[Review] LightLark

minxuanfong1
Feb 18, 2025
10 min read

Updated: Sep 15, 2025

✨ Welcome to the Centennial ✨

📚 Lightlark by Alex Aster

⭐ Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5/5)

🏹 Genre: Fantasy, YA, Romance

🎯 For fans of: Fast-paced fantasy and morally grey characters

Before I start, I need to give you all a spoiler alert!! I am going to be discussing and assessing many components of the book that will eventually lead to spoilers.

If you do not wish to read the spoilers, click here to skip to 🔎 A Journalistic Take:

🔎 Synopsis --

Six cursed realms. A deadly competition. Rulers fight to eradicate the curses that plague their realms. LightLark follows Isla Crown, leader of the Wildlings, who is forced to enter a brutal contest where alliances and betrayals determine the fate of her people. But as she unravels hidden truths, she realizes that winning may come at an impossible cost.

When LightLark first hit the shelves, it exploded on social media—promising a deadly competition, high-stakes romance, and a captivating main character forced to go through countless hardships in order to save her realm from its curse. Naturally, I had to pick it up. But did it live up to all the hype?

What I Loved

✔ Intriguing Storyline – An island that only appears every 100 years for 100 days, where rulers must figure out a way to break each of their realm's curses? Yes, please.

✔ Fast-Paced Storytelling – The plot moves quickly and there’s never a dull moment. I could not put this book down.

✔ The Atmosphere – Avid descriptions make the world feel real and magical.

✔ Inspiring Protagonist – The protagonist, Isla Crown, was relatable and served as a role model.

✔ Well-crafted plot twist – The plot twist so so unexpected, I felt as if I had been slapped in the face.

What Didn’t Work for Me

❌ Overused Tropes – The romance follows an enemies-to-lovers arc which was predictable from the very beginning. It also did not contain enough build-up. It also contained a predictable love triangle, which I am generally not a fan of.

❌ Large age gap – The age gap between Grim and Isla, and Oro and Isla just felt icky. They were centuries older than her! I mean, I know age is just a number but these numbers are way too far apart.

❌ Brief explanations – Many characters' backstories were not explained satisfactorily.

For those of you who haven't read this book yet, here's a brief summary.

There are six realms of LightLark: Sunling, Nightshade, Skyling, Moonling, Starling, and lastly, Wildling, which is where the protagonist is from. Each realm has its own unique ability and its own curse.

Sunlings have fire powers. The Sunlings' curse is that if they go out during the day, they'll get burnt to death. The Sunling ruler is named Oro Rey. He possesses powers from different realms on LightLark: Moonling, Starling, and Skyling powers because he’s something that's called an Origin, which is never really explained in the book. He also possesses another power called a “flair.” Oro’s flair gives him the ability to tell when people are lying.

Nightshades primarily have the power of darkness. Don't ask me why their names are different from the other realms because I can't answer that. They have the ability to walk through walls, turn invisible, alter memories, create black holes, sense emotions, cast curses, use long-distance telepathy, cast shadows, and project illusions into the mind directly. The Nightshades' curse is that if they are exposed to the night, they will perish. Their ruler is Grimshaw Malvere, who is a seasoned warrior and killer, and his "flair" is teleportation.

Skylings are able to harness the power of the wind. Their curse prevents them from doing the thing they love most—fly. The Skyling ruler is Azul.

Moonlings have water, as well as ice powers. They are also excellent healers. Their curse prevents them from being near the ocean during a full moon, as the ocean would pull them into its depths and drown them. The Moonling ruler is called Cleo.

Starlings have the power of "energy." They have the ability to shoot sparks of energy. They are telekinetic and are able to conjure objects from thin air. Their realm's curse is that no one is to live past the age of 25. The Starling ruler is Celeste.

Lastly, there are the Wildlings. The Wildlings are temptresses. They are beautiful and have the power to seduce anyone. They harness the power of the forest and can control greenery. There are also special Wildling elixirs that are used for healing. They do not work as well as a Moonling healer, but they get the job done. The Wildling curse is that they need to kill whomever they fall in love with and eat their hearts. Wildlings need to eat 1-2 hearts per month to sustain themselves. The Wildling ruler is Isla Crown. She was born powerless. Thus, the Wildling curse does not affect her.

