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A review by madamelacy
The House of Sorrowing Stars by Beth Cartwright
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I enjoyed reading this book overall, but I found aspects of it frustrating. I’ll start with what I did like: the setting for the bulk of the story was really interesting, I loved the aspects of magical realism and I really enjoyed the stories within the stories.
What I didn’t like: it felt very predictable and contrived rather than a story that unfurled organically. The romance between Liddy and the Keymaker just wasn’t credible as they’d barely interacted and it felt so twee. The story took ages to get going, so I nearly abandoned it a third of the way through. The answer to all questions was ‘the sorrowing stars’. The descriptions were a bit lacking at times, so I just couldn’t picture what was being described. The relationship between Vivienne and the shopkeeper was under-developed. Finally Rosa… who? She was obviously mentioned early on but was very unmemorable.
What I didn’t like: it felt very predictable and contrived rather than a story that unfurled organically. The romance between Liddy and the Keymaker just wasn’t credible as they’d barely interacted and it felt so twee. The story took ages to get going, so I nearly abandoned it a third of the way through. The answer to all questions was ‘the sorrowing stars’. The descriptions were a bit lacking at times, so I just couldn’t picture what was being described. The relationship between Vivienne and the shopkeeper was under-developed. Finally Rosa… who? She was obviously mentioned early on but was very unmemorable.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Death of parent
Minor: Blood