{"id":4673,"date":"2023-01-09T11:54:27","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T17:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/?p=4673"},"modified":"2023-01-16T14:24:43","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T20:24:43","slug":"23-books-in-2023-book-1-the-starless-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/23-books-in-2023-book-1-the-starless-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"23 Books in 2023: Book 1 &#8211; The Starless Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Book 1 of 2023 complete.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Starless-Sea-Novel-Erin-Morgenstern\/dp\/038554121X\/\">The Starless Sea<\/a> by Erin Morgenstern<\/p>\n<p>What a blessing it was to receive this book as a birthday gift. I devoured it. It is everything I love about fiction and reads like a love letter to storytelling. I need to sit with it for a bit, but at this moment in time, it is in my top five favorite books.<\/p>\n<p>If you like urban fantasy mixed with myths\u2014ancient and ageless stories intermingling with our modern lives\u2014read it.<\/p>\n<p>During my initial read, I often thought of both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Bronze-King-Sorcery-Hall-Book-ebook\/dp\/B08L9VXX58\/\">The Sorcery Hall Trilogy<\/a> (urban fantasy about a young girl using a violin to save Manhattan from an ancient evil) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Wrinkle-Quintet-Swiftly-Tilting-Acceptable\/dp\/0312373511\/\">A Wrinkle In Time<\/a> (it is directly referenced, but I could see similarities well before). Both are stories that have stayed with me long after I read them. Of course, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Neverending-Story-Michael-Ende\/dp\/0525457585\/\">The Neverending Story<\/a> kept nagging at my mind throughout, as well. The way Morgenstern connected familiar elements from these ancient and familiar stories we love with a world so entirely new was intoxicating.<\/p>\n<p>I will read this again. And again.<\/p>\n<p>And again and again and again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Book 1 of 2023 complete. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern What a blessing it was to receive this book as a birthday gift. I devoured it. It is everything I love about fiction and reads like a love letter to storytelling. I need to sit with it for a bit, but at this moment [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"20 Books in 2023: Book 1 - The Starless Sea","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[364],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-what-are-you-reading","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/The-Starless-Sea-cover-scaled.jpg?fit=1920%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2483,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/diary-of-a-light-warrior-final-fantasy-for-iphone\/","url_meta":{"origin":4673,"position":0},"title":"Diary of a Light Warrior &#8211; Final Fantasy for iPhone","author":"Jared Cash","date":"April 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"More than a year ago, I began playing the original Final Fantasy for iPhone and during the course of the game, I made a series of posts to GetGlue as I accomplished various milestones. I had always intended to flesh them out into a journal of sorts from the point\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Apple&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2975,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/the-real-iron-throne\/","url_meta":{"origin":4673,"position":1},"title":"The Real Iron Throne","author":"Jared Cash","date":"July 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"George R. R. Martin wrote a blog post revealing the differences between how he pictured The Iron Throne from the \"A Song of Ice and Fire\" series and the way it was depicted in \"Game of Thrones\" (also known as \"Die Brotherf***ker, Die!\"). Let me tell you, it's frakking rad.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TV&quot;","block_context":{"text":"TV","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/tv\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Marc Simonetti - Iron Throne","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Marc-Simonetti-Iron-Throne-206x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4691,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/23-books-in-2023-book-2-i-hate-hamlet\/","url_meta":{"origin":4673,"position":2},"title":"23 Books in 2023: Book 2 &#8211; I Hate Hamlet","author":"Jared Cash","date":"January 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Book 2 of 2023 complete. I Hate Hamlet by Paul Rudnick I've had this sitting on my nightstand for months when a friend of mine cleaned out her library and asked everyone at a party to take something home. It's a Broadway play from 1991 with a cast of recognizable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;What Are You Reading&quot;","block_context":{"text":"What Are You Reading","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/what-are-you-reading\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A man's hand holds a book, spine facing the viewer. The spine reads \"I Hate Hamlet \u2022\u00a0A Comedy \u2022\u00a0Paul Rudnick \u2022\u00a0The Fireside Theater\" Behind the book is a large chest of drawers, painted a slate grey-blue. The top surface of the dresser is wood with a dark stain. A small aquarium, many school supplies, and a large, lidded glass jar filled with greenery rest atop the dresser.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/I-Hate-Hamlet-spine-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/I-Hate-Hamlet-spine-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/I-Hate-Hamlet-spine-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/I-Hate-Hamlet-spine-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4696,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/guess-its-time-to-reroll-all-my-characters\/","url_meta":{"origin":4673,"position":3},"title":"Guess it&#8217;s time to reroll all my characters","author":"Jared Cash","date":"January 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I didn't want to cancel my D&D Beyond Subscription, but I really feel like I have no other choice but to vote with my wallet. I held off on this until I knew I could get my characters saved. I don't know where I go next. I'm looking for tools\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;A Day in the Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"A Day in the Life","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screenshot of the cancellation confirmation screen for D&D Beyond. A wind-up mechanical dragon with a winding key in its breastbone rests on a white surface. An open pocket watch is placed beside it. A variety of tinkering tools are laid out in front of it.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_1940.jpg?fit=595%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_1940.jpg?fit=595%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/IMG_1940.jpg?fit=595%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2739,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/today-in-ios-wit-rhythm-and-fantasy\/","url_meta":{"origin":4673,"position":4},"title":"Today in iOS: Wit, rhythm, and fantasy","author":"Jared Cash","date":"December 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Three things: One, The Bard's Tale for iOS is free for a limited time. It's a birds-eye view dungeon crawler similar in style to the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, X-Men Legends, Champions of Norrath, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. While the original\u00c2\u00a0The Bard's Tale series was a western-RPG in the vein\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;iPhone\/iPad&quot;","block_context":{"text":"iPhone\/iPad","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/apple\/iphone-ipad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1924,"url":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/final-fantasy-down-goes-chaos\/","url_meta":{"origin":4673,"position":5},"title":"Final Fantasy &#8211; Down goes Chaos!","author":"Jared Cash","date":"April 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been playing Final Fantasy I for iPhone for the last week or so and beat Chaos this morning. I still have a few bonus dungeons to go back and complete, but I wanted to give my thoughts. First of all, the game is awesome. It's ported from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Games","link":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/category\/games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/IMG_1612.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/IMG_1612.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/IMG_1612.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/IMG_1612.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4673"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4695,"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4673\/revisions\/4695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zepfhyr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}