I went into The Starless Sea as an observer & came out a super-fan, soaked in honey, golden paint, and memories of owls, keys, swords, and bees. That’s why this is a long and juicy post, so settle in!
Why this book is 🤯 & it’s incredible relevance today as an homage to legends.
Book summary without spoilers (but can anyone summarize infinity, really?)
Writing technique of Metaphorical-Seed Clues + my theories on that ending (WITH spoilers)
Part 1. Why this book is amazing
Why this book matters today
The Starless Sea is a story about stories. Literally. This transportive literary fantasy dives deep into the legendary “place” where all stories come from and shows how they’re sustained; how they transcend time, and how they change the worlds and people around them.
🖌️ It’s a work of fine art in novel form, an art gallery wrapped between 2 covers. 🎨
The origin of stories has never mattered more than it matters today. We are currently in the midst of tremendous debates about the legal rights around the creation of books and all art forms. Moreover, what is the role of creators now in a world where people are reducing art production to a few clicks?
Since the beginning, writers have argued forever about the inevitable question, “Where did the idea for your story come from?”
Some believe stories are a simple collection of words that have a formula. These people are currently flooding ebook stores with AI-generated copies of other people’s books, instant-click AI rewrites stolen from anywhere online they can find material, and other AI tools that create stories with very little to no actual thought required by the author.
detailed this trend even in audiobooks in his recent post here on The Sonic Boom.Beyond the danger of the way people use these tools to devalue humanity and stop people from thinking for themselves…
(Side note: The fastest way to becoming manipulated is to stop thinking independently & asking questions.)
…I have another big problem with the consequences of the AI book flood:
I don’t believe that AI-created novels thrown together in less than a month should ever be sold at the same price point as what I’d like to call “fine art in novel form.” No one in an art gallery would ever place a hand-painted oil portrait on canvas next to an AI-generated image in cheap laser-printed ink on plain white paper, and they’d never sell them for the same price! So why are online booksellers expecting to sell novels made through years of drafting, rewriting, editing, and workshopping through several focus groups at the same price range as AI-made books?
Standing in a completely different category of novels, the 100% human-crafted novel “The Starless Sea” hints at a much deeper and more meaningful origin of all stories that is the furthest thing from a machine. In this world, stories bubble out of a subconscious connection bridging both time and space, uniting people across time, that’s only found by diving deep within the recesses of one’s own mind. Reading this book made me feel like I could see a starless sea within my own soul. I also believe that more readers are growing hungrier for generous authors like Erin Morgenstern who spend years putting a piece of their spirit into their words that make people think. This is a book that can be read multiple times with more nuances and hidden meanings appearing each time, with questions that aren’t always answered so that you can interact fully with the story and find your own answers to how people may or may not decide their own futures and write their own stories. Herein lies the book’s brilliance.
By the way, if you’ve read The Starless Sea before, loved it like I do, and want more books with similar vibes, then check out this video review from another Starless Sea fan The Clockwork Reader for great book recommendations:
2. 🔖 Book summary without spoilers
The Starless Sea isn’t one story; it’s many all woven together, including a final one that lives beyond the ending. The general premise is this:
Imagine you were a college student who wanted to design intricate video games with rich storylines, except one day you found yourself reading a wild fantasy book that had a scene from your life in it. And not just you, but also descriptions of worlds within worlds that made you question everything you thought was real, and whether fate determined it all or if you could change what comes next.
The whole tale gives you the same experience that the lead character Zachary has as he reads these ancient stories, stumbles through them in an infinitely large underground library (with parts of it outside of time), and tries to find meaning in the mazes of mysterious cats, endless books, haunted art galleries, abandoned wine cellars, and a kitchen (that communicates only through written notes) that can miraculously produce everything you ever wanted sent up through an old dumbwaiter system to comfort you while you try to remember what’s real or wonder if everyone is just a person in someone’s story. Zachary’s scenes alternate with the stories of the other characters from the books that they “came from,” and yes, it all really is connected by the end. I loved the romances of all kinds between straight, gay, metaphorical, and supernatural characters and the nods to other book fandoms within this book. Everything is a metaphor or symbol in one way or another.
But enough of that because trying to condense this book into a snippet is like trying to hold the universe in your hand (which you kind of can because a book holds a piece of the universe, I guess?):
3. Technique:
🌱Planting a Trail of Metaphorical-Seed Clues
******Do not read this section if you want to avoid spoilers.******
Disclaimer: This is my hot take on it. I can in no way actually prove that any of my interpretations are what the author intended. Please reply in the comments to tell me what it all meant to you! I’d love to hear different takes on it.
Reddit does not disappoint with their various interpretations of The Starless Sea, which are lots of fun to read too.
I made a list of what each symbol means literally & possible metaphorical meanings as well.
I’m going to break this part down into threads following each of the main symbols:
🐝 = bees / acolyte tattoo / creative power / subconscious
(their honey has the power to make beliefs real in the Starless Sea)
🗝️ = key / keeper tattoo / power of discovery & knowledge / storehouse of the past
🗡️ = sword / guardian tattoo / weapon to kill Fate
🐇 = Eleanor / explorer / seeking / leads through Wonderland
👓 = Zachary (who wears glasses) / reader becoming story
🦉= Dorian / Owl King tattoo / Last character to see Owl King /
(killer of Zachary the way owls killed Fate to end the story)
⏳= Time, (also The Pirate & The Keeper) who is in love with:
🔮 = Fate (Max, Mirabel, etc.)
