Starling House Paperback – 31 October 2023

This has been one of my most anticipated books of the year and I saved it for October end.Here's all it made me feel:🫠 The magical setting with cursed under hell melts my witchy soul☺️ The sibling vibes are just perfect (the fights, the care, everything about them)❤️‍🔥 The romance later on pulls together really great, but the start of it with a single steamy glance is a bit iffy😑The house concept reminds me of "A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth" and I don't how I feel about this similarity🙃 Spooky check approved for magical house and warden, secret passages, hauntings from the past, scary dreams and generations of curses.🤔 I wish it had more of: a buildup in romance, details about the young brother's role.🥰 Totally satisfied with the endThank you @netgalley @alix.e.harrow @macmillan.audio for the ARC.Genre: #gothic #fantasy #romanceRating: 4/5 ⭐️

Ever since her debut novel The Ten Thousand Doors of January, which captivated me and was my without-a-doubt favorite book of 2019, I have been a fan of Alix E. Harrow. With lofty expectations in tow, her second novel The Once and Future Witches satisfied but failed to strike the same chord. Thus, I recalibrated a little, and I went into Starling House with cautiously optimistic expectations. I'm happy to say that it exceeded those expectations, landing for me in the same lofty strata as "January" as well as being reminiscent in some ways of that excellent book.The novel centers on a 26-year-old protagonist named Opal, who is scraping by in a small Kentucky town called Eden. Opal never knew her father, and her mother was killed in a car crash when Opal was only 15, leaving her to forge documents in order to obtain custody of her 5-year-old brother Jasper. Now, 11 years later, the two are eeking out an existence, living in a motel room free of charge thanks to a bet her mother won with the owner, pillaging the shoddy continental breakfast hot chocolate packets for some sustenance, and trying to make do on Opal's meager wages from a part-time job at the local Tractor Supply store.Opal is a survivor, with one goal in life: protect her brother and get him out of the "dead-end bad-luck bulls--- town" that is Eden. As she says early on, "People like me have to make two lists: what they need and what they want. You keep the first list short, if you're smart, and you burn the second one....I have one list, with one thing on it, and it keeps me plenty busy."Many downtrodden towns are centered around a single blue collar industry, and Eden is no different. In its case, the industry is coal. Eden is dominated by the local power plant, which spews contaminants into the local river while the inhabitants turn a blind eye, since the plant accounts for the majority of the jobs and sustains the economy of the town. Jasper is asthmatic, which continues to worsen under the coal-dust air of Eden, adding urgency to Opal's need to find a way to get him to a better place.Against this backdrop, we are thrust into Opal's life and story, not entirely sure where things might be headed. We know that there sits an old house on the outskirts of town (Starling House, of course), rumored to be haunted, and about which there are as many stories as there are people in the town. We know that someone lives there, alone, a "Boo Radley-ish creature who was (screwed) first by his pretentious name..., second by his haircut..., and third by the dark rumor that his parents died strangely, and strangely young." We know a previous occupant of the house wrote a children's book, so terrifying and disturbing that when it was considered for an animated adaptation "little kids puked during the early screeners so the whole project was pulled". And we know that Opal has been dreaming about the house since she was 12, and that it seems to have some type of magical connection to her.Like with her previous books, Harrow once again involves some level of magic, mysticism, and multiple worlds in her storytelling and setting. As the muddied history of Eden begins to become more clear, and the purpose of Starling House and its connection to Opal's life laid bare, the story eventually clicks into place. Harrow does a great job of pacing and gradual revelation of information, such that part of the mystery is figuring out where things are going. Once that is clear, the plotting is crisp and thoughtful and satisfying.Harrow's writing style strikes exactly the right tone with me. Her characters are real, her storytelling compelling, and she's able to capture authentic relationships at the heart of each of her books. There are dozens of turns of phrase in Starling House that make me envious of her ability. I don't know if she's a genius from which these things just naturally spew, or if she is meticulously refining her prose and choosing exactly the right word more often than not. She also has a Stephen King-like ability to blend the mystical into a story set in reality and make it feel normal, a task more difficult than it may seem.There were a lot of components of Starling House that reminded me of The Ten Thousand Doors of January. Opal and January are both duty-bound young women who discover their true identity over the course of the novels, while taking fuller control of their lives and manifesting their own destiny. Both fight against wealthy antagonists who are powerful due to their station in society and morally bankrupt when it comes to the depths to which they will stoop and the threats that they will level in order to achieve their self-serving goals. Both novels are grounded in our world, but feature (or suggest) passages to another. Make no mistake, they're wholly different, but I can see how the same person wrote both.It's a genre-blending book as well. There is one passage in the novel, a tongue-in-cheek meta reference to the book that you're reading, that says "The hairdresser heard it was a romance, and the old meter man is hoping for horror. A member of the Historical Society claims it's a history of the town." In addition to those genres, it has elements of magic and fantasy and mystery as well, and it's composed with a level of quality that would allow it to stand with any critically acclaimed literature of the day. In short, there's probably something for everybody, assuming you're not a one-dimensional reader.So how does Starling House stack up? It's really good! I don't know yet if it's January/book-of-the-year good, but it will certainly be a Top 10 book this year for me. While the pacing feels deliberate and the story gradually revealed, it's also a tidy 308 pages, something Harrow appreciates in the acknowledgements, thanking her editor specifically for helping her see that she "didn't really need four bedrooms" (in her house of a book). The cast of characters is memorable, and the multi-layered plot is efficiently and effectively pulled together with a satisfying conclusion. I will likely need to let the foundation settle for a bit on this one before I come to a final conclusion on where it ranks overall this year, but it's an easy 5-star read for me and highly recommended (especially during spooky Halloween season!).As a final aside, if you don't typically read the acknowledgements, do so here. And if you're one of those weird people who likes to read the acknowledgements first, wait and save it this time. Harrow's tribute to the creation of her novel is thoughtful and creative, and it closes with a beautiful dedication to her family. It's a wonderful parting gift from the book that will leave your heart full.

