Reviews with content warning for Racism - Будинок Старлінгів

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Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Будинок Старлінгів by Alix E. Harrow

176 reviews

libellules's review against another edition

5.0

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

loved everything about this book.

Content Warnings

seaton44's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

flohbeutel's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

destiniev's review against another edition

5.0

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

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.

Content Warnings

frankiefield's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Slow start, but well worth sticking to it. Very lush, evocative writing. Delightfully anti-capitalist without bashing you over the head with it.

Content Warnings

judassilver's review against another edition

4.0

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

Content Warnings

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional funny 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

Content Warnings

browniebby's review against another edition

0.75

mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book was not good. I went in expecting something completely different from what I got. The main character seemed much younger than her age, the love interest was really just boring (oh he gave her a coat and over payed her must be true love)and the side characters just felt like they were there because the author needed more people.

Also...the author kept mentioning how people treated the brother due to his race, which is vaguely implied to be Latino although it's never said from where. And she had a whole section about slavery told from the perspective of a descendant, but...it had a very magical negro type ending so any credit I might have given was immediately lost. It felt like she wanted YOU to know that she's aware of Kentuckys racism but she's not gong to delve too deep into it.

As an aside that audiobook narrator was a poor choice. This book is supposed to be set in small town Kentucky but from the narrator you'd never know that. Even the characters born and bred in the areas don't really have an accent. It was very odd because the location is a HUGE part of the story.

Content Warnings

sephiefoxx's review against another edition

5.0

dark 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

It occurs to me that this lonely, beastly, bleeding boy is the only person who has ever fought for me, ever stood between me and the dark and told me to save myself.

Modern gothic is a genre that I just want to wrap myself in forever. What more can you ask for? A stubborn and bold main character. A brooding love interest. An asshole cat and a brazen sentient house falling into disrepair. All tied up with Alix E. Harrow’s beautiful prose.

Content Warnings

story_goblin's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I didn’t really know what to expect from this book, but can you really know what to expect out of any Alix E. Harrow book? I loved her first two novels, so I picked this up automatically. It’s difficult to describe Harrow’s writing… it’s dark and creepy and heavy and so full of love and hope at the same time. If you’re looking for something unique and complex, this is for you.

Content Warnings

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