Starling House
For fans of the Gothics: Despite some content considerations, the intricate plotting and care taken in the worldbuilding made this a worthwhile read.
Synopsis
A small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never a home.As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.
Review
I picked up this book because I loved The Ten Thousand Doors of January by the same author. I liked this one less, but still enjoyed it. The world and the backstory were so intricately plotted that the writer part of my brain was deeply impressed at how everything fit together to form this deeply layered story. The worldbuilding and stories and motivations of the characters all felt real, complicated, immersive, and well-developed so that even when I was annoyed with a decision someone made, I also very much understood it. I'm also a sucker for sentient houses, and this story more than delivered on that front. The last 20% was particularly difficult to put down and I finished the final page feeling satisfied with the story on the whole. The themes about what makes home and the ways stories, even our own, tend to change over time, resonated well. This is a good read for fans of Wuthering Heights and gothic lit on the whole.
Critiques: Harrow utilizes vivid, crystal clear descriptions in her writing, accrate and sharp enough to create vivid images in the reader's mind. However, in this story, certain descriptions, which would have been wonderful if they had remained unique, were overused. Words like hunger, lick, sinuous, were used so often that they lost their impact by the end. Simiiles like comparing dim light to that of a nearly used-up glowstick hit the mark once, but not twice. Opal, the main character, read young to me, so much that I had to remind myself a few times that she was 26 and that I wasn't reading a YA novel.
Content Considerations: Character orientations, actions, and plot points that are dissonant with Catholic beliefs on human sexuality. Brief sexual content, slightly violent. Swearing and use of God's name and variations of God's name as curse words. Descriptions of death and bodily injuries, some of which are severe. Melding of worldviews that throws Christianity into a pot with a variety of other worldviews that in the world of the story work together but in reality, conflict. Mention of demons in a theologically inaccurate context.
Summary: Despite the critiques and content considerations, I found the intricacy of the plotting and the depth and care taken in the worldbuilding worthwhile enough to be glad I read the book.
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