Lizzy’s review of Starling House > Likes and Comments
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Hirondelle wrote: "Her very acclaimed 10 Thousand Doors of January was already a bit like that. At least I really did not like it. The funny thing is I love her short stories, and her longer novellas and the one nove..."
I've noticed that writers who specialize in flowery prose tend to write better short fiction (probably because the limited word count forces them to actually focus on getting a proper story in there). If I ever see her short stories lying around I'll give her a shot.
I have heard that Spinning Silver was amazing! My problem with Uprooted was that I was there for most of the elements in the beginning, and then it took a turn and became really tedious, convoluted, and boring (for me) in the last two thirds. I've been leaving Spinning Silver off my TBR list for fear it would share those issues, but maybe I'll reconsider.
Her short stories are good! I also think besides flowery prose she is not subtle, she is not subtle at pointing who is good, bad or whatever, and in a short story that is great, in long form it can get tiresome. The plot, the symbolism in 10 Thousands was telegraphred hundreds of pages in advance... (All that and I was still tempted by this book! Your review is helping me resist that).
About Novik, Spinning Silver is different, yes. Uprooted I thought quite slow and quite long (and the wood menace kind of exhausting), Spinning Silver, not sure of its word count but it felt much faster, more agile. It helps there are several main characters, and we get their PoVs switching around..
Hirondelle wrote: "Her short stories are good! I also think besides flowery prose she is not subtle, she is not subtle at pointing who is good, bad or whatever, and in a short story that is great, in long form it can..."
I know the whole premise of Starling is very tempting, isn't it? I'm so bummed it didn't work out for me. I'd say definitely make it a library read (if you have one nearby) if you want to give it a go. Interesting that you mention the "wood" from Uprooted, b/c the wood menace and the house menace from Starling had similar undertones to me, which is why I think ppl who liked Uprooted would enjoy Starling.
You're so right about Harrow not being very subtle. I did not mention it in my review, but this was an aspect that also bothered me. The good ppl, the bad, the weird differentiation between the two...and often the descriptors for the "bad" people did not convince me. Basically if the heroine liked them (and they liked her) they were good, and if she did not, they were bad.
I'm so with you on this book! This was my first Alix E Harrow and it was PAINFUL to get through. At some point I moved the speed up to 3x speed -- something I've never done before -- and I STILL couldn't get it over with fast enough. Cliche & formulaic, so boring, frustrating, and annoying writing to top it all off.
Jaimee Kate wrote: "I'm so with you on this book! This was my first Alix E Harrow and it was PAINFUL to get through. At some point I moved the speed up to 3x speed -- something I've never done before -- and I STILL co..."
I also had to skim! I got super far, though, a little past the halfway point, before I decided to jump ship, and I'm happy I did, because the resolution was NOT worth the work of proper reading, imo. Glad to hear not everyone is falling madly in love with the overwrought prose...that helps make me feel like I'm slightly less insane for disliking it
You’ve captured a lot of my thoughts! I’ve got five chapters to go and the mantra repeating in my head is, “Why won’t this story ever END?!?” But I’m so stubborn I just can’t call it a day. So close. Sigh.
Cassie wrote: "You’ve captured a lot of my thoughts! I’ve got five chapters to go and the mantra repeating in my head is, “Why won’t this story ever END?!?” But I’m so stubborn I just can’t call it a day. So clos..."
It did take forever, didn't it? I think maybe the book had been half the length it was, it would have been much better.
a perfect review. especially the fake excerpt you wrote! have you considered publishing your own (whatever-genre-this-is) novel? i think you could make a killing!
Margaret wrote: "a perfect review. especially the fake excerpt you wrote! have you considered publishing your own (whatever-genre-this-is) novel? i think you could make a killing!"
Thank you for the kindest comment I've ever received on a review! (Though I just realized there's a big continuity error in that fake excerpt that I will now fix, haha). I do write a lot, and I just set aside a fantasy series I've been working on for 8 years to write a ghost story. We'll see how that goes, lmao.
100% agree with everything you said!! I thought I was in the minority here with giving it such a low rating and seeing all these raving 5 star reviews!
Brilliant review!!! Expresses my feelings on this book perfectly!!
This review gave me life, thank you 🙏🏻
I literally just finished Gallant by Schwab and started Starling House today it kind of feels so similar apart from annoying lead character on this book. I can't even go on, I'm listening audiobook while driving and I'll might have an accident if I don't stop rolling my eyes.
