Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Night Circus remains one of my personal favorites, largely because of the author's ability to write such beautiful and immersive prose. Reader be forewarned about the glowing reviews. Starless Sea still displays the author's strength in lovely and emotive writing. She is undoubtedly a creative force. However, she intentionally (I assume) uses certain techniques which are a major distraction. Frequent use of choppy and truncated sentence structure. Frequent use of the main character's partial (or full) name, sentence after sentence. Perhaps I am missing some vogue literary technique, but I might suggest a pronoun here or there? The story is intentionally disjointed, both with respect to character(s) and time. It makes it difficult to invest in anything, and I felt like I was reading a kaleidoscope of over-the-top Alice in Wonderland descriptions. I'm not trying to be cruel/harsh - this book will have a much more narrow appeal, whereas Night Circus appealed to many. This book was a disconnected mess of thesaurus writing. I wonder if the author decided to go overboard with those things she's undoubtedly heard from readers of the Night Circus over the past eight years. Unfortunately, she went way too far, and the story is simply not that good. The romance element was unbelievable, largely because it seemed rushed and undeveloped. And...take it as a neutral comment - the same-sex element was a surprise. No - I'm not opposed to same sex relationships, and I understand this critique will trigger some (sorry). In the Night Circus, right there on the back jacket cover, the author describes the romance between a man/woman, played out over years in a unique setting. In Starless Sea...the romance is described more circumspectly on the cover. Admittedly, I may have "passed" on buying Starless Sea had I known about this emphasis. I see nothing wrong or controversial about this. Please don't make it an issue, where none exists. Respectfully, please consider the possibility that someone can be accepting of gay individuals and yet not want to read about them. Readers often want to project themselves into fantasies, even pretending certain possibilities that the story "could happen to them." That's the entertainment in reading fiction, isn't it? So....as someone who has very close gay friends, I see nothing wrong in being honest that I don't want to read about a gay romance, because I don't project myself well into the story. I unapologetically prefer heterosexual romances in a story, because of the reasons I gave above. Just consider this perspective, that's all - Again, I loved Night Circus. Loved it. Starless Sea is altogether different. I am obviously not the target audience, which I suspect must be those (like many of the characters she tries to develop in the book) who are attracted to deeply intense and fragmented storytelling. I found myself not caring anymore about the characters, largely because of the helter skelter manner in which they are developed. It was difficult to motivate myself to finish many of the chapters, let alone the entire lengthy manuscript. (Where was the editor for this book?). I imagine Starless Sea will win awards for her creative writing, much like Night Circus. However, sadly for me this book didn't jive - from the story, to the repetition, to the nature of the romance, & etc. Finally, I reject the positive reviews from people who repeatedly keep writing that you have to read the book more than once to "get it." That is ridiculous. I read Night Circus more than once, because I so enjoyed the story, the characters, the writing & etc. I shouldn't have to re-read a novel because I can't discover a meaningful plot.