A review by jewelelewi
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

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

3.0

The story was interesting, but wasn’t enough in itself to carry this to being a five or even four star book. Honestly, I wish the first half of the book was more like the second half.
The first half felt overly slow, like you were hearing the same stories on repeat, to bring home the fact that everyone has their own version of the story of Starling House. The second half did get better though, and did ultimately bring up my rating, but couldn’t fully make up for the first half.
I also really didn’t like the FMC opal in the first half. I found her grading, rude, quick to judge, and all around a brat, who thought she knew best for her brother, all the time. I mean, why bother asking him what he wants. I suppose it was to make her character development more sharp and extreme, but I really felt it could have been scaled back , and gotten the same result. All in all, a decent story, not a great book, though, but it was OK.

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