The stealing, the whining, the poor me vibes are just so annoying. I'm only 4chapters in
I was feeling like her writing style had shifted towards Schwab in the middle, and then Arthur said Opal had a constellation of freckles across her face and I got so irritated! I love Harrow and I couldn't stand Addie LaRue so that really bugged me.
Kaitlin wrote: "I was feeling like her writing style had shifted towards Schwab in the middle, and then Arthur said Opal had a constellation of freckles across her face and I got so irritated! I love Harrow and I ..."
I have to say I did not notice the freckles part, but that may have been near the point I started skimming. I can see why that would have been annoying! My comparison to Schwab was mostly related to the writing style. I found Starling House and Addie LaRue similar in style and pace.
Great review! I agree about the romance in particular. There's not much juice to it at all. On paper, I like the idea of two people who want each other but have other important priorities keeping them apart-- Opal and Arthur just spend so much time brooding in their own heads mid-conversation instead of playing off each other that it's hard to be invested in their relationship.
And if you want to try Harrow at a much shorter length, my favorite of her projects so far was The Six Deaths of the Saint, which is somewhere in the short story/ novelette bracket. Her prose style works better in that format, I think.
Lizzy wrote: "Kaitlin wrote: "I was feeling like her writing style had shifted towards Schwab in the middle, and then Arthur said Opal had a constellation of freckles across her face and I got so irritated! I lo..."
Yeah, I'm not sure Harrow ever cracked the character aspect of this book. There were glimmers of something there (especially in the little brother), but it felt like she was a few drafts away from making it all click. The fact that she has a good command of language and manages to write in a polished way (even if I didn't like her style of prose) works against her a little bit, imo. Surface-level her writing made it seem like this book was ready for publication, even though the foundation of the characters wasn't quite there yet.
Ha! Hirondelle also recommend her short stories. I agree that writers with insufferably florid prose do excel better in a shorter format, though I can't remember the last time I read a short story. Are Harrow's shorts in an anthology somewhere?
Lizzy, some of her newer stories are in anthologies, but there is not one anthology just of her stories. There is a great site, that I can not link because (justifiably so!) goodreads does not allow for links in comments called freesfonline which has links for a lot of short fiction in magazines and such and you can look for some there.
I recommend
A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies - Apex Magazine, February 2018 which I think is kind of flawless in feel good snarky librarian fantasy (and it won the Hugo)
and
The Ransom of Miss Coraline Connelly (Fireside Magazine, July 2020) - really short, epistolary, cute on purpose, but it worked for me.
Mr. Death - sentimental, twilight zone-ish but it hit me just right.
She has plenty more, very different tones. She is not subtle, and she goes straight for defining characters in some grandiose way - this can be contradictory or just plain not subtle in longer worker (say in 10k doors of January where I was just seeing who was going to be the bad guy and guessing plot) but in just a few pages it's a good thing.
Hirondelle wrote: "Lizzy, some of her newer stories are in anthologies, but there is not one anthology just of her stories. There is a great site, that I can not link because (justifiably so!) goodreads does not allo..."
Awesome! I’ll check them out
This review expressed a deep feeling I also had for quite some time with this kind of modern Fantasy (and sometimes also Sci-Fi) book but which I could never put into words properly myself.
This phenomenon actually goes much further than just the few authors you mentioned and it streches across many genres and subgenres.
But there is something peculiar about this which is that I think you can not find another person that agrees exactly which books actually belong into this group of self-indulgent high-level writing that forgets to craft an interesting well-paced story or complex and deep characters because they are so preoccupied with proving how skilled, smart, culturally aware, and self-reflected they are. One example where people disagree violently about this is R.F. Kuang and Babel in particular.
Really not sure what to think about it all.
Noone wrote: "This review expressed a deep feeling I also had for quite some time with this kind of modern Fantasy (and sometimes also Sci-Fi) book but which I could never put into words properly myself.
This ph..."
Thank you for this comment. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one having this reaction to recent fantasies from the last several years. It’s quite head-scratching because so many ppl adore these books and I am just not here for any of it.
This just wasn’t good, Opal was completely unlikeable, Arthur was delusional, and the side characters were far more human and more interesting than either of them. This should have been squarely YA, with Opal being much younger.
There was no creeping dread, there was no sense of impending doom, and when the consequence came at the end, it was diverted, so the whole town got a pass. This is Stephen King territory, and he is a MASTER at this.
I’m so happy to see this review. I thought I was the only one who hated it. And don’t even get me started on MAAS… I don’t get the hype for her books either😅I think it’s the writing style and annoying characters that get to me 🥲
I loved Addie La Rue, but didn't vibe this one at all.
