2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

Tell us what you thought of the book! You can leave your review here. Even if you read the book outside of the group, please feel free to let us know what you thought of it.

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I read this a few months ago and it has become one of my favourite books. This was my review:

Enchantingly beautiful! 😍😍😍
A love letter to storytelling. ♥️
The story was as gorgeous as the cover. Erin Morgenstern, you've done it again!
I would like to find my way to the Starless Sea one day.

4 stars! Here's my review:

This book is super hard to describe with all the twists and turns and stories within stories. It's lyrical and calming and wasn't in a rush to get anywhere. I really enjoyed the abstractness of it.

Ruthie wrote: "4 stars! Here's my review:

This book is super hard to describe with all the twists and turns and stories within stories. It's lyrical and calming and wasn't in a rush to get anywhere. I really enj..."

I'm glad you enjoyed it ^^

I have more questions than answers. I liked the writing style it was very poetic, but as far the story goes it was too confusing. I gave it only 3 stars.

5.0/5.0 stars - Stories among stories within stories. Beautiful words and a complicated plot. I started this book in January, set it aside, ordered it on Audible, listened a bit. In August, I got it back out of the library, read most of it, listened to a few hours while painting, and then sat down and finished reading it. It definitely bears rereading. Recommended for fantasy lovers, story tellers, game players.

This book was just ok for me. It had beautiful descriptive writing throughout and you are catapulted into an absolutely beautiful world. However, it felt like it was going in circles and I didn't feel like there was much of a plot. I definitely preferred The Night Circus over this book.

I stick with the fairy tale part, despite the beauty of the descriptions and the wonders that you can find in this fantasy world, the story as a whole and the main characters were somewhat lame and not very attractive for me. I did not manage to fall in love with any of them, and despite the sublime of some sections the overall feeling during the reading was one of dissatisfaction, always waiting for something that would make me definitely get hooked on the plot, if there is actually a plot in this book, but I didn't get it. What I liked the most, without a doubt, were the other books within the book and especially "Fortunes and Fables."
Like Jessica I preferr The Night Circus too.

This was really not my cup of tea, although it started very promising.

My rating and review: 2 of 5 stars

Kim wrote: "This was really not my cup of tea, although it started very promising.

My rating and review: 2 of 5 stars"

I agree with you. Though most of the books that we read as a group I have liked. This one was very confusing for me.

I just finished this book. The writing was so beautiful. I’m not sure how I feel about it though. This is outside of my normal genre and I’m so glad I read it but... it didn’t leave me wanting more.

I agree about the writing style was beautiful, but the book itself was all over the place. Wish it had a more clear storyline.