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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Okay, first off—I’ve noticed a lot of the negative reviews for Lightlark are coming from adults, and I think that’s kind of unfair. Alex Aster was 25 when she wrote this. She’s a young, imaginative writer who managed to write a full book and get it published, which is pretty awesome in itself.
This is a young adult fantasy novel. It’s not meant for people in their 30s who’ve read super complex fantasy like Game of Thrones or ACOTAR. It’s written for teens, and if I had read this as a teenager, I would’ve been obsessed. It gave me the same kind of nostalgic feeling I had when I first read Harry Potter or Twilight.
I’m not on TikTok, so I don’t know anything about the drama surrounding the book—and honestly, I don’t really care. I enjoyed the story for what it is. If you’re an adult reading this, just remember who it was written for. Don’t go in expecting some deep, intricate fantasy epic, it’s meant to be fun and magical for a younger audience.
This is a young adult fantasy novel. It’s not meant for people in their 30s who’ve read super complex fantasy like Game of Thrones or ACOTAR. It’s written for teens, and if I had read this as a teenager, I would’ve been obsessed. It gave me the same kind of nostalgic feeling I had when I first read Harry Potter or Twilight.
I’m not on TikTok, so I don’t know anything about the drama surrounding the book—and honestly, I don’t really care. I enjoyed the story for what it is. If you’re an adult reading this, just remember who it was written for. Don’t go in expecting some deep, intricate fantasy epic, it’s meant to be fun and magical for a younger audience.
adventurous
medium-paced
Finally sitting down to write a review on this. I really enjoyed this book! I went in to it knowing it was more YA, but by the end I was hooked. I liked the story, and any time there are “trials” in a book I know I will be on board.
I’m not a fan of love triangles, and I know it is setting up for one in the next book - however - definitely continuing the series!
I’m not a fan of love triangles, and I know it is setting up for one in the next book - however - definitely continuing the series!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5
Every 100 years the leaders of the 6 realms of Lighltlark gather to take part in the Centennial, a game that must be won in order to break the curses placed on each realm. To break the curses, one ruler must die, taking thier realm with them. Isla, the leader of the Wildling realm was born without powers and now has to lie and sneak her way through the Centennial to save her dying people.
I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this! I've heard a lot about it online, mainly the controversy around it's publication and the similarities to other books so was kinda sceptical going in to it! Whilst there are definitely comparisons to be made to other books,I thought that everything was unique enough that it felt new and interesting. I really liked the concept of the island appearing once every 100 years and essentially being a gameboard for the rulers. The second half of the book was really fast paced, with twist after twist and I was so invested in what was happening. I got on with the writing style a lot too which I think really helped bring the whole thing to life.
Isla was a great main character, I liked how she was tenacious and devious in the way she played the games whilst still being very true to herself and her people. Her lack of power brought up some really fun scenarios too. I thought her growth throughout the book was nice, especially how she slowly started to trust both Grim and Aro and work with them rather than against them. The romance is definitely not at the forefront of the book but the moments Grim and Isla had were great. The introduction of the love triangle was not something I was expecting but I didn't mind it. I liked Aro's character a lot I think he's a lot more compatible with Isla than Grim.
My main issue with the book is the world building. I feel like I had a good understanding of what was going on but if I actually thought about it, stuff didn't really make much sense and could have been expand on. For example, all the realms have a curse placed on them but we don't really see how this actually effects them. I think more information on how the different realms and thier magic works would have built things up a lot too. The thing that annoyed me the most though was the names of things, they seem like placeholder names. The 6 realms are called wildling, moonling, starling, sunling, skyling and nightshade... It's just not very imaginative. I think the best way to describe it is the world building seems very surface level.
Every 100 years the leaders of the 6 realms of Lighltlark gather to take part in the Centennial, a game that must be won in order to break the curses placed on each realm. To break the curses, one ruler must die, taking thier realm with them. Isla, the leader of the Wildling realm was born without powers and now has to lie and sneak her way through the Centennial to save her dying people.
I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this! I've heard a lot about it online, mainly the controversy around it's publication and the similarities to other books so was kinda sceptical going in to it! Whilst there are definitely comparisons to be made to other books,I thought that everything was unique enough that it felt new and interesting. I really liked the concept of the island appearing once every 100 years and essentially being a gameboard for the rulers. The second half of the book was really fast paced, with twist after twist and I was so invested in what was happening. I got on with the writing style a lot too which I think really helped bring the whole thing to life.
Isla was a great main character, I liked how she was tenacious and devious in the way she played the games whilst still being very true to herself and her people. Her lack of power brought up some really fun scenarios too. I thought her growth throughout the book was nice, especially how she slowly started to trust both Grim and Aro and work with them rather than against them. The romance is definitely not at the forefront of the book but the moments Grim and Isla had were great. The introduction of the love triangle was not something I was expecting but I didn't mind it. I liked Aro's character a lot I think he's a lot more compatible with Isla than Grim.
My main issue with the book is the world building. I feel like I had a good understanding of what was going on but if I actually thought about it, stuff didn't really make much sense and could have been expand on. For example, all the realms have a curse placed on them but we don't really see how this actually effects them. I think more information on how the different realms and thier magic works would have built things up a lot too. The thing that annoyed me the most though was the names of things, they seem like placeholder names. The 6 realms are called wildling, moonling, starling, sunling, skyling and nightshade... It's just not very imaginative. I think the best way to describe it is the world building seems very surface level.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated