Written Reveries | The Starless Sea: A Novel

The Starless Sea: A Novel

Erin Morgenstern

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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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Posts about this title from Written Reveries

Written Reveries\ \ Krystal\ \ • Apr 25 2024

Priority TBR Part 2

This is a continuation of my video on TikTok.

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Posts about this book from across Bindery

Inkspoken Books\ \ amanda.the.bookish\ \ • Sep 7 2025

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The Starless Sea

Happy #minimalistmonday readers and dreamers! I hope your week is off to a great start. 💛

It’s rainy and gloomy here, and a few trees have started to turn and the whole valley was filled with mist this morning. It feels like autumn 🍁🍂🌙 . . . . . . #gloomandglow #sweaterweather #autumnishere #aspentrees #booksoutside #autumnalaesthetic #darkacademiavibes #thestarlesssea #erinmorgenstern

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Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Mar 8 2025

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I could make 10000 versions of this video–for real, my first stack of books was 20 books tall–but I decided these are the ones that still hurt the most. Not all of these were tragedies, just moments between characters that dug their claws into my soul.

Also, yes, I’m now obsessed with this trend.

#bookishreels #bookcouples #bookmemes #bookstacks #sadbooks #fantasybookstagram

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The ten books I consider 6-star reads and the impact they've had on me as a reader.

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Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Apr 27 2024

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In honor of Independent Bookstore Day (aka the best day of the year), here’s part 2 of my day as an indie bookstore owner. Obviously, today’s an excellent day to support your local indies, but also every day is an excellent day to support an indie.

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Written Reveries\ \ Krystal\ \ • Apr 25 2024

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Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Apr 22 2024

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Look, I love a good special edition, but a lot of the times the hype and scarcity behind them makes them inaccessible to most readers. Very few people have the ability to pay $50-$100+ to a Pango reseller for an "exclusive" edition of their favorite book.\ \ Here are 8 books in my own collection, as well as a couple of authors/publishers who are creating beautiful books that feel like a "special edition" every time.\ \ \ \ Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson (Hardcover Edition) \ \ As I mentioned on Instagram earlier today, I am an endpapers-fangirl. These gorgeous moody floral are from the hardcover edition of Bloom, the farmer's market horror novella that took the internet by storm earlier this year. This one is from Titan Books and the list price was only $22.99. And while not every book does, a lot of Titan's hardcovers have an extra little touch to them.\ \ \ \ House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig (Hardcover Edition) \ \ I might be bias, because this is one of my all-time favorite authors and series, but holy moly this book is gorgeous. Not only does it have gorgeous green endpapers, it also has an incredible foil-stamped case, and it still retails for only $19.99. Delacorte Press is another publisher that puts incredible detail into a lot of their YA hardcover editions\ \ \ \ Masters of Death by Olivie Blake (B&N Exclusive, Hardcover Edition) \ \ Olivie Blake is an automatic buy author for me and I always buy in hardcover for the reasons shown above. And while yes, this particular book is an "exclusive edition", all of her books have this level or treatment (and they usually come with illustrations inside as well).This edition still only cost $26.99, I just wanted the white cover to match the One For My Enemy cover. Tor Books is my favorite publisher for many reasons and they are unmatched in the hardcover fantasy realm.\ \ \ \ The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab (Hardcover Edition) \ \ Another Tor Books publication, this book design is relatively simple, but I simply can't resist the little surprise bird skull under the dust jacket. Tor is releasing all 3 of the Shades of Magic in the new cover designs in hardcover later this year, and you better believe I will be buying one of each. And, they're still under $30 each.\ \ \ \ The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik (Hardcover Edition) \ \ While this particular photo is of the third book in the Scholomance series, I can attest that each book in the series is equally as gorgeous. Del Rey is know to use world-building maps as their endpapers in a lot of their fantasy releases and we can all agree that this is the superior treatment. You keep being you Del Rey; we love you.\ \ \ \ Ancient Sorceries, Deluxe Edition by Algernon Blackwood (Hardcover Edition) \ \ This little cutie from Pushkin Press, a UK-based independent press, is here to prove that pretty books aren't just reserved for the biggest publishers. They have a delightful little collection of classics that each get the star treatment–all for under $20!\ \ \ \ The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (Hardcover Edition) \ \ Look, no one is surprised that an Erin Morgenstern book looks and feels magical, but I couldn't leave this one out. I love its gorgeous simplicity and the way it mimics an antique foil-embossed cloth cover. Double Day doesn't do a ton of special treatment, and this one is a bit more expensive than a lot of their other books, so I'm not sure if that's due to length or the special design treatment. Still, this edition was the standard edition at only $32.00.\ \ \ \ She Is A Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran \ \ Okay, this one is last because it might be cheating. I got this one used, but I'm pretty sure it's the B&N YA Book Club Edition and I'm unsure if the standard editions have these endpapers. I'm a little suspicious, because Bloomsbury isn't known for fanciful book design. They typically only reserve those things for their biggest publications–like SJM releases–and this was a debut author. Regardless, it's absolutely stunning and I wanted to include it here, because even if it is a B&N exclusive, it's still only $18.99.\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login

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