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A review by lawbooks600
Lightlark: Book 1 by Alex Aster
dark
slow-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
3.0
Representation: N/A
Score: Five points out of ten.
Oh, look, another BookTok book. I got this one alongside others from the library and after enjoying another novel, Lightlark seemed right up my alley. A high YA fantasy story? That sounds like an outstanding read. I finally picked it up and read Lightlark, but when I finished it, I was underwhelmed. Maybe Nightbane could be better.
It starts with the first character I see, Isla Crown, living in Wildling, one of the six realms, wanting to restore its glory after the curse plagued the world she resides in. She has an opportunity to do so when the central island, Lightlark, rises, allowing six rulers to fight to the death to remove their afflictions. There are so many flaws in Lightlark, I don't know where to begin. The pacing is too tedious and not engaging enough for me to continue reading. A typical edition would clock in at under 400 pages, but this one had over 700 due to the large print. I couldn't connect or relate to the characters. The worldbuilding isn't there; there's no explanation as to why the ordeals are there. If curse-affected Wildlings must kill their partners, how come Isla fell in love with someone without murdering him? The writing style is rudimentary (I get it. The author could've used that writing method to make Lightlark more accessible, but it juxtaposes the setting and the text would be better off as more eloquent prose.) Did I mention Lightlark copied The Hunger Games? To equate the former to authors like Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer and Leigh Bardugo would be an insult. By the time the narrative ended, I didn't care about anything in there anymore.
To summarise, Lightlark joins a long line of underwhelming, overrated and overhyped BookTok publications that did not live up to their promises, like A Winter's Promise and The Hazel Wood.
Score: Five points out of ten.
Oh, look, another BookTok book. I got this one alongside others from the library and after enjoying another novel, Lightlark seemed right up my alley. A high YA fantasy story? That sounds like an outstanding read. I finally picked it up and read Lightlark, but when I finished it, I was underwhelmed. Maybe Nightbane could be better.
It starts with the first character I see, Isla Crown, living in Wildling, one of the six realms, wanting to restore its glory after the curse plagued the world she resides in. She has an opportunity to do so when the central island, Lightlark, rises, allowing six rulers to fight to the death to remove their afflictions. There are so many flaws in Lightlark, I don't know where to begin. The pacing is too tedious and not engaging enough for me to continue reading. A typical edition would clock in at under 400 pages, but this one had over 700 due to the large print. I couldn't connect or relate to the characters. The worldbuilding isn't there; there's no explanation as to why the ordeals are there. If curse-affected Wildlings must kill their partners, how come Isla fell in love with someone without murdering him? The writing style is rudimentary (I get it. The author could've used that writing method to make Lightlark more accessible, but it juxtaposes the setting and the text would be better off as more eloquent prose.) Did I mention Lightlark copied The Hunger Games? To equate the former to authors like Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer and Leigh Bardugo would be an insult. By the time the narrative ended, I didn't care about anything in there anymore.
To summarise, Lightlark joins a long line of underwhelming, overrated and overhyped BookTok publications that did not live up to their promises, like A Winter's Promise and The Hazel Wood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Full trigger warnings: Death of people in the past, murder, blood depiction, physical assault and injury, building collapse