Book Review The House of Starling
The House of Starling by Ciara Hartford
The Sundering of Rhend book 1
Originally reviewed at Willow Wraith Press
The House of Starling is the beginning of a slow-burning romantic fantasy set in the lands of Rhend. The author Ciara Hartford fills her world with traditional fantasy politics, family pressure, and heart-pumping action, with a lean into character relationships and a keen eye on relationships both blossoming, simmering, and coming to a boil.
“Hatred divides the elves by the color of flesh and the sharpness of steel.”
Overall, I found the book’s mood to be hopeful and optimistic, despite its layers of darkness. Mrs. Hartford conveys emotions through each of her characters, with some representing a range of emotions and others representing only one or two, based on their proximity to the main character. The main themes experienced by the characters include anger, lust, ignorance, anxiety, and justice, all of which the author uses to build the idea of her war-torn land.
Mrs Hartford pushes and pulls the book’s characters, leading Raemian Starling (Rae) through a series of court intrigues, two captured/prison-like plot points, and several small fight scenes that were pleasantly bloody and efficiently written and would belong in any great epic fantasy book. I say this because The House of Starling is marketed as a romantic fantasy, but offers more subtle layers that can be attributed to just one genre. The plot is complicated enough to get lost in, but also tight enough to know what most likely is coming next. Do I still have questions and lingering thoughts on what comes next in the plot and potential love interests for the main character, yes and that is what makes the book so enjoyable to read and led me into needing to read the follow up. Marks of a good writer, “Leave them wanting more….” as it were.
“Her heart broke into a thousand pieces of love and friendship; it might never be whole again.”
The story revolves around Raiemian, often called Rae, a noble warrior from the Eleven culture known as Shay, and Gastel, an elvish prince from the Bleck Larin elvish culture. Two cultures, one a queen’s domain and the other a kingdom, vie for control of the turbulent land known as Rhend, and conflict has been seething for generations. There are three Elvish cultures, two of which are the main points in the book, and the last appears near the end. Mrs Hartford doesn’t shy away from the blood either. When people die, they are gutted and sliced open, and when swords cross, her fight scenes are on par with most traditional high fantasy. At the forefront of the story is the romance, and Mrs. Hartford leans into the romantic moments, providing detailed descriptions of eyes, breathing, legs, and other features to keep her audience enticed and wanting more. This isn’t Game of Thrones, but it’s also not a YA romance novel with a fantasy theme; it straddles both and brings the reader into the world without the stressful effort of having to understand every romantic or political nuance.
“Every muscle in her body tensed with the knowledge that she was alone and unarmed with a Bleck Larin.”
Mrs. Hartford blends some of the traditional tropes from both romance and fantasy genres to create a new yet familiar story in The House of Starling. Themes and tropes, such as enemies-to-lovers, a subtle exploration of race relations, and a young heroine’s growth through difficult trials, are found and explored throughout the book.
“He held her there, a stoic mask shielding his emotions, staring until his eyes fell to her lips.”
Mrs. Hartford offers trigger warnings at the beginning of her novel. Overall, I found the content to be what I expected from a romantic fantasy, and she still had solid surprises and turns. I have heard some readers were not ready for some of the fight and blood scenes. To me, it fits the nature of the tale and shows how much more the author can write in terms of quality and detail.
The cover is matte, rather than shiny, as seen on some YA and romance covers, and was created by the author themselves. It’s an untraditional cover for a romantic fantasy, which I found endearing. The author bucked the trend of a plain cover with no characters on it to include more of a traditional epic fantasy flavor, featuring a large sword and partial character art on the front. Other quick notes: Mrs. Hartford did not use any AI to develop her cover or write her novel. She also takes the time to create character artwork and other world-building tools, which can be found on her website. If you catch her at a book show, these tools will be available there as well. Overall, I enjoyed the novel and look forward to reading the sequel. Having only read a few of the bigger traditional romantic fantasy novels out on the rack, I consider this my go to recommendation to someone who wants to get into the romantic fantasy genre. Put that book about dragon riders in a military school down and pick up The House of Starling.
The House of Starling The Sundering of Rhend book 1 : Independently published
3rd person POV, two main POVs
Rating: five stars
Would I reread it? Yes, to prepare for the sequel.
Format read: Paperback
Page Count: 400 pages in 6x9 trade book
