, time, reincarnation.... We’re willing to bet the embrace of this deeper, darker, more complex follow-up novel might be close to a sure thing. As Morgenstern posits, The Starless Sea is a door to another world - one just waiting for readers to open it." (Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly)

"Anyone who’s read Erin Morgenstern’s wildly successful fiction debut, The Night Circus, knows how meticulously she crafts her imaginary worlds...the reader [is] immersed in a multitude of stories, the threads of which gradually weave together to a haunting conclusion." (NPR)

"A high-wire feat of metatextual derring-do [and] a stunning array of linked fables, myths and origin stories.... It is exquisitely pleasurable to watch the gears of this epic fantasy turn once they're set in motion. As in The Night Circus, Morgenstern is at her best when she imagines worlds and rooms and parties in vivid detail.... This novel is a love letter to readers as much as an invitation: Come and see how much magic is left in the world. Fans of Neil Gaiman and V. E. Schwab, Kelly Link and Susanna Clarke will want to heed the call. An ambitious and bewitching gem of a book with mystery and passion inscribed on every page." (Kirkus Reviews starred review)

A Story in a Story About Stories

Before reading this, it is important to know that it is a very stylized piece of art. Not everyone who looks at it will understand it, and not everyone who understands it will like it. This being said, I found the experience to be mystifying and amazing. The author definitely captures a magical feeling of being "lost" within a story, wrapping several parts of the story in layered metaphors, and often times making the reader feel as lost as the characters themselves.

The Starless Sea is an experience of a story, and like many stories about literature, it plays with the idea of storytelling. This creative storytelling creates a polarizing experience. Near the end of the book is a very confusing sequence of events- told in a very unusual manner, and it is at this point where several readers became lost, and put down this adventure altogether.

I would recommend this book to readers who want a challenge, who want to experience a dark magical world, and to those who appreciate a more avant-garde literary experience.

This door isn't for everyone, but opening it will lead to one of your favorite, or maybe least favorite books.

Loved Night Circus, but...

I'll start off with, I adore The Night Circus and was thrilled to see a new book by Morgenstern. The narration for Starless Sea is lovely, and we were off to a good start. However, by about halfway in, I was too disengaged in the story to want to finish. This is a pity, because I wanted this story so badly. The dialogue is stilted, and the stories within stories within stories, rather than nesting like dolls, bounced me around too much to really become invested. I so wish I enjoyed this, but I simply couldn't finish.

Mysterious

The performance was exceptional. I didn't think I'd like the different voices, but they were extremely well matched to the content. The story is a mystery from beginning to end, not in a traditional sense, more like magical realism, where you are never sure if what is happening is really happening or not. Morgenstern's use of language is engaging and seductive. This was an unusual book for me and the performance is what kept my attention engaged. The author is gifted with a magical quality to her work.

Enchanting Rarity

This book is a precious, high textured gift filled with magic and genius. It is a bee-flavored fantasy leaking stardust from every chapter. It’s a little complicated and difficult to understand at first, but eventually the intersecting story-lines are understood. So, it may lack the complete order some personalities require for comprehension or enjoyment. It’s like a dream, really, in so many ways. I think it’s best experienced with that in mind. Expect blurred edges, numinous energy, nonsensical elements, hidden meanings, and psychological metaphors. Author’s creativity is unbounded and completely inspiring. Night Circus is one of my favorite books. I do prefer that one to this one because of the gothic tone, compelling love, rich plot, and mesmerizing setting, BUT this book is still in a class of its own. Absolutely worth experiencing. So magical. I wish there were more enticing dreamworlds and rabbit holes created by Erin M. Hopefully, there will be...

Ending I hadn’t expected

I’ve had the physical copy of this book for 2 years, I got stuck about half way through book one and wasn’t sure I’d ever finish it. I got so much better in the second book, Highly recommend this. Also the narration is great took me a minute to realize so many people were narrating but it was great.

An unexpected and beautiful story

I can't tell anything about this story, cause it will ruin it for others, but I can say it takes time to get in it, and than you are inchanted and can't stop listening. It is like a story you read, but you also feel you live in a story like that in real life. Loved it.

Loved it, will listen to again.

Loved the readers, the stories in a story, the imagery, the commentary about what makes a story, If you love fairy tales this is a must read/listen.

New author for me

I fell in love right from the first. Will probably buy the book as well to read it again!

amazing kick-ass book

It was beyond wonderful. I will re-visit it in a couple of months, it was such a complicated story. My favorite type of book. Full of twists and turns and each twist has a bunch of turns and the turns have a bunch of twists. As perfect as The Night Circus. Bravo Erin Morgenstern. Another classic fantasy!

Fantastic!

I loved The Night Circus so much, that I was afraid this wouldn't live up to it. I was wrong. What an original, beautiful story!