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A review by abmalada
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
5.0
I LOVED this book. Normally, my reviews of gothic books are something along the lines of “this wasn’t necessarily high quality, but I loved it anyway,” so it’s exciting to be able to say that this book was written well and fed my love of gothic books.
I won’t call this novel a mystery because it was easy to see all the twists and turns before they happened, but the suspense and atmospheric horror were done well. I’m also a sucker for the sentient house trope.
For me, the strength of this book comes from not getting tired of either Opal or Arthur. It would be easy for Opal to come across as overly jaded, cynical, and just generally annoying in her “it’s every woman for herself” mindset. It would be easy for Arthur to come across as a holier-than-thou “it’s for your own good” (which he does, a little bit) martyr who is only content to wallow in his self-pity. However, both of these characters toe the line but stay on the right side, Opal’s reactions, while occasionally annoying () seemed justified and didn’t make me roll my eyes constantly. Arthur comes across more as stuck in his ways than inflexible on principle. The side characters were all complex enough to feel distinct, but didn’t leave any questions unanswered.
The book was also the right length and complexity – I don’t find myself wishing for more or less pages and there are not plot points that I missed or didn’t want.
I won’t call this novel a mystery because it was easy to see all the twists and turns before they happened, but the suspense and atmospheric horror were done well. I’m also a sucker for the sentient house trope.
For me, the strength of this book comes from not getting tired of either Opal or Arthur. It would be easy for Opal to come across as overly jaded, cynical, and just generally annoying in her “it’s every woman for herself” mindset. It would be easy for Arthur to come across as a holier-than-thou “it’s for your own good” (which he does, a little bit) martyr who is only content to wallow in his self-pity. However, both of these characters toe the line but stay on the right side, Opal’s reactions, while occasionally annoying (
Spoiler
e.g., how much she was willing to entertain Baine, though I’m pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t an issue with ArthurThe book was also the right length and complexity – I don’t find myself wishing for more or less pages and there are not plot points that I missed or didn’t want.