Now if we follow the story order from chapter to chapter, it goes like this:
🔮frees ⏳ with 🗝️, making him the harbor’s keeper (we learn later).
🐝 introduced via new acolyte (Rhyme) **Notice the bee comes as the first initiation because their humming is actually the “sound of stories,” a.k.a. The Beginning.
👓 Zachary finds the book “Sweet Sorrows” (that foreshadows his journey will end at the Starless Sea of honey made by 🐝 and conclude with sorrow = his own death).
🗡️ introduced via new Guardian initiation
👓 Zachary finds image online of 🔮wearing the 🐝🗝️🗡️necklace and follows the lead to the masquerade ball. (Note for the rest of the book, “Zachary is chasing fate” but also questioning it.)
🗝️ introduced via new Keeper initiation »
Now here is where it gets very interesting. If you read the steps carefully, you see that everything in the Keeper imitation later happens to Zachary when he ends up alone with the frozen statue of 🔮. He has basically memorized “Sweet Sorrows,” his story, and takes it far beyond, which unfreezes Fate, who then burns the key into his chest and makes him a new Keeper (The key to End The Story).
I believe him becoming a Keeper here is why he can’t actually die from here on. He appears to die, but stays “alive enough” to talk to the bees and start creating new stories. Even Dorian comments that “he doesn’t look dead.” Dorian wakes him by putting “Fate’s heart” into Zachary’s chest, so it is as if Dorian and Zachary have now taken the place of Miracle & The First Keeper so that those two are now free to live above ground.
The Story Becomes Conscious of Itself via Zachary
When the story gains awareness of itself (Zachary) it makes different choices to slip into co-creating a new reality with fate. Zachary believes he is living in this story and becomes the story by the end so that he can’t actually die. He dies, but continues living in the story, beyond time. Because if you’re living outside of time, then you cannot die, and a “story never dies as long as it’s told.”
Dorian keeps telling their story to himself and finds him, replaces Zachary’s dead heart with the heart of fate, “the story heart” - and the two of them are united as fate (now an aspect of Zachary) and time (now an aspect of Dorian, who through his obsession with being a guardian had all time-based fears of stories being destroyed…
Dorian is always tricked into killing fate the way the Owl king was always killed for carrying fate in its eyes (first killing Mirabel, & then killing Zachary).
In the end, stories never die, so the starless sea just shifts (and the only way for Dorian & Zach to be together was to live in a story, *which is timeless*.)
➡️The point is that by slowly planting these symbols over and over throughout the chapters, the meaning slowly dawns as we get the reveals much later. Without having symbols to follow along with, a story as big as this wouldn’t be nearly as compelling.
🤔Further thoughts:
Simon + Eleanor
(a.k.a. The Part & Future Give Birth to a New Fate)
Simon + Eleanor = Past + Future > child born as Fate, the story sculptor, nudging in directions but not able to die (=ending the story).
Simon a.k.a. the man lost in time, records everything. (The past is nothing but a record, after all, while fate is the future.) He’s trying to reach Eleanor, but he has to move forward to reach her instead of going back (lost in memories = lost in time).
Eleanor has decided she becomes what she believes in stories (and Fate is often a result of belief).
Owl King
Owl king got the eyes of fate, and Dorian has a tattoo of it on his back, so the Owl King could be his destiny or he could “see” Zachary was important as the possible new incarnation of Fate. Owls are also the symbol of wisdom, a carrier of fate that helped to keep it alive.
Hypothetically, “wisdom” might kill fate because of the belief “I decide my own fate; my actions now decide my future, so I won’t wait for what comes.” (Like Zachary choosing his own door after the owl came to accompany him on his journey.)
The Cats
I noticed that the cats gravitated most to The Keeper at the beginning of the book. One cat starts to hang out with Zachary a bit later on. Then eventually a cat ends up following Zachary, and I’d presume that once he becomes a new keeper himself, all the cats will adore him.
🤩This fandom has the best book-inspired merch:
Because I’ve found myself honey-soaked from the stories within stories that comprises this masterpiece, I now feel morally obligated to show you my best browsing finds while hunting for the best Starless Sea fan merch:
An Owl King Enamel Pin
Click here to see the Owl King enamel pin on Etsy.
Was the Owl King your favorite hero / anti-hero / troublemaker in “The Starless Sea”? Whether you loved or hated him, you have to admit the artwork on this pin makes a stunning snapshot of this universe.
“Max’s” Infamous Necklace
Just like the original from the book, this necklace is in gold. You can get this bee, key, and sword necklace on Etsy. (Please note that the necklace and charm materials are either gold-dipped, 14 Kt. gold, brass with gold plating, yellow-gold plated silver, stainless silver or stainless steel, and/or brass. Contact the seller for more details.)
And…it also comes in silver!
This classic triple necklace in silver imitates the piece worn by Max/ Mirabel / …(She’s had a lot of names, ok?) that leads Zachary to the first masquerade ball, his last party above ground. Find this collector’s edition of the necklace on Etsy.
A charm bracelet with ALL the symbols
Why choose one symbol from the book when you can have them all on one Starless Sea bracelet? Another treasure found on Etsy.
The Ultimate Keeper’s Key
I found this beauty of a key necklace pendant on Shapeways, and I love the idea of wearing it on a silk ribbon just like the other keys were when they appeared in The Starless Sea.