Alix E. Harrow

Starling House

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

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

This story creeps up on you in an absolutely delicious way. It’s a bit mundane at the start, but every time that you are lulled into a false sense of security a twist comes to accelerate the plot. The writing is whimsical but the setting is dark, creating an overall eerie feel. I recommend this for anyone looking for something a little bit suspenseful, a little bit heartfelt, and a lot fantastical.

Alissa 

‘I know exactly why Icarus flew so high: when you’ve spent too long in the dark, you’ll melt your own wings just to feel the sun on your skin.’

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

‘He is a ghost, a rumour, a story whispered after the children have gone to bed, and she was cold and hurt, all alone in the rising dark - and yet she hadn't run from him until he told her to. The house has always had a taste for the brave ones.’

‘Starling House makes me think of an underfed pet or a broken doll, a thing unloved by the person who promised to love it best.’

‘The house seems to appreciate all the attention. The exterior is still stained and gloomy, but the vines are greening faintly, supple and alive, and there are fresh bird’s nests in the eaves. The floor still provides an entire symphony of groans and creaks, but I swear it’s no longer in a minor key.’

‘I saw that dreams were dangerous, so I folded mine up and shoved them under the bed along with the rest of my childhood.’

Sporadic veils of mist cover Eden, a small dying coal town rich with history, haunted by mysterious deaths and known for the legend of Eleanor Starling, a reclusive nineteenth-century author of The Underland. At the heart of it is a deteriorating, sinister house with a brooding, enigmatic heir. Nobody remembers when Starling House was erected, but agrees to let the ill-omened mansion and its lonely resident dissipate from Eden. Opal knows better than to entangle herself with the notorious haunted house, but her mystical dreams and its foreboding nature entice her to its looming iron gates. When she is offered a job as a housekeeper by the inscrutable resident Arthur, it is too good to resist; she finally has the chance to gather enough money to get her brother Jasper out of the ill-fated town. However, as the house whistles, groans, and warps around her, Opal realises it is steeped in darkness and wonders if the stories might be true, as when the mist arises, the sinuous beasts are not far behind. 

Through a dual narrative, we learn of Arthur and Opal’s sorrowful past and interesting characteristics. Opal is a fiery, stubborn and sardonic protagonist drawn to the uncanny house with a single, dull, omnipresent light in the attic, while Arthur, the Warden of Starling House, is perplexing, ominous, and prickly. Both are orphans and at the centre of small-town gossip; it was interesting to see how their relationship blossomed.  They are not the only living components, though; the eponymous house itself is a breathing entity with its own consciousness and feelings. 

“Her hands are fisted in the collar of his shirt, and she is so vital, so furiously alive that Arthur understands for the first time why Hades stole Persephone, why a man who has spent his life in winter might do anything at all for a taste of spring.”

“Starling House was no longer just a house. What had begun as stone and mortar had become something more, with ribs for rafters and stone for skin. It has no heart, but it feels; it has no brain, but it dreams.”

This book is full of idiosyncrasies, such as footnotes and illustrations to enhance world-building, as well as highlighting imperative issues from the environment to prejudice. 

I did find the pacing disproportionate and engaged with some aspects more than others. I think some parts needed delving into a bit more and others a little less, but it is a good fantasy for those who are not avid readers of the genre, including myself.

Nevertheless, Starling House is an eerie gothic fantasy filled with magic, monsters, and secrets that lure and transport you into a darkly atmospheric, bleak, and disconcerting world, just like the ambiguous estate. With beautiful descriptions and alluring language, this book is a whimsical tale with vibes perfect for spooky season.

Eleanor 

‘I know exactly why Icarus flew so high: when you’ve spent too long in the dark, you’ll melt your own wings just to feel the sun on your skin.’

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

‘He is a ghost, a rumour, a story whispered after the children have gone to bed, and she was cold and hurt, all alone in the rising dark - and yet she hadn't run from him until he told her to. The house has always had a taste for the brave ones.’

‘Starling House makes me think of an underfed pet or a broken doll, a thing unloved by the person who promised to love it best.’

