lore concerning the realms is so silly, it's as if she heard that people were critical of how poorly thought out the curses were and then wildