Alix E. Harrow

A new novel from New York Times Bestselling author Alix Harrow, Starling House is a contemporary Kentucky Gothic about a small town haunted by the history it can't quite seem to bury, and the clever, surly young woman who finds herself drawn to the house that sits at the crossroads of it all. No one in Eden remembers when Starling House was built. But everyone agrees that it's best to let the house--and its last lonely heir--go to rot. Starling House is uncanny and ugly and fully of secrets, just like its heir. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but it might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. It feels dangerously like something she's never had: a home. But Opal isn't the only one interested in the house, or the horrors and wonders that lie beneath it. If Opal wants a home, she'll have to fight for it. She'll have to dig up her family's ugly history and let herself dream of a better future. She'll have to go down, down into Underland, and claw her way back to the light. Also by Alix E. Harrow Fractured Fables series A Spindle Splintered A Mirror Mended Other Works The Ten Thousand Doors of January The Once and Future Witches

Starling House

They averted their eyes from evil and, in so doing, became complicit in it.

"Maybe that’s all a good ghost story is: a way of handing out consequences to the people who never got them in real life."

Wow, okay.. I just fell in love, this book was absolutely brilliant. It seems 2024 is my year for gothic books and I am more than ok with that, I think it's quickly becoming one of my favourite subgenres. I was instantly swept up in this book, in the atmosphere, in the horror and wonder and gloominess and beauty. I think this is a wonderful story with multiple facets and they came together so well in the end. The writing was amazing, the prose and Opal's snarky banter mixed with Arthur's resigned cynical weariness, the characters and the way this story unfolds around you as you're taken along on the adventure right beside Opal, I loved it. I've read a few other reviews and can see why some people might not have enjoyed it, but for me, this was everything I want in a book, fantasy that leaps of the page, horror that makes you shiver and romance that tugs at your heartstrings.

In the beginning I was little bit worried, the use of first person present tense is not my favourite and I dislike third person present tense even more in the dual POV, but it really worked in this story because it felt like we were being told the story by the characters and telling stories is such a pivotal part of this book. We are told a number of stories, in fact, each one a slightly different version of the one before and it really hit home for me that there is always more than one side to a story, that people's minds often change things in their memories and dreams to make things easier for us to process. This is a story about dreams that are dashed but reawakened again and how powerful they can be, and it's a story about found family, that sometimes blood is not so thick and sometimes it can trap us and break us but sometimes it can set us free. Opal is tied to the town of Eden because her brother needs her and she wants to help him get out, Arthur is tied to Starling House because the house needs a Warden and he wants to be the last one. The way these two characters were so similar but also so different was really well done and I enjoyed reading about them so, SO much.

There were points where I thought the story dragged a little bit but in the end I think this was important to the story as a whole because it really dragged you down into the drudgery and bad luck feeling of Eden and perfectly fit that creeping, moody dread of gothic horror, winding right up until the climax which had me sitting on the edge of my seat and glued to the page. The illustrations in this book really reeled me in too and matched the story so well. The weaving history of poverty, slavery, bad men and corruption was also really well done, I think because this story has horror elements and has terrifying fantastical beasts, to then juxtapose that with people and ways of life that were beastly themselves was so clever. It really suited the story and gave it that perfect tie to the reality of the setting, and a relatable and genuine feel to the characters that I really liked.

This has quickly become one of my favourite reads of the year and I am so glad I picked it up, I definitely recommend it to people who enjoy a mixture of fantasy, gothic horror and a little bit of underlying historical fiction. To me this felt like bits and pieces of a few of my favourite other works, like the Alex Stern series by Leigh Bardugo, a little bit of Schitt's Creek and Jane Eyre, all patched together and it just really spoke to me. I'm definitely adding Alix E Harrow to my list of authors that I must read their other works!

"He was born in the House, but Opal was called, and the House calls the homeless and hungry, the desperately brave, the fools who will fight to the very last."

Genevieve 

"Maybe that’s all a good ghost story is: a way of handing out consequences to the people who never got them in real life."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wow, okay.. I just fell in love, this book was absolutely brilliant. It seems 2024 is my year for gothic books and I am more than ok with that, I think it's quickly becoming one of my favourite subgenres. I was instantly swept up in this book, in the atmosphere, in the horror and wonder and gloominess and beauty. I think this is a wonderful story with multiple facets and they came together so well in the end. The writing was amazing, the prose and Opal's snarky banter mixed with Arthur's resigned cynical weariness, the characters and the way this story unfolds around you as you're taken along on the adventure right beside Opal, I loved it. I've read a few other reviews and can see why some people might not have enjoyed it, but for me, this was everything I want in a book, fantasy that leaps of the page, horror that makes you shiver and romance that tugs at your heartstrings.

In the beginning I was little bit worried, the use of first person present tense is not my favourite and I dislike third person present tense even more in the dual POV, but it really worked in this story because it felt like we were being told the story by the characters and telling stories is such a pivotal part of this book. We are told a number of stories, in fact, each one a slightly different version of the one before and it really hit home for me that there is always more than one side to a story, that people's minds often change things in their memories and dreams to make things easier for us to process. This is a story about dreams that are dashed but reawakened again and how powerful they can be, and it's a story about found family, that sometimes blood is not so thick and sometimes it can trap us and break us but sometimes it can set us free. Opal is tied to the town of Eden because her brother needs her and she wants to help him get out, Arthur is tied to Starling House because the house needs a Warden and he wants to be the last one. The way these two characters were so similar but also so different was really well done and I enjoyed reading about them so, SO much.

There were points where I thought the story dragged a little bit but in the end I think this was important to the story as a whole because it really dragged you down into the drudgery and bad luck feeling of Eden and perfectly fit that creeping, moody dread of gothic horror, winding right up until the climax which had me sitting on the edge of my seat and glued to the page. The illustrations in this book really reeled me in too and matched the story so well. The weaving history of poverty, slavery, bad men and corruption was also really well done, I think because this story has horror elements and has terrifying fantastical beasts, to then juxtapose that with people and ways of life that were beastly themselves was so clever. It really suited the story and gave it that perfect tie to the reality of the setting, and a relatable and genuine feel to the characters that I really liked.

This has quickly become one of my favourite reads of the year and I am so glad I picked it up, I definitely recommend it to people who enjoy a mixture of fantasy, gothic horror and a little bit of underlying historical fiction. To me this felt like bits and pieces of a few of my favourite other works, like the Alex Stern series by Leigh Bardugo, a little bit of Schitt's Creek and Jane Eyre, all patched together and it just really spoke to me. I'm definitely adding Alix E Harrow to my list of authors that I must read their other works!

"He was born in the House, but Opal was called, and the House calls the homeless and hungry, the desperately brave, the fools who will fight to the very last."

This book was better than I expected. I thought it would be the typical haunted house book that can be predictable, but I was wrong. I don't usually notice writing styles. I just go based on vibes, but wow, this book left me thinking at times  "I get it know when people say the writing was beautiful". I also loved how Opal and Arthur aren't described with the typical "perfect" beauty we usually get in books.

Starling House

Reviews

Highlights