Okay, now that you're all caught up, on with the review!

I have read many reviews about this book and I have my own share of comments. I'll start with what I enjoyed first.

Intriguing Storyline

I love a good fantasy book—especially one with a unique and compelling storyline. LightLark hooked me the moment I saw Alex Aster’s Instagram reel, where she introduced its premise.

A magical island that appears once every century for 100 days? Six rulers battling to break their realms’ curses? Yes, please—sign me up!

Fast-Paced Storytelling The story’s development kept me engaged, filled with twists, challenges, and setbacks that pushed Isla to her limits.

The Atmosphere

I especially enjoyed the vivid descriptions that Aster used to describe the characters and the entire realm.

It made it seem like I was experiencing everything first hand. This was what glued me to the book.

"Lightlark was filled with wonders and horrors alike—floating castles, forests that whispered, and oceans that swirled with power."

"The sky was always the color of spilled ink just before it dried, and the stars above Lightlark glittered like shards of broken glass."

These are two of my favourite quotes from the story describing the atmosphere. I particularly enjoyed the use of personification of the forests. It makes the entire thing so much easier to imagine.

Inspiring Protagonist

Isla wasn't just fighting for herself—she was also desperately trying to save her people. But beneath her determination lies a dangerous secret: her powerlessness.

While the other rulers wield formidable abilities, Isla has had to rely on something else—strategy, training, and pure survival instinct. Unlike them, she’s prepared for battle in every way possible, making her both vulnerable and unexpectedly powerful.

This is why I really connected with her. Like Isla, I know what it feels like to be underestimated by others. To walk into situations where others seem to have the upper hand.

Isla refused to let her opponents' strengths define her. She may not have had the powers the other rulers possessed, but she had something else---resilience. She trained and adapted, proving that strength comes in many forms.

Her strength of character taught me that what may seem like a weakness may not really be so. It could actually be a strength. All that matters is how you decide to view it. (A little like viewing a glass half full or half empty.)

Whether in school, dance, or just life in general, Isla has taught me that adaptability and resilience matter just as much or even more than raw talent. Isla has helped me to understand that one does not have to be born with power to become powerful, or in my case, one does not have to be born with talent to become talented.

Well-crafted plot twist

I did not see this plot twist coming at all. At first, I had suspected that Azul was not the gentle and kind monarch he appeared to be. When Isla found the ring she had gifted Azul clutched in Celeste's unconscious hand, I was sure that my suspicions were true. However, once Celeste's true identity was revealed, I was gobsmacked. I did not realize that Isla's best friend would betray her in such a brutal way.

However,

There were some aspects of the story that I did not particularly appreciate.

Overused Tropes

The love story between Isla and Grim was highly predictable, almost to the point of being a cliché that one might find in the pages of a well-worn romance novel.

Grim, the stoic ruler of the Nightshades—the so-called “evil” realm, was a figure shrouded in mystery and darkness. He was tall, with an imposing stature. He commanded attention and respect and was powerful enough to instil fear in his enemies, and, of course, he just so happened to be devastatingly handsome. His demeanor was cold and distant towards everyone around him—except for Isla.

Gee, I wonder who her love interest will be. It’s impossible to tell, given the glaring signs that point towards a classic romantic entanglement.

Their entire relationship felt generic, following the classic cold-but-secretly-soft love interest trope without much originality or depth.

Grim's character was the standard example of a dark, brooding villain. Even his name was a generic "dark villain" one. The dynamic between Isla and Grim was awfully predictable. It contained same familiar moments of tension, longing, and the eventual confession of love that one could easily anticipate. It lacked complexity that would have made their relationship more interesting and unique.

To spice things up a little, Isla also finds herself falling for Oro Rey, the king of LightLark.

This twist introduced an exciting new layer to the story, yet it quickly deescalated into the classic enemies-to-lovers trope, which also lacked creativity.

Isla and Oro's early hostility seemed out of place.

They frequently barbed and insulted each other. Originally intended to highlight their contrasts, it became evident that this tension would eventually result in a love attachment.