‘The house seems to appreciate all the attention. The exterior is still stained and gloomy, but the vines are greening faintly, supple and alive, and there are fresh bird’s nests in the eaves. The floor still provides an entire symphony of groans and creaks, but I swear it’s no longer in a minor key.’

‘I saw that dreams were dangerous, so I folded mine up and shoved them under the bed along with the rest of my childhood.’

Sporadic veils of mist cover Eden, a small dying coal town rich with history, haunted by mysterious deaths and known for the legend of Eleanor Starling, a reclusive nineteenth-century author of The Underland. At the heart of it is a deteriorating, sinister house with a brooding, enigmatic heir. Nobody remembers when Starling House was erected, but agrees to let the ill-omened mansion and its lonely resident dissipate from Eden. Opal knows better than to entangle herself with the notorious haunted house, but her mystical dreams and its foreboding nature entice her to its looming iron gates. When she is offered a job as a housekeeper by the inscrutable resident Arthur, it is too good to resist; she finally has the chance to gather enough money to get her brother Jasper out of the ill-fated town. However, as the house whistles, groans, and warps around her, Opal realises it is steeped in darkness and wonders if the stories might be true, as when the mist arises, the sinuous beasts are not far behind. 

Through a dual narrative, we learn of Arthur and Opal’s sorrowful past and interesting characteristics. Opal is a fiery, stubborn and sardonic protagonist drawn to the uncanny house with a single, dull, omnipresent light in the attic, while Arthur, the Warden of Starling House, is perplexing, ominous, and prickly. Both are orphans and at the centre of small-town gossip; it was interesting to see how their relationship blossomed.  They are not the only living components, though; the eponymous house itself is a breathing entity with its own consciousness and feelings. 

“Her hands are fisted in the collar of his shirt, and she is so vital, so furiously alive that Arthur understands for the first time why Hades stole Persephone, why a man who has spent his life in winter might do anything at all for a taste of spring.”

“Starling House was no longer just a house. What had begun as stone and mortar had become something more, with ribs for rafters and stone for skin. It has no heart, but it feels; it has no brain, but it dreams.”

This book is full of idiosyncrasies, such as footnotes and illustrations to enhance world-building, as well as highlighting imperative issues from the environment to prejudice. 

I did find the pacing disproportionate and engaged with some aspects more than others. I think some parts needed delving into a bit more and others a little less, but it is a good fantasy for those who are not avid readers of the genre, including myself.

Nevertheless, Starling House is an eerie gothic fantasy filled with magic, monsters, and secrets that lure and transport you into a darkly atmospheric, bleak, and disconcerting world, just like the ambiguous estate. With beautiful descriptions and alluring language, this book is a whimsical tale with vibes perfect for spooky season.

Haunted house where the house is alive. Southern Gothic vibe. Very layered book. I wasn’t sure how the book would end at any point while reading and that is a good thing. Some plot twists can be too obvious but not this book. Had me guessing to the last second. 

Leah Diaz 

This book has really good ideas and started off strong, but began to falter towards the end. I was hoping for more magic and monsters, but it was just a lot of exposition and telling me things instead of showing. The romance was unnecessary, but I liked both of them so I’m able to overlook it because they were cute. Also, this book is apparently considered adult, but it reads as YA. Not in a bad way, but there’s really nothing making it “adult” for me. 

The biggest thing about this book was the pacing. I was around 60% when I felt like “I’m STILL reading this???” There were just long stretches of nothing where I felt we could’ve had some more action beats. Overall, this was so close to being what I needed, but it fell short of my expectations.

Nik ✨

This book has really good ideas and started off strong, but began to falter towards the end. I was hoping for more magic and monsters, but it was just a lot of exposition and telling me things instead of showing. The romance was unnecessary, but I liked both of them so I’m able to overlook it because they were cute. Also, this book is apparently considered adult, but it reads as YA. Not in a bad way, but there’s really nothing making it “adult” for me. 

The biggest thing about this book was the pacing. I was around 60% when I felt like “I’m STILL reading this???” There were just long stretches of nothing where I felt we could’ve had some more action beats. Overall, this was so close to being what I needed, but it fell short of my expectations.

"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

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