Scan barcode
A review by bookishspy
Lightlark by Alex Aster
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
First book of 2025 and it was... fine?
There were a lot of things I liked in Lightlark, but also a lot of parts that fell flat.
Let's start with the good!
Firstly, there's a love triangle, and we all know I live for love triangles, so that's a positive in my book! I will also say that it seems to be the proper kind. The kind that is actually going to make you wonder or even hope for a RH situation by the end. Love that!
While I predicted the main plot points, there were a few little twists here and there that did actually surprise me. Obviously, I won't go into detail on those, but it's not often a book surprises me nowadays, so it deserves credit for that
I found the idea of this world and its problems intriguing. The curses were also interesting and brought a bit more of an urgency to the storyline that I enjoyed
And the FMC wasn't absolutely useless while being powerless. She did as much as she physically could manage despite being at a disadvantage from the beginning
Now, for the bad...
The writing. I'm sorry but it was not great. It threw me off multiple times. There was a sentence that bothered me more than anything -
<i>Her swords moved independently, in tandem, ...</i>
Like, excuse me, but that doesn't make sense 🤦♀️ those are literally opposites. They can't be both. Pick one.
The romance.. it was kind of out of nowhere. There was very little tension between her and one guy, and the other one had entirely too much tension out of nowhere. There was no in-between.
Also, the worldbuulding felt unfinished. Nothing was explained enough to actually make sense. We readers were just expected to accept these things as fact despite many issues with them.
Like these "games" really just seem pointless, if I'm honest. They weren't necessary, and they were sorted into teams to.. what exactly? Like there was no point. It just seemed like a reason for the FMC and one of the MMCs to talk to each other finally... but otherwise, it felt pointless??
On top of that, this did feel like a bad version of a bunch of different books, like ACOTAR, Crave, Harry Potter etc.. it took me out of the Lightlark world multiple times
Overall, I'll say I enjoy anything with a love triangle. It wasn't the worst I've read. But I also wouldn't exactly recommend it. Despite that, I will be continuing the series
➛ 𝟑 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬
There were a lot of things I liked in Lightlark, but also a lot of parts that fell flat.
Let's start with the good!
Firstly, there's a love triangle, and we all know I live for love triangles, so that's a positive in my book! I will also say that it seems to be the proper kind. The kind that is actually going to make you wonder or even hope for a RH situation by the end. Love that!
While I predicted the main plot points, there were a few little twists here and there that did actually surprise me. Obviously, I won't go into detail on those, but it's not often a book surprises me nowadays, so it deserves credit for that
I found the idea of this world and its problems intriguing. The curses were also interesting and brought a bit more of an urgency to the storyline that I enjoyed
And the FMC wasn't absolutely useless while being powerless. She did as much as she physically could manage despite being at a disadvantage from the beginning
Now, for the bad...
The writing. I'm sorry but it was not great. It threw me off multiple times. There was a sentence that bothered me more than anything -
<i>Her swords moved independently, in tandem, ...</i>
Like, excuse me, but that doesn't make sense 🤦♀️ those are literally opposites. They can't be both. Pick one.
The romance.. it was kind of out of nowhere. There was very little tension between her and one guy, and the other one had entirely too much tension out of nowhere. There was no in-between.
Also, the worldbuulding felt unfinished. Nothing was explained enough to actually make sense. We readers were just expected to accept these things as fact despite many issues with them.
Like these "games" really just seem pointless, if I'm honest. They weren't necessary, and they were sorted into teams to.. what exactly? Like there was no point. It just seemed like a reason for the FMC and one of the MMCs to talk to each other finally... but otherwise, it felt pointless??
On top of that, this did feel like a bad version of a bunch of different books, like ACOTAR, Crave, Harry Potter etc.. it took me out of the Lightlark world multiple times
Overall, I'll say I enjoy anything with a love triangle. It wasn't the worst I've read. But I also wouldn't exactly recommend it. Despite that, I will be continuing the series
➛ 𝟑 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