Alix E. Harrow has quickly become one of my favorite authors, and her gritty, gothic, monstrously beautiful new book Starling House is the perfect example of why.
A synopsis:
Opal is a lot of things―orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic, and part-time cashier―but above all, she’s determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.
Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House―and make some extra cash for her brother’s escape fund―she can’t resist.
But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.
Harrow creates a distinct atmosphere in this book, from the misty mysteries of Starling House to the dark realities of life in a small, small-minded, impoverished mining town. The balance of dream and nightmare is a constant thread in the book and one that keeps the tension at a perfect pitch.
Starling House also explores the balance of needs and wants, how we leave and why we stay, and what to call home. It’s all spun into a beautiful kind of fairy tale, where there are beasts with claws, but the real monsters might be us.
Harrow has a particular talent for character development, and I love everyone in this book. Opal is sarcastic and smart and sad and incredibly brave. Arthur is vulnerable and lonely and loyal. They are both described several times as ugly and though there are nods to Beauty and the Beast in this book, neither of them ever physically transforms into beautiful. Rather, they become beautiful in each other’s (and the reader’s) eyes as they grow closer. Theirs is absolutely a love story, full of an ache and deep knowing that authors don’t always handle this skillfully.
Although this is a 5-star read for me, I will acknowledge that the villains in Starling House end up being a bit over the top. A little too “Scooby Doo,” if you will. Their comeuppance felt rushed, but I believe that was done for the greater purpose of exploring some final important threads in the book – the idea of telling your own story, of choosing your own story, and moving on with all the broken, beautiful pieces of yourself.
BOOK:30 