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A review by ninegladiolus
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
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
5.0
I couldn’t imagine a more perfect October/Halloween read than Starling House. With a sumptuous gothic atmosphere and setting, deeply flawed characters who you desperately want to succeed, a living haunted house that plays a pivotal role in the narrative, and Harrow’s ever-gorgeous prose, Starling House captivated me from the first page.
Opal, a drifter and a grifter, has been scraping by to make ends meet since she lost her mother as a girl, and right now, she’s cobbling together fragments in the sleepy town of Eden. When a job offer almost too good to be true comes from the brooding, taciturn heir to the infamous Starling House, Arthur, Opal disregards her self-preservation and takes it. The two get drawn together in the sinister coils of an unfolding mystery and have a choice: face their fears together or let nightmares destroy their small town.
Harrow is one of my favourite authors and Starling House did nothing to dissuade me of this opinion. She has a gift for weaving a story-within-a-story, which has featured predominantly in many of her novels, and yet executes each take on this concept in fresh, compelling ways. This novel drew me in as surely as Starling House draws main characters Opal and Arthur together. I felt consumed by it.
In addition to the immersive gothic atmosphere, the characters and relationships kept me invested in this story. Themes of love, family, trauma, and belonging play out in the significant relationships, most notably between Arthur and Opal and Opal and her younger brother. Starling House asks the reader via the characters to meditate on the notion of home: what it is, WHO it is, how easily one can lose it, and how to find it again.
In short: if you’re looking for an evocative gothic fantasy with strong throughlines of romance and a poignant emotional climax, Starling House might be for you. I will continue to avidly read everything Alix E. Harrow writes because I have yet to be disappointed.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.
Opal, a drifter and a grifter, has been scraping by to make ends meet since she lost her mother as a girl, and right now, she’s cobbling together fragments in the sleepy town of Eden. When a job offer almost too good to be true comes from the brooding, taciturn heir to the infamous Starling House, Arthur, Opal disregards her self-preservation and takes it. The two get drawn together in the sinister coils of an unfolding mystery and have a choice: face their fears together or let nightmares destroy their small town.
Harrow is one of my favourite authors and Starling House did nothing to dissuade me of this opinion. She has a gift for weaving a story-within-a-story, which has featured predominantly in many of her novels, and yet executes each take on this concept in fresh, compelling ways. This novel drew me in as surely as Starling House draws main characters Opal and Arthur together. I felt consumed by it.
In addition to the immersive gothic atmosphere, the characters and relationships kept me invested in this story. Themes of love, family, trauma, and belonging play out in the significant relationships, most notably between Arthur and Opal and Opal and her younger brother. Starling House asks the reader via the characters to meditate on the notion of home: what it is, WHO it is, how easily one can lose it, and how to find it again.
In short: if you’re looking for an evocative gothic fantasy with strong throughlines of romance and a poignant emotional climax, Starling House might be for you. I will continue to avidly read everything Alix E. Harrow writes because I have yet to be disappointed.
Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.