Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Starling House

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Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

54 reviews

nisaak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was just on the edge of my comfort level for horror. It's not really horror but it's scary. I hoped for a good ending and

that's kind of what happened.

It definitely kept me on my toes. I really adore Alix Harrow's writing. I love how she describes Starling House and all the love, blood, sweat, and tears that Opal puts into it.

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dani_reis's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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aileron's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

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adarose's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

First off, one thing that really worked for me about this book was the writing style. The author has this way of describing things that is both succinct but also really evocative.

(On the topic of descriptions, I will say I got a bit annoyed at the sheer number of times we had to be reminded that the protagonists are like REALLY ugly, but, that’s not a super big deal I guess.)

Secondly, I just thought the premise was really interesting. I love stories that center around houses, and a creepy, almost-sentient, potentially cursed house? I’m all in.

What didn’t necessarily work for me: often I find that when I’m reading fantasy/fantasy-adjacent YA stories, I have to remind myself over and over “these are children,” because they’ll be like, crime bosses and speak like adults (*cough* six of crows *cough*), but this story I had the opposite experience: for some reason, I kept having to remind myself “this isn’t YA; these are adults” again and again.

I think it was the plot elements. An impoverished, smart-mouthed, scrappy young criminal that has to do what it takes to raise their sibling on account of dead/absent parents reads very YA to me. (And I feel like Opal speaks a lot like a teenager too.) It was just something that took me out of the story every time I was reminded “oh that’s right, they’re meant to be in their mid-late 20s!”

Overall, if I was rating the like, first 60-70% of the book, I’d give it a solid 4.25/4.5 stars. The pacing was admittedly really slow, but idk, I liked it (especially the slow-burn romance with the broody man alone in his old house; that’s my kryptonite).

But the last quarter of the book I’d probably only rate like a 2.75/3. The part that was meant to be the most thrilling/climactic moment seemed to stretch on for way longer than it needed to and I just kept thinking “is it really not over YET?” which was disappointing.

The big reveal is sort of just one long info-dump, but at the same time I also see WHY it was done that way given how everyone’s different partly-correct versions of the truth get peppered throughout the story. It was like at the end the actual truth had to be laid out in a similar manner. But it still felt a bit… idk, lazily tacked on?

So… mixed feelings! Lol.

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displacedcactus's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

Alix E. Harrow has been a hit-or-miss author for me and this one was more of a miss. The pacing was slow and even though the characters were in their mid to late 20s, it really read like a YA with broody teenage MCs. The slow pacing meant certain things took too long to get explained, leaving me to spend about half of the book thinking that there was bad characterization or too much hand-waving away of details.

This book does have very similar vibes to For the Wolf and Lakesedge, so if you liked either of those and are looking for something that will make you feel the same kind of way, you might enjoy this more than I did. Also probably good for readers who usually gravitate towards YA but would like to branch out more into adult fantasy.

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