A review by alilbitofmonica
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Gonna be honest, I'm disappointed in this one. It was slow, like virtually nothing happened in this book. I struggled with it a bit, although the concept was so cool and I wanted to like this so much.
I still want to give it 3 stars because the atmospheric writing was so good and I still think there were some creative pieces that worked.

-The gothic atmosphere was impeccable. It felt spooky, it felt eerie. I loved some of the vivid descriptions and dark undertones. Definitely a strength of this author and the best element of this book.
- The book within a book was a cool element, but I think I would have liked to see it dissected even more.
- Nothing felt super compelling and there was no action or excitement until the very end. This was short but felt like it took AGES to get through because the (very limited) plot was dragging.
- There were a few times where I thought "hmm, her brother feels like a useless side character who will accomplish nothing" and guess what? I wasn't wrong.
- Opal was an interesting FMC and Arthur was an interesting MMC, but their interactions felt forced.
- The romance was awkward? It felt like there was no leadup. She straight up called him ugly and then two days later was like... I'm attracted and want to kiss him. Huh? Their relationship could have been cute if it had felt more natural.