I loved this. From the slow burn romance between a socially awkward man who has deep seated emotional issues and the girl with fire in her heart and too many responsibilities on such young shoulders to the gothic, eery setting. I devoured this. Alix E Harrow has firmly become a favourite writer. Her stories just speak to me in a way that I find so rare in authors. From the magical way she manages to create this town built up by one family and make it feel historic and believable, to the lore she weaves into every chapter. Starling House feels like a story built on Chinese whispers - how one event can build up and evolve, carried away on a breeze and manipulated and changed to suit who is telling the story.Then we have Starling House itself. A character built from brick and mortar and altered by the people who inhabit it. It's a starring protagonist all on its own, one who's playful, mournful and even frightening when it needs to be. It's a physical manifestation of Opal and her loneliness and longing to belong and that's why it calls to her.I also really enjoyed Opal as a character. I've seen some criticism of her character background and insincerity regarding her situation, however I found her to be an engaging and believable protagonist. She wears her heart on her sleeve, yet also guards it in an effort to protect herself and her brother. She's damaged, and hurting, yet also fiercely protective and brave. She'll do anything for Jasper, even if it means sacrificing everything for herself because she feels he's all she has left in the world and she owes him because of this.This is a slow book, especially at the start, but I feel all of Alix E Harrow's books are like this. She takes time to show every facet of her characters and setting the scene before giving you an emotional punch. I know without this slow build up I wouldn't have been as invested as I was with the characters or their situation and I'm so glad I pushed through the first 50 pages because I had the most wonderful time reading Starling House.A firm favourite of the year, Starling House captivated me from start to finish

Tal como me pasó con 'Las Brujas del Ayer y del Mañana' esta novela me ha atrapado desde la primera página. Me parece muy original que suceda en el presente, en una zona más interior de esa América más 'cerrada de mente' y con una mansión gótica muy especial. Tanto los personajes principales como los secundarios se hacen querer y la autora narra de una manera que me tiene enamorada. No pude esperar a la versión en español, pero esa también la leeré cuando salga 😅 En resumen, libro recomendado totalmente ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Starling House etched its way into my list of all-time favourite books somewhere around “an appetite with two legs”, or perhaps much earlier. It has a certain unputdownable quality and, for all its beasts and darkness, is remarkably beautiful.

Let’s start if by saying I really enjoy Alix’s work. I ordered this book so that it would arrive on the day of publication, even though I knew nothing about it. I just enjoy her work that much.She has a fantastic ability to construct a beautiful metaphor. I often stop and reread sentences just to take in the beautiful turn of phrase and unique idea. She does a phenomenal job with character development (the protagonist goes thorough a realistic maturation process that takes the reader with her). She has mastery of building dramatic tension.That said, like her previous two books, she leaves me wanting more. Reading this book, like her previous, is like going out to dinner at a fine restaurant. You appreciatethe individual courses, the artistry of presentation, the complex and unexpected palates. But you get to the end of the meal and you’re still hungry. You decide to go out and get a burger before heading home.Alix needs to embrace an epic scope in her writing. She builds up these phenomenal worlds — draws us in — but the stakes just fall a little short. The world won’t really change, if things don’t work out. In this book in particular, we really don’t care if the town off Eden gets wiped from the map — everyone seems pretty terrible. She dares to dream about a subterranean river that — she alludes — is the sister to the river Styx. But we never get the full scope of this implication. This should be harrowing! Exultant! Perception altering. Instead, we get a sleeping old lady in a shallow rivulet. It doesn’t lead the the reality-bending potential she alludes to. If there’s this river, then what of the others. What does this mean about the very fabric of reality itself? She never taps these questions and let them flow.I love her writing. She is a vast and immense talent. I just want to see her take the next step and truly embrace her greatness. She surely has it in her!