Well, Morgenstern took the aesthetic narrative style and absolutely ran with it for The Starless Sea.

I don’t entirely agree with this assessment – there is, yes, a lot of aesthetic, but it’s crafted around a love story and a game which is quite magical to watch unravel. One of the criticisms I’ve seen of The Night Circus is that it is more aesthetic and less plot. It seemed so patchworky, where I loved the cover of The Night Circus. Would I love it? Would it be totally different? Would it live up to the the first book? I also wasn’t entirely sold on the cover when it was first revealed, I’ll be honest. But it’s been so long between the release of it and The Starless Sea that I honestly felt nervous about starting the new book. If you remember my review for The Night Circus, you’ll know I love it. 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. Zachary learns of those who have sacrificed much to protect this realm, relinquishing their sight and their tongues to preserve this archive, and also those who are intent on its destruction. 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. 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 a subterranean library, hidden far below the surface of the earth.

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. Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a strange book hidden in the library stacks. Author: Erin Morgenstern ( twitter / website)

Under the starless sea