Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

71 reviews

purplatypus's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Car accident

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Cursing, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Classism

Minor: Slavery, Vomit, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcohol, Racism, and Alcoholism

darkdahlia9's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abandonment, Murder, Incest, Slavery, and Alcoholism

acethirtynine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book grew on me - it took me a minute to really get into it, but once the story picks up it really gets going. I found Opal both challenging and sympathetic in a good balance based on her life and experiences. Not my favorite of Alix. E. Harrow's but still very enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Vomit

Minor: Slavery, Child death, Murder, Incest, and Racism

micaelamariem's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really really enjoyed this Southern Gothic horror. I’ll try to write a full review on my blog tomorrow but for now..wow!
The descriptions were vivid and beautiful in a haunting kind of way. The characters were uniquely flawed to the point where you couldn’t help but empathize with their pain. The sins in the book were atrocious, and the themes of identity, belonging, and mercy crawled across the pages, igniting the words into some higher morals. And of course, who doesn’t love a sentient house? 
I also thought it was super unique to include footnotes and a fictional bibliography! What a way to add voice. 
The only reason it’s not five stars is because there are parts of the ending I wasn’t thoroughly satisfied with. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Racism, Slavery, Grief, Sexual content, Car accident, Child death, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Death of parent, Addiction, Death, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

aliiloue's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

loved everything about this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Classism, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Vomit, Slavery, and Racism

Minor: Alcohol and Drug use

seaton44's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Gore, Death of parent, Blood, Domestic abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Classism, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Homophobia, Racism, Slavery, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit and Sexual assault

jerseynoonatic's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

What a disappointing book. The idea could have been good, but the characters were so awful and the story fell sort of flat. The romance was poorly done, and the smut was unwa.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Deportation, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Slavery, Vomit, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Police brutality, Violence, Cursing, Drug use, and Death of parent

flohbeutel's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Car accident, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Racism, Bullying, Classism, and Blood

Minor: Drug use

destiniev's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 Rep: Bi MC, queer secondary characters, BIPOC secondary characters 

Format: Physical

Rating: 5⭐️ 

Cawpile: 9.07

Quote: “I know that part of the story must be made up, because there’s no such thing as curses or cracks in the world, but maybe that’s all a good ghost story is: a way of handing out consequences to the people who never got them in real life”

Starling House is a story about stories. Stories that get remembered, stories that get forgotten, stories that get twisted and rewritten for the benefit of others and stories that can heal. Starling House is a ghost story and a fairytale and it’s about the people who live in them. 

Starling House is full of beautiful pros and is in its essence a dark fairytale. 

I think if you go in expecting a horror or even a gothic horror you will be disappointed. It’s more reminiscent of Nettle & Bone with the whimsical feel to it. In fact for me Starling House feels like a dark fairytale version of Casita in Encanto. 

I overall really enjoyed this story. I fell in love with Starling House itself and loved Arthur’s character. I liked seeing a darker side of the small towns trope and the realities of what it means to be different in a small town. Not the romanticized versions we usually see in fiction. I also like reading about how one can feel trapped in the stories they create about themselves and how to move through that and how we can rewrite our stories. 

I feel that if you are a fan of T.Kingerfishers’s style of dark fairytales then you may enjoy Starling House. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Racism, and Death of parent

judassilver's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Slavery, Violence, Car accident, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Xenophobia, Death, Vomit, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Incest and Child death