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Hirondelle wrote: "Her very acclaimed 10 Thousand Doors of January was already a bit like that. At least I really did not like it. The funny thing is I love her short stories, and her longer novellas and the one nove..."I've noticed that writers who specialize in flowery prose tend to write better short fiction (probably because the limited word count forces them to actually focus on getting a proper story in there). If I ever see her short stories lying around I'll give her a shot.
I have heard that Spinning Silver was amazing! My problem with Uprooted was that I was there for most of the elements in the beginning, and then it took a turn and became really tedious, convoluted, and boring (for me) in the last two thirds. I've been leaving Spinning Silver off my TBR list for fear it would share those issues, but maybe I'll reconsider.
Her short stories are good! I also think besides flowery prose she is not subtle, she is not subtle at pointing who is good, bad or whatever, and in a short story that is great, in long form it can get tiresome. The plot, the symbolism in 10 Thousands was telegraphred hundreds of pages in advance... (All that and I was still tempted by this book! Your review is helping me resist that).About Novik, Spinning Silver is different, yes. Uprooted I thought quite slow and quite long (and the wood menace kind of exhausting), Spinning Silver, not sure of its word count but it felt much faster, more agile. It helps there are several main characters, and we get their PoVs switching around..
Hirondelle wrote: "Her short stories are good! I also think besides flowery prose she is not subtle, she is not subtle at pointing who is good, bad or whatever, and in a short story that is great, in long form it can..."I know the whole premise of Starling is very tempting, isn't it? I'm so bummed it didn't work out for me. I'd say definitely make it a library read (if you have one nearby) if you want to give it a go. Interesting that you mention the "wood" from Uprooted, b/c the wood menace and the house menace from Starling had similar undertones to me, which is why I think ppl who liked Uprooted would enjoy Starling.
You're so right about Harrow not being very subtle. I did not mention it in my review, but this was an aspect that also bothered me. The good ppl, the bad, the weird differentiation between the two...and often the descriptors for the "bad" people did not convince me. Basically if the heroine liked them (and they liked her) they were good, and if she did not, they were bad.
I'm so with you on this book! This was my first Alix E Harrow and it was PAINFUL to get through. At some point I moved the speed up to 3x speed -- something I've never done before -- and I STILL couldn't get it over with fast enough. Cliche & formulaic, so boring, frustrating, and annoying writing to top it all off.
Jaimee Kate wrote: "I'm so with you on this book! This was my first Alix E Harrow and it was PAINFUL to get through. At some point I moved the speed up to 3x speed -- something I've never done before -- and I STILL co..."I also had to skim! I got super far, though, a little past the halfway point, before I decided to jump ship, and I'm happy I did, because the resolution was NOT worth the work of proper reading, imo. Glad to hear not everyone is falling madly in love with the overwrought prose...that helps make me feel like I'm slightly less insane for disliking it
You’ve captured a lot of my thoughts! I’ve got five chapters to go and the mantra repeating in my head is, “Why won’t this story ever END?!?” But I’m so stubborn I just can’t call it a day. So close. Sigh.
Cassie wrote: "You’ve captured a lot of my thoughts! I’ve got five chapters to go and the mantra repeating in my head is, “Why won’t this story ever END?!?” But I’m so stubborn I just can’t call it a day. So clos..."It did take forever, didn't it? I think maybe the book had been half the length it was, it would have been much better.
a perfect review. especially the fake excerpt you wrote! have you considered publishing your own (whatever-genre-this-is) novel? i think you could make a killing!
Margaret wrote: "a perfect review. especially the fake excerpt you wrote! have you considered publishing your own (whatever-genre-this-is) novel? i think you could make a killing!"Thank you for the kindest comment I've ever received on a review! (Though I just realized there's a big continuity error in that fake excerpt that I will now fix, haha). I do write a lot, and I just set aside a fantasy series I've been working on for 8 years to write a ghost story. We'll see how that goes, lmao.
100% agree with everything you said!! I thought I was in the minority here with giving it such a low rating and seeing all these raving 5 star reviews!
Brilliant review!!! Expresses my feelings on this book perfectly!!
This review gave me life, thank you 🙏🏻
I literally just finished Gallant by Schwab and started Starling House today it kind of feels so similar apart from annoying lead character on this book. I can't even go on, I'm listening audiobook while driving and I'll might have an accident if I don't stop rolling my eyes. The stealing, the whining, the poor me vibes are just so annoying. I'm only 4chapters in
I was feeling like her writing style had shifted towards Schwab in the middle, and then Arthur said Opal had a constellation of freckles across her face and I got so irritated! I love Harrow and I couldn't stand Addie LaRue so that really bugged me.
