A review by kentanapages
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

“Starlings probably had it right. that the only name worth having is the one you choose.”

This book did not disappoint. I sucked it in, absorbing it like a sentient magical house might greedily absorb the blood of its wardens. This is now officially my favorite Alix E. Harrow to date
Thank you to netgalley and macmillan audio for the early audio–it was absolutely worth ignoring my other weekend plans for! 

The audio is incredible: it’s narrated by one of my favorites, Natalie Naudus (if you don’t know her, she’s narrated She Who Became The Sun & sequel, The Bone Shard Daughter & series, The Art of Prophecy (which I’m also listening to now!) AND SO MUCH MORE.

I’m not going to rehash the plot here, because you can find that in a zillion places. Instead, (cute music): these are a few of my favorite things:

• the use of a story within the story as a central theme; I love books within books!
• imperfect, flawed and plausible characters  you can’t help but fall in love with
• an opinionated sentient magical/haunted house
• a ferocious & ferociously lovable cat alternatively referred to as The Hellcat and Bast
• a poignant depiction of the rugged love that can exist between siblings
• queer character rep, including a bi male MC
• a look at smalltown southern history that confronts the racist & prejudice past (and present)
• white characters modeling how we can realize our own blindness, make mistakes with the best of intentions, and realize why intentions don’t always matter (and then listen & strive to do better) 
• the perspective swaps between the first person view of Opal, a fairly unreliable narrator (and the inclusion of footnotes correcting her misstatements!), and a third person perspective of other characters
• a slow burn reluctant romance that had me (not a romance lover) rooting so hard for them to JUST FREAKING KISS
• Opal loves reading, especially racy retellings of fairy tales (Alix, if you want to write some racier fanfic versions of your retellings, I WILL READ THEM)
• the town librarian is basically a heroine (generally true)
• the examination of storytelling, and how the storyteller really matters
• small town grittiness with some victorian gothic vibes

“She’s not eating, she’s not sleeping… I don’t even think she’s READING. I’ve never seen her like this.”