The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“We are all stardust and stories.” There exists a strange world deep under the earth’s crust. Selected humans are presented with mysterious doors appearing where they should not be. A person walking through a door has a choice to enter. The underworld is like a virtual reality with stories within stories, where time can warp, there is an ancient library, the sea is made of letters and words, bees flourish along with books, exotic food and cocktails like a sidecar or a bees knees. Mysteries abound, and cats. Portents must be noted, a sword, keys, dice, honey, and clocks. How could anyone not want to go? I didn’t want to do anything else once I started reading. It isn’t written linearly or chronologically. There are flashbacks and fast forwards which can get confusing but I loved every minute of it. I must say I wasn’t satisfied with the end until I went back to the chapter called “Interlude” which is the real ending.
The book itself is a piece of art. Even the dust jacket is special. The mat black compliments the raised and glossy keys, ribbons, and beads. Without the jacket the hard copy book is still lovely. Printed like an antique with gold letters and pictures of the sword, a bee, and a key. The end papers are not plain either. Printed with all kinds of antique looking keys. The title page is classy, there are special pages throughout and the chapters have great titles. This is by far one of the best books I have read, held in my hands, and smelled. I so want to budget time to read it again. One of my book groups read it and we started discussion at 6:30 forcing ourselves to stop and go home at 10!


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