Kaitlin wrote: "I was feeling like her writing style had shifted towards Schwab in the middle, and then Arthur said Opal had a constellation of freckles across her face and I got so irritated! I love Harrow and I ..."I have to say I did not notice the freckles part, but that may have been near the point I started skimming. I can see why that would have been annoying! My comparison to Schwab was mostly related to the writing style. I found Starling House and Addie LaRue similar in style and pace.
Great review! I agree about the romance in particular. There's not much juice to it at all. On paper, I like the idea of two people who want each other but have other important priorities keeping them apart-- Opal and Arthur just spend so much time brooding in their own heads mid-conversation instead of playing off each other that it's hard to be invested in their relationship. And if you want to try Harrow at a much shorter length, my favorite of her projects so far was The Six Deaths of the Saint, which is somewhere in the short story/ novelette bracket. Her prose style works better in that format, I think.
Lizzy wrote: "Kaitlin wrote: "I was feeling like her writing style had shifted towards Schwab in the middle, and then Arthur said Opal had a constellation of freckles across her face and I got so irritated! I lo..."Yeah, I'm not sure Harrow ever cracked the character aspect of this book. There were glimmers of something there (especially in the little brother), but it felt like she was a few drafts away from making it all click. The fact that she has a good command of language and manages to write in a polished way (even if I didn't like her style of prose) works against her a little bit, imo. Surface-level her writing made it seem like this book was ready for publication, even though the foundation of the characters wasn't quite there yet.
Ha! Hirondelle also recommend her short stories. I agree that writers with insufferably florid prose do excel better in a shorter format, though I can't remember the last time I read a short story. Are Harrow's shorts in an anthology somewhere?
Lizzy, some of her newer stories are in anthologies, but there is not one anthology just of her stories. There is a great site, that I can not link because (justifiably so!) goodreads does not allow for links in comments called freesfonline which has links for a lot of short fiction in magazines and such and you can look for some there.I recommend
A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies - Apex Magazine, February 2018 which I think is kind of flawless in feel good snarky librarian fantasy (and it won the Hugo)
and
The Ransom of Miss Coraline Connelly (Fireside Magazine, July 2020) - really short, epistolary, cute on purpose, but it worked for me.
Mr. Death - sentimental, twilight zone-ish but it hit me just right.
She has plenty more, very different tones. She is not subtle, and she goes straight for defining characters in some grandiose way - this can be contradictory or just plain not subtle in longer worker (say in 10k doors of January where I was just seeing who was going to be the bad guy and guessing plot) but in just a few pages it's a good thing.
Hirondelle wrote: "Lizzy, some of her newer stories are in anthologies, but there is not one anthology just of her stories. There is a great site, that I can not link because (justifiably so!) goodreads does not allo..."Awesome! I’ll check them out
This review expressed a deep feeling I also had for quite some time with this kind of modern Fantasy (and sometimes also Sci-Fi) book but which I could never put into words properly myself.This phenomenon actually goes much further than just the few authors you mentioned and it streches across many genres and subgenres.
But there is something peculiar about this which is that I think you can not find another person that agrees exactly which books actually belong into this group of self-indulgent high-level writing that forgets to craft an interesting well-paced story or complex and deep characters because they are so preoccupied with proving how skilled, smart, culturally aware, and self-reflected they are. One example where people disagree violently about this is R.F. Kuang and Babel in particular.
Really not sure what to think about it all.
Noone wrote: "This review expressed a deep feeling I also had for quite some time with this kind of modern Fantasy (and sometimes also Sci-Fi) book but which I could never put into words properly myself.This ph..."
Thank you for this comment. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one having this reaction to recent fantasies from the last several years. It’s quite head-scratching because so many ppl adore these books and I am just not here for any of it.
This just wasn’t good, Opal was completely unlikeable, Arthur was delusional, and the side characters were far more human and more interesting than either of them. This should have been squarely YA, with Opal being much younger. There was no creeping dread, there was no sense of impending doom, and when the consequence came at the end, it was diverted, so the whole town got a pass. This is Stephen King territory, and he is a MASTER at this.
I’m so happy to see this review. I thought I was the only one who hated it. And don’t even get me started on MAAS… I don’t get the hype for her books either😅I think it’s the writing style and annoying characters that get to me 🥲
I loved Addie La Rue, but didn't vibe this one at all.
Uprooted is also, IMO, a bit too long and a bit too odd, but leaving a recommendation just the same for Spinning Silver! It's her best IMO, clearly.