Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea

It was gifted to me by my friend Kim and because it came with a hand written note and recommendation, it went to  the top of my reading. Maybe two years ago, my friend Melissa Belanger recommended The Night Circus. I was unfamiliar with it and was pretty much reading Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett exclusively, you know, catching up... I read it and loved it. The voice that it was told in was different. It was told in a way that I could almost hear the author telling me a story. I liked that. I love stories. I read Night Circus many times, absorbing the magic where I could. And then the wait for Ms. Morgenstern's next story. 

The Starless Sea started out with the same voice, and it was like hearing from an old friend. Ms. Morgenstern weaves a story of myth and time and honey and keys and books and now that I've read the last of the pages I'm now able to connect some stars together. It's one of those books that after you finish, you want to sit down for coffee with the author and ask serious questions. You have to digest her words and think on them awhile. But part of the entire book, and underlaying thread is choice and what you choose and what matters to the story... It's up to you how you see things. The stories unfold, envelope and stick to you like honey. You may drown in the thick dreamy story, or honey, but it's your choice what happens next.  The main character, Zachary Ezra Rawlins, seems to be questing for meaning. There are symbols throughout the story and Zachary is the heart AND the key.  
It took me awhile to read it. 512 pages takes longer these days, but each page was wonderful. Ms. Morgenstern's writing is like a dream and it's nice to be lost in her Starless Sea. The son of a fortune teller is making his own story, his own fortune.  When she wrote, "But this is not where their story ends. Their story is only just beginning. And no story ever truly ends and long as it is told." I wept. 
I've read so many reviews of this book and many miss the point. If you could soak a story in romance and dreamy bits you would have The Starless Sea. 

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