Lightlark (The Lightlark Saga Book 1): Alex Aster (The Lightlark Saga, 1)

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Oh right let me break down this timeline: 100 days on Lightlark; can't kill anyone until after the 50th day. By day 25 or 50 (I think) the rulers pair up to solve the prophecy to break their curses. It's so dumb this entire book is about searching for relics. First Isla and the Starling ruler, Celeste, are searching for this thing called the Bond Breaker, then Isla and Oro are searching for the heart of Lightlark. I think day 50 also has some kind of banquet while day 75 has a carnival event? Genuinely, none of the things that happen are important; it feels like Aster is trying to contrive situations where Isla can be hot (in a revealing dress), fierce (holding a knife to someone's throat), or whatever. a b La Jeunesse, Marilyn. "Meet Alex Aster, The TikToker Changing The Publishing Industry For The Better". huffpost.com. BuzzFeed, Inc . Retrieved 2022-01-02. I think my biggest problem is going to be with the Centennial itself. Plainly, almost all of the constructs of the Centennial are arbitrary and unnecessary. Throughout the book, Isla keeps asking herself, "What is love?" (baby don't hurt me), Grim brings up the value of pain, and they both examine being a source of life and a destroyer of life, a simultaneous cure and poison. Examine is a strong word. I feel like these ideas were raised with no real commitment to exploring them. The book does not have much to say about love or pain or the cure/poison other than reflecting how Isla loves, how Grim feels pain, and uhhh. Uhhhhhhh. I'm actually not sure about the last one, but maybe that's a next book thing. It's obviously supposed to be a big deal but the symbolism doesn't have any root to an idea or an emotion. Maybe how Isla is self-destructive? If that's it it's really flimsy. I know that sometimes just having ideas only serves the romance works fine in books, but I really kept expecting to have at least something meaningful come out of the book, and for how often those ideas were introduced, I thought that'd be it. Alas. the publisher and netgalley were really just passing the audiobook arc around like a blunt at a party (thank you to them for real tho) but that meant i have some friends who also got to read this, who i had to pester with questions the entire time i read this book because wow. incomprehensible. 😚✌🏽 may god have mercy on your soul.

I don't want to write a conclusion, so I won't. Thanks for the arc. My curiosity has been quenched. Tiktok will love this book. I can't imagine that it's translation to film will be good. I say that as a film reviewer who doubles as an avid reader. Things aren't looking good. We got significantly less "an x was an x thing". I still think the prose was not as terrible as everyone made it out to be to begin with, but there are construction issues and the entire thing is so poorly conceived and researched that it feels like there is. There were some neat metaphors in there. There were some less neat metaphors.And the funny thing is that even with all this telling, the world-building is very confusing. From what I've gathered, there are 6 realms and the realms are countries?? Isla mentions there are uninhabited countries that she could escape to, but the focus is on the Wilding, Skyling, Moonling, Starling, Nightshade and Lightlark. We are told that Lightlark is an island that appears every 100 years, but it was also at war with Nightshade; but then we are also told that Lightlark was inhabited with people from the other 4 countries (Wilding, Skyling, Moonling, Starling) but then the rulers of the realm got killed after getting cursed - and everyone thinks Nightshade is responsible for the curses? Am I losing anyone yet??? These 6 rulers are supposed to compete in a 100-day game/battle called the Centennial in which one of them must die - note, this system hasn't worked in the past 400 years, but they still keep doing the Centennial because...reasons. this was disappointing on SO many levels, i don't even know where to start. i almost screamed when i got the audio-arc thingy cause this was on my "anticipated releases" tbr and all, but now i regret even requesting this book on netgalley (it was probably an auto approve arc anyway lol). i've been following alex aster for a while now and she seemed like a really nice author, replying to my messages, and i have nothing against her but alex, really? i mean, come on. this book wasn't even good. hell, this book didn't even contain the TROPES and QUOTES that we were promised, you know, the ones she posted on tiktok for the purpose of PROMOTING her book. ironic, right? The Average Citizen. Isla actually talks to average citizens in this book, but they're all single minded and one note it feels weird. These people don't have interiority or conflicting feelings. They are simply on Isla's side or they are not. Sometimes they switch between the two, but yeah, there isn't much more beyond that. This is especially true when she meets her own Wildling people. I am a person who followed almost all the controversies surrounding the author of this book, Alex Aster, from her controversial app to all the stuff that happened in BookTok.

They serve no real purpose outside of trying to force a competition format, and the performances for an adoring crowd distract from the rulers’ actual goal of trying to ‘solve’ the prophecy. The demonstrations come off as side quests to a larger storyline, and that larger storyline is…..guessing where things are and then going to look for them. It can get repetitive and feel as though the plot is stalling, and during those slowed-down periods you keep wondering things like, ‘ So why did nobody try working together to free themselves before?’ or ‘ What was the point of making official alliances if people can just ignore them?’ or ‘ Why are the townspeople cool with hosting all these balls for the aristocrats who can’t seem to solve, like, one (1) riddle?’recommend: if you want to read what everyone else is reading so you know what’s going on? yes. in any other context? no. SPEAKING OF DATE, y'all...the ACOTAR really jumped out. Remember when I mentioned the 6 realms, let me repeat them for you: Wildling, Skyling, Moonling, Starling, Nightshade, and Lightlark. If there's a villain (as the author has heavily hinted at "villain gets the girl") guess where he's from. Let me make it worse, his name is Grimshaw LMAOOO. An instant #1 National Bestselle r--so on to be a major motion picture. #BookTok phenomenon and award-winning author Alex Aster delivers readers a masterfully written, utterly gripping YA fantasy novel

Isla Crown is the young ruler of Wildling—a realm of temptresses cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with. They are feared and despised, and are counting on Isla to end their suffering by succeeding at the Centennial.” Also this is a minor thing but from the character reveals we've had so far and the general Eurocentric fantasy world vibes, I'm sensing the book is gonna be very white/white-passing. I know Aster is Colombian so I give her kudos for being a WOC author in such a difficult industry. But I also can't deny that she is very white-passing and that does play a role in the diversity we might see in this book.) Fantasy Novel 'Lightlark' Lands at Universal, Temple Hill (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. July 19, 2022. This situation could been a constructive conversation about the quality of a book, privileges, the highly commercialized state of publishing, the influence of tiktok, or false advertising, and instead we’re having NONE of those. Do not invalidate anyone’s identity. This is unproductive and invasive speculation. Focus on actions, on stuff that’s actually happening. C’mon, be real. Oro also has friends and his friends become Isla's friends and it's nice. Oro girlies we're winning battles, even though we will inevitably lose the war (a sequel has not been announced but it's probably going to get a sequel).

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There's some 7th realm. I am cursed with a physical copy of this book and though the secret chapter in Grim's POV was focused on smut, there was a mention that he was battling these things called dreks so I'm gonna guess there's this evil realm that all the other 6 realms have to team up against but Isla will be the most powerful in stopping them Aster was also called out because the “ spicy” scenes in her book she hyped up on TikTok didn’t make the final copy, and though the author said it was a result of routine editing, people felt misled. Some called it false advertising, and others called it advertising in the BookTok era.