Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Starling House

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

241 reviews

mairead_parade's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.0

I think I would have preferred this as a novella. I liked the outlines of the story and characters, but it felt somehow both too long and too short. The third act came quickly and didn’t feel entirely earned, but parts of the plot still dragged and I didn’t feel like I’d really spent enough time with most of the characters. It’s an engaging fairytale retelling and I liked the Edward Gorey aesthetic, but I just didn’t get the edit.

Content Warnings

heather_harrison's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

Gothic, self - aware, witty and sarcastic.

Content Warnings

pageboi31's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous 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

My buddy read pick for April 2024!

Wow this book hit hard for me. I don't know if I've read too many high-fantasy books in a row now (4-5 I think 😅), but from the moment I started Starling House I instantly connected to it and felt refreshed. I loved the small town setting in Eden, Kentucky that feels reminiscent to where I live, with characters that felt like people I could bump into in real life.

The characters in this book are great. Opal reminded me a lot of another book character I love, Ferius Parfax, both having wild red hair and an attitude/snark just as wild. The struggle Opal goes through (all the lying and stealing) just to scrape by and give her younger brother a better opportunity in life was very touching and felt so real. She was so strong-willed and never backed down from a challenge, never gave in where others would have. Arthur was also beautiful and broken, dreaming to leave but compelled to stay after his parents pass. I also loved Jasper, Bev the landlady, and Charlotte the librarian. They made a fantastic "found family" in a sense to Opal.

The book made a lot of unique choices that I really liked. The footnotes found throughout were cool

(looking back now, this was probably Charlotte's additions to Opal's book, aka Starling House)

, as well as the illustrations spread throughout

(Arthur's pictures 😊)

. I think one of my favorite things was the many retellings of the E. Sterling myth, with different conclusions and details in each that paints everything in a different light.

*Spoilers!* I loooooved so many of the fantastical elements in the book, and the way the explanation for all the spookiness (aka the river of dreams and Eleanor herself) wraps everything up was truly magical. When first reading, I thought the house was haunted in a similar way like The Haunting of Hill House, but it turns out this house truly is conscience in a way, and was good! The confrontation in the Underland with Eleanor and her beasts was beautiful. Having Opal's arc so similar to Eleanor's was poetic, leading to helping her peacefully move on and give up her child-like revenge on the town of Eden and the Gravelys (even though they definitely deserved it)

This book was such a surprise hit for me! I haven't been this surprised by my enjoyment in a book since last May when I read Recursion. Perhaps a harsher version of me would rank it 4 stars, but the way I was hooked in and loved every minute of it means it HAS to be a 5 star. Here's to hoping my buddy read-mates like it too 😁

Content Warnings

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I think both the beginning and ending of Starling House were strong, but the middle really dragged along. There was a lot of back-and-forth between Arthur and Opal that could've been pared down. Of the 2 weeks I spent reading this, the first 65% I read in a couple days. Then the remaining 35% took a week and a half. I do think the narrator was part of my issue though. I just wasn't engaged by her reading.

I also wanted more of the book to touch on the racism Jasper faced in Eden. I wanted Jasper to better scold Opal for the way she ignored about that part of him. She made a comment later on that alluded to her getting it in part. But she also definitely was very forgetful of his race. The book itself barely even acknowledged his race. It took until the middle of the book for me to determine his ethnicity - maybe that's my bad and I missed an early tell. But I think overall, this book wanted to hide details and it didn't always handle that well. It would be evasive and add extra page time instead of being a bit more upfront about things. Maybe that was purposeful too with Opal's personality. But it felt like it was just trying too hard.

The premise felt like a cross between The Hazel Wood and Book of Night. I thought it was meant to be horror, but it wasn't horror so much as gothic. More of a magical realism/low fantasy romance. This book could've been great but I think it needed further editing and less evasive plot points. I get it. Most details were meant for "reveals" later but it became excessive when I got lost wondering what the point of the book was. Or what was going on period.

P.S. I'd have loved more of a violent ending for the Gravely family and Elizabeth Bane.

