Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
This book has been touted as this Hunger Games x ACOTAR fantasy and I need y'all to manage those expectations because the writing makes it plainly obvious that this book is a debut. In fact, the writing comes off as a second draft that would have benefitted from closer editing: 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. Grim's dialogue is attrocious. I can't even tell if the other dialogue in the book is alright, or if it just looks fine next to whatever comes out of his mouth. Last time I wrote this, I was up to the start of the Centennial. Now my thing about the Centennial is that it's the dumbest concept despite instigating the sequences of events in this book. It's 100 days but in the first 50 days, all the rulers have to do demonstrations for the people of Lightlark to observe. It's supposed to be like the training days in the Hunger Games where the tributes show off their skills to secure donors during the games but the idea falls flat in Lightlark because the people who live on Lightlark don't...do anything. They watch? They attend parties? But their role is so unnecessary. Another component of these demonstrations is for rulers to scope out each other's powers but the "winning" isn't always straightforward. For Grim's demonstration, everyone had to battle it out, but the King of Lightlark, Oro, had a demonstration where everyone had the chance to show their greatest secret. Like?? Oro ends up being the winner of these demonstrations and is allowed to choose who to pair up for the next 75 days. In reality, however, this shift in focus proves that publishing is, more than ever, situating profit as the primary goal. To this degree, BookTok is exerting a rather dangerous influence over the publishing world. It’s pushing publishing to further extremes, by raising the value of profit-based bookselling.
Isla. If a major criticism of Lighlark is how Isla is stupid and makes rash, emotional decisions, then the major criticism of Nightbane is how she's now aware she's stupid and makes rash, emotional decisions, feels insecure and stupid about it, and then continues to do so anyways. It's not imposter's syndrome if it's warranted sweetie. She's so insecure about all of this, she almost feels like a different character from the first book, but maybe that's because she had little personality to begin with and her appeal relied on how good she was at fighting and also how sexy she is. But she's also horny in this book too don't worry. 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. I feel like the author just made the rules very convoluted and hard to follow without the logic that we saw in the Hunger Games. For instance, in the Hunger Games, we understood that children were selected as a way to lower morale in the districts; in Lightlark, the rulers are selected...but they have been competing for 400 years (Isla is the youngest realm ruler while the others are like 500 years old lmao) so I don't get what's different about each time? In the Hunger Games, the competitors are sent to the Capitol; in Lightlark they are sent to Lightlark, the original realm with power, but also the King of Lightlark is cursed so does he also compete? In the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta meet with fashion designers to demonstrate how the Capitol demands pomp behind the tragic killing; in Lightlark, Isla has an appointment with the tailor...just because? I'm not sharing these parallels to demand the author make a carbon copy of the Hunger Games, but if you are gonna comp with such an iconic YA dystopia, you need to follow through. Hollywood said yes, and before the book’s initial release in July 2022, Aster announced in another viral TikTok that Universal bought the rights to make Lightlark into a movie. It scored Aster a payout that she described as “more zeros than I’ve seen in my life.”There could have been so much done with all these magic lines and islands and cultures? But basically it's stated they exist and that's it. There's no going into these places and describing them or their people or their magic or why we should care about any of them or how beautiful they can be. I was really excited to dive into this world and none of that occurred at all. If you’re unfamiliar with BookTok’s latest obsession, let me introduce you to: ‘Lightlark’– the YA fantasy tale that’s sweeping shelves at the moment. It is, as author Alex Aster puts it, a book all about secrets, betrayal, and love. ‘Lightlark’ takes place on ‘a cursed island that appears once every hundred years to host a game that gives six rulers of the realm a chance to break their curses.’
Fantasy that reads like a breath of fresh air. Filled with secrets aplenty and enthralling magic, Lightlark will have you gasping then swooning while these valiant rulers fight to break their curses."-- Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights The snow villages of the Moonling new lands. The airy jubilees of the Skyling newlands. A few lands that hadn't been settled by any of the six realms at all." Having finally published her first novel, Alex Aster was feeling disheartened. The book had tanked during the pandemic and she had been dropped by her literary agent. Then, on 13 March 2021, she decided to take to TikTok, asking her followers if they would: “read a book about a cursed island that only appears once every 100 years to host a game that gives the six rulers of the realm a chance to break their curses.” One of the rulers must die, the short video revealed, “even as love complicates everything” for the heroine, Isla Crown.The middle is a tad bit slow, but once you get to the ending, everything makes sense. I highly suggest you finish before forming a final opinion. Many things I’ve seen talked about are people not finishing the book and making conclusions based on a partial read. Welcome to the Centennial. Every 100 years, the island of Lightlark appears to host the Centennial, a deadly game that only the rulers of six realms are invited to play. The invitation is a summons - a call to embrace victory and ruin, baubles and blood.
a b c "How TikTok Changed The Course Of Alex Aster's Life". HuffPost. 2022-09-15 . Retrieved 2023-07-13. 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 really, really enjoyed LIGHTLARK. The whimsical fun, the mystery, the triangle, the anxiety and betrayal I actually read the first two Throne of Glass books between reading Lightlark and Nightbane. It really is a huge aesthetic and tone inspiration, and the two feel very similar. It is true that the Lightlark series is attempting to occupy the same romantasy feel as ACOTAR, but the similarities do not stop there. I think, if the book is actually attempting to do anything, it'd be a proper romantasy. 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.Personally, I'm hoping the following comes true (not because I'm invested, but because I've digested enough of Alex Aster's TikTok content to infer the high likelihood I might be right): I’M HOOKED. I have read this book 3 times since it was released. The second time was because the plot twist is massive (one of several) and the type that makes you immediately want to re-read to see how you could have missed it. The third time, I re-read because I missed the world. Also, because I learned this was going to be a movie, so I wanted to experience it again. Nightbane was a very anticipated read for me and I am so so forever grateful I was sent a copy. Because nightbane did not only NOT DISAPPOINT, but also EXCEEDED my expectations. I liked how ambitious Isla was, but the most annoying thing about her was her obstinate stubbornness and then almost immediate opinion changes.
Great Deal 
New Comment