
From the New York Times 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 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.
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 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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1
bennett_the_ceo
(Grade: D+) The irony here is painful. Morgenstern wants to write an ode to storytelling and the magic it creates for readers, yet she has crafted an overly long novel that never prioritizes plot over style. So much time is spent on the depiction of a set of symbols, only for that mythology to turn out hollow. Same for the setting: a secret, underground library that lacks imagination or wonder. It's a shame, because some of the fables interspersed in the main text are quite riveting and deserve better.

(Rated on Dec 7, 2020)
0
TheKeyLime
(Grade: A) This read like a dream. It’s mellifluous, to say the least.

(Rated on Apr 25, 2020)
0
evie (Grade: D) Oh thank all heavens, I managed to finish this book... Of the few things in life of which I am certain, me never again trying to read an Erin Morgenstern novel is right up there. "She wears a long-sleeved black dress that could probably be described as slinky if it wasn’t so voluminous." What in the name of satan... For fans of Neil Gaiman and Wes Anderson. This book is much too enamoured with itself; it's all whimsy for the sake of whimsy, worldbuilding that's all aesthetics and no depth,
(Rated on Jun 16, 2020)