Content Warnings

moniquewrites's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

This booked sucked me in and I stayed for the vibes. I was really intrigued by the mystery of the house and the writing was really beautiful (although at times it broke the fourth wall). It had an unconventional structure, and I liked the interspersing of stories about the house and Eleanor Starling throughout, that got you closer and closer to the “truth.” The characters are not overly likeable but they all kept telling you that until you saw their soft spots and stopped believing them. The mythology was interesting, and brought history into it in a way that I felt honoured a truth about how people from a place would tell their story, but then showed you the layers underneath the fresh paint. I also appreciated that the Gravely’s past

involving slave ownership and the reason for their success in the mines was named, and done in a way that came from the voice of a descendent (although fictionalized still felt like a thoughtful way to tell it).

I also loved how the book felt like a fairy tale I wasn’t expecting.

Content Warnings

hagwife's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0

Starling House holds a special place in my heart among Alix E. Harrow's books. I love that she keeps some of her trademark elements (faerie tales, vibrant and flawed characters, fuck you's to the patriarchy, etc.) and this time mixes it with Southern Gothic and horror elements. The result is a brooding fantasy novel that combines family, monsters, the House, and the all-too-real violence of small-town nastiness into something biting and beautiful.

I love that the characters' flaws have rhyme and reason and the chance to change; morally grey characters are always one of my favourites, but neither Opal nor Arthur nor Jasper are flawed for the sake of being flawed. They're all aggregations of their lived experiences, of inherited traumas and expectations that they didn't ask for, even as they continue to perpetuate some of them.

I love that this is a haunted house mystery without the haunting necessarily being about the house. Harrow's Starling House is less in the company of Hell House or Hill House, but that of Mervyn Peake's Gormengast, Susanna Clarke's the "World" from Piranesi, Jeanette Winterson's Tanglewreck, Tilly Walden's castle in The End of Summer, and Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle.

It has a life of its own, but it's not really a haunted house. The haunting is separate and the House merely does its best to contain it.

Concerning the end of the book, I wanted perhaps just a bit more.

I understand that part of the healing process here is that while "angry gets shit done", in order for Opal, Jasper, and Arthur to move on with their lives, they, along with Eleanor, have to put down what they can. The finale allows for the main characters to get the time they need to carve out a life for themselves and dream about a future that has hope and not despair. I just wish that perhaps those who had it coming had a little more actually come to them.

For those who liked this book, especially the gothic and horror elements, I highly recommend Cherie Priest's The Toll.

Content Warnings

thalassa_reading's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.25

This is an amazingly written modern gothic story about finding beauty in the beastly, about learning to see the good in people and in yourself. The protagonist is a revelation, what an incredible character. I loved her voice, her development and the very slow-burn romance. Also remarkable prose, the descriptions and metaphors were often surprising but very visceral and fitting. I've seen this book described as somewhat of a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but while the story features an initially scary guy in a weird house, it's really the protagonist who discovers that she isn't the Beast she thought. I loved how she almost grudgingly realizes that there are people who care for her, and she doesn't have to stay behind her wall of self-sufficiency and hardness.
Also, the House!! It's amazing!

But I found the ending quite unsatisfactory. Central arcs that motivated Opal's actions were suddenly set aside, the previous villains didn't matter anymore. The story spent so much effort on showing injustice and cruelty but then turns around and seems to say, cocooning oneself away is the path forward. I don't understand what happened to the House and why but I didn't like it. And finally, the author seemed to shy away from showing actual happiness and found family, instead there was a weird epilogue written from a great distance. It's far too short and unemotional to wind down from the finale.

Content Warnings

frawst_disasta_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I love a good gothic noir fantasy book and holy hell did Starling House deliver.

While the main characters are morally grey, I couldn’t help but root for them, for their ‘will they won’t they’ and for the house itself.

This book is exactly what I needed/wanted the book to be. And I do love a book with some footnotes and illustrations. I will most likely re-read and annotate in the future.

Content Warnings

aklovekorn's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

Content Warnings

mfmccoy0216's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I really had a hard time getting into this one for some reason. I think the pacing was just a bit slow for me and some of the plot points fell through.

Content Warnings

More...