1. Talk about the
underground realm of the Starless Sea. How would you describe the
library to someone who has never read the book?
2. Three of the book's most prominent symbols, in a book full of them,
are a sword, a key, and a bee. What is the role each symbol plays in the
book and what does each signify, or represent?
3. One of the novel's central ideas is that we are our stories. How does
this theme unfold during the course of the story?
4. (Follow-up
to Question 3) In what way is this book about Zachary's life
story—that as a child he made a choice not to
open a magical door? What does he learn throughout this book about how
that decision altered his life? What about turning points in your own
life. Do you think back on some of them and wonder how a different
decision might have led you on a completely different path?
5. (Follow-up
to Question 4) The novel asks the question, if a single
decision can alter the direction of our lives, to what degree are we in
charge of our own stories/lives? Are our lives subject to fate, or
destiny?
6. In what way is The
Starless Sea also about how stories take over our lives?
Zachary, for instance is presented with "a labyrinthine of tunnels and
rooms filled with stories." How can he (or we) not be drawn in?
7. Morgenstern has packed her novel with literary allusions. Even
Zachary's own name contains three of them. Can you unpack others:
consider works by Lewis Carroll, Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling. J.R.R.
Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Jules Verne. Can you identify others? Are the
literary references clever "affectations," or do they actually affect
the plot of the novel?
8. Which of the mysterious characters were you most puzzled by…
intrigued by… or drawn to? Take any one of the following, for instance:
Rhyme, the Keeper, Mirabel (is she Fate…or is she the Moon?), Allegra,
Eleanor, and Simon. Any others?
9. Zachary observes at one point that reading a novel is like "playing a
game where all the choices have been made for you ahead of time by
someone who is much better at this particular game." Care to comment on
that statement?
10. What was your experience reading The
Starless Sea? Was it what you had hoped for? More than you'd
hoped for? Less? Did you find yourself entering a world of enchantment…
or a cluttered, confusing world? In other words, were you pleased or
disappointed? How would you compare this book to Morgenstern's first, The
Night Circus?