The plot of their connection was obvious. It was full of misunderstandings and forced moments of intimacy that did little to improve the story as a whole.

Love triangles have never appealed to me either, given that I always seem to support the character that is ultimately not selected. This story was no different.

Isla's romantic journey didn't seem to be a genuine examination of her goals and decisions, but rather a just a checklist of romantic tropes

Large age gap

Grim and Oro were also centuries older than Isla, mind you. I know these kinds of age gaps are normal in fantasy books but it still makes me highly uncomfortable.

Very brief explanations

While Isla, Oro and Grimm's backgrounds were addressed, the other rulers such as Celeste, Azul and Cleo's were not. Besides a very short and brief explanation, no other deeper explanations were explored. These three rulers were not even given a last name!

🔎 A Journalistic Take:

📰 The Power of Hype & Marketing

Let's take a look at Alex Aster's marketing strategy.

Using TikTok and Instagram as her main marketing platform
Alex Aster already had a large following on TikTok and Instagram, where she heavily promoted LightLark.
She posted many videos on the book, with some videos even getting millions of views.
Her biggest video reached over 1 million likes.
She positioned her book as the next big fantasy sensation.
What led me to read LightLark was an encounter on Instagram. I came across a promotional video where the author attempted to persuade viewers to read her book in under a minute. After watching it, I was instantly intrigued and decided to borrow it through my library app.
Book teasers
Aster posted many selective and mysterious book teasers that managed to hook viewers.
She revealed teasers in small doses, making the viewers crave more each time.
Pre-orders
Even before LightLark was released, thousands of pre-orders were being made, which contributed heavily to LightLark climbing the rank to #1 in the New York Times best-selling book.
Aster's viral videos convinced people to pre-order her books without reading any reviews.
Publishers noticed her and gave Aster a whopping six-figure deal.
Some information about the deal:
According to Bustle, "Aster’s struck TikTok gold once again, this time with a March 13 teaser video for her YA novel, LightLark. At the time of this writing, the video has racked up 1.2 million views, 278,000 likes, and more than 7,000 comments — and it’s just scored Aster a six-figure book deal with Amulet Books."
"Aster says she chose to sign with Amulet because they were willing to “allow the TikTok community who gave [her] this platform to choose” LightLark’s final cover."
This gives fans even more insight into her book, making them feel involved in the process. This, in turn, would also increase publicity and sales.
In addition to this, Aster also gave away the first chapter of LightLark for free to readers who signed up for her email newsletter, increasing the number of people who receive updates about her book.
Increasing the hype with a movie deal
According to Libraryland, "it was announced that the film rights had been pre-emptively purchased by Universal."
This announcement of a movie adaptation even before the book has been published increases the amount of anticipation from fellow readers.

Without Aster's constant videos and posts on her book, I doubt LightLark would have been as big of a hit as it is today. This demonstrates that a strong marketing strategy is essential for something to go viral.

Alex Aster's Lightlark sparked much online conversation. The book was all over social media even before it was released, but did it live up to the public's expectations?

When LightLark hit shelves in 2022, it sold more than 24,000 copies in its first week on sale, hurling it up the New York Times bestseller list; in the years since, that number has surpassed a million copies.

However, selling millions of copies does not necessarily mark a good book. This large number could solely be because of Aster's excellent marketing strategy.

LightLark was given a 3.8/5 star rating on Goodreads, with a variety of different ratings by different people.

29% of readers rated this 5 stars

38% of readers rated this 4 stars

22% of readers rated this 3 stars

6% of readers rated this 2 stars

3% of readers rated this 1 star

Although this statistic shows that the majority of readers enjoyed this book, the haters also made their claims loud and clear, stating that LightLark lacked creativity and was too unrealistic, even for fantasy standards.

Final Thoughts

LightLark is a fast-paced read with an addictive storyline. While it has flaws, mostly in its predictability and brief explanations, it is still an enjoyable read that kept me glued to the book for two and a half weeks straight.

Without Aster's marketing skills, LightLark would probably not be what it is today. Nonetheless, it is still an excellent YA fantasy book that deserves praise.

💬 Was Lightlark a masterpiece or just good marketing? Let’s discuss! ⬇️