Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

105 reviews

cyndi1966's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Abandonment, and Car accident

Moderate: Violence

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Classism, Grief, Death of parent, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, and Gore

Minor: Incest, Slavery, Sexual content, and Vomit

tamara_joy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Blood, Sexual content, and Car accident

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, and Police brutality

Minor: Alcohol, Child abuse, Slavery, Abandonment, and Vomit

erdeuts's review against another edition

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Incest

issamay's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Slavery, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Drug use, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Incest, Vomit, and Sexual content

katieklysmic's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Slavery, and Death of parent

emetrock's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Slavery, Gaslighting, Addiction, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, and Racism

booksandstardust's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Grief, and Death of parent

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

Minor: Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Suicide, and Murder

sashahc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I just finished a really good one.  “Starling House” by Alix Harrow is a glorious onion of a Southern Gothic.  Although linearly told, it masterfully tangles myth, dream, reality, past, and present.  There are family abandonments, small town dramas, an evil coal company, and a haunted house that may be the gateway to the underworld.  The main character is fierce, funny, scrappy, traumatized, and deeply loyal.  It is beautifully written and not at all a cozy, but it was a wrench to let the characters go at the end.  Read it.  #book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Incest

erinreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

My first reaction upon finishing this book is that it was way longer than it needed to be. I enjoyed the second half, which is where most of the plot occurs, but I was bored during the whole first half of the book, to the point where I was considering not finishing it. 

Once the plot picks up around the 50% mark, it gets interesting and I began to get invested in the mystery of the house and the people surrounding it. I was entertained as Opal unraveled it but I must admit it was pretty frustrating that she withheld so much information from her brother with no real explanation. If it came from some sort of desire to have something for herself, it might have been nice for the author to have alluded to that, but without explanation it was almost infuriating that she wasn’t sharing this information she was finding out. 

I liked all the secondary characters and I wish we got to spend more time with them, perhaps seeing more interaction with them in the first half to invest the reader a bit more. 

Ultimately, the end was more or less rewarding as everything was revealed, but I wasn’t rooting for Opal as much as I was rooting for everyone else around her. 

Read if you don’t mind slowly paced dark mysteries with light mythological elements. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gore

Minor: Suicide, Racism, Car accident, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Child abuse, Bullying, Incest, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent