A review by hooksbookswanderlust
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 

I liked this book, but not as much as I wanted to like it. A scrappy young woman caring for her teen brother for years after they were both orphaned, a man determined to do what he thinks is right at his own expense, small town secrets, a house that’s alive, monsters that roam the mist invisible to all but a select few, flocks of birds and inexplicable occurrences, it should have made for one heck of a read, but it just didn’t really come together the way it should have.

This book was definitely a slow burn, and I admit to being bored through much of it, not really getting into it until the last 20% of the book. Still, as boring as I found it, it was relatively easy to keep flipping pages. The writing itself is what you would expect from Harrow: beautiful, prosaic at times, insightful, with a handful of passages that stood out.

There were several themes in the book but they either didn’t do enough to make the point or came too late to be meaningful. Found family, racism, class differences, small towns, prejudice, all some of the themes she was working toward that sadly fell short of the mark.

As a gothic paranormal mystery/thriller, I liked it but I’m not sure I’d recommend it.
 
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