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teastarsandbooks 's review for:
Starling House
by Alix E. Harrow
Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio and Tor Books for allowing me the opportunity to listen to this book prior to release in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve recently been diving into gothic stories, having first gotten a delicious taste via Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House and Hell Bent. This definitely scratched a bit of that itch for gothic hauntings and demonic dealings.
Starling House is the story of Opal, an orphan whose entire life seems to be one string of back luck after another. But along side the constant bad luck, there is another constant in her life: Dreams. Dreams of a house that calls to her, hallways and staircases she’s never seen. And a yearning… an itch deep in her soul that seemed to only be scratched by the curious and supposedly haunted, Starling House. When she begins to work there as a cleaning lady, her search for truth reveals answers she never expected.
Starling House is told from two point of views, mostly from Opal, our heroine, but also from Arthur - the current warden of Starling House. Scattered through out the story are footnotes and comments, as if the book we are reading is not a work of fiction but historical novel, laying out the true story of a cursed town. This little detail is slightly lost in the audio version of the book, however the narrator handled the footnotes and commentary well by changing her voice a bit, slipping out of character to read them like a professor reading from a textbook.
The characters are rich and believable. Opal herself is multidimensional and is written to undergo a beautiful transformative character arc. From an orphan who literally does anything and everything to ensure her brother wants for nothing to a Starling who expands her need to protect to encompass the whole cursed town. Arthur is introduced to us as a grumpy curmudgeon who is aged from carrying the weight of his self appointed task - to be the last warden of Starling House. He also, blossoms and opens up to Opal, giving us a beautiful slow burn that gently flows beneath the mysteries that lurk around every corner of the story.
And what mysteries they are. Everyone has secrets. Her brother Jasper has them, the lady who owns the inn has them, the history of the town has them. Every where she looks, there are secrets and truths that keep her moving forward towards the truth at the heart of Starling House, the town, and the curse that seems to hang over the town.
The atmosphere of the book is eerie, matching with the mist that births strange tales. It was delicious and kept me listening, hanging on to every word the narrator spoke. The plot kept moving on at a fair pace, picking up when needing to, slowing to allow the reader time to process new truths and more questions - but of course, not too much time. There is much more the tale is eager to unleash on us.
The ending was a glorious culmination of all the rumors and half-truths and fairy tales hints we had been given over the course of the book. A grand revealing that was unexpected and yet, made incredible amounts of sense. Overall well written and a strong finish to a strong addition to Fall TBRs.
Starling House is a wonderful gothic thriller, perfect for the upcoming spooky season. I greatly enjoyed it, especially as a fresh mind easing into the world of Gothic Horror/Thriller.
I’ve recently been diving into gothic stories, having first gotten a delicious taste via Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House and Hell Bent. This definitely scratched a bit of that itch for gothic hauntings and demonic dealings.
Starling House is the story of Opal, an orphan whose entire life seems to be one string of back luck after another. But along side the constant bad luck, there is another constant in her life: Dreams. Dreams of a house that calls to her, hallways and staircases she’s never seen. And a yearning… an itch deep in her soul that seemed to only be scratched by the curious and supposedly haunted, Starling House. When she begins to work there as a cleaning lady, her search for truth reveals answers she never expected.
Starling House is told from two point of views, mostly from Opal, our heroine, but also from Arthur - the current warden of Starling House. Scattered through out the story are footnotes and comments, as if the book we are reading is not a work of fiction but historical novel, laying out the true story of a cursed town. This little detail is slightly lost in the audio version of the book, however the narrator handled the footnotes and commentary well by changing her voice a bit, slipping out of character to read them like a professor reading from a textbook.
The characters are rich and believable. Opal herself is multidimensional and is written to undergo a beautiful transformative character arc. From an orphan who literally does anything and everything to ensure her brother wants for nothing to a Starling who expands her need to protect to encompass the whole cursed town. Arthur is introduced to us as a grumpy curmudgeon who is aged from carrying the weight of his self appointed task - to be the last warden of Starling House. He also, blossoms and opens up to Opal, giving us a beautiful slow burn that gently flows beneath the mysteries that lurk around every corner of the story.
And what mysteries they are. Everyone has secrets. Her brother Jasper has them, the lady who owns the inn has them, the history of the town has them. Every where she looks, there are secrets and truths that keep her moving forward towards the truth at the heart of Starling House, the town, and the curse that seems to hang over the town.
The atmosphere of the book is eerie, matching with the mist that births strange tales. It was delicious and kept me listening, hanging on to every word the narrator spoke. The plot kept moving on at a fair pace, picking up when needing to, slowing to allow the reader time to process new truths and more questions - but of course, not too much time. There is much more the tale is eager to unleash on us.
The ending was a glorious culmination of all the rumors and half-truths and fairy tales hints we had been given over the course of the book. A grand revealing that was unexpected and yet, made incredible amounts of sense. Overall well written and a strong finish to a strong addition to Fall TBRs.
Starling House is a wonderful gothic thriller, perfect for the upcoming spooky season. I greatly enjoyed it, especially as a fresh mind easing into the world of Gothic Horror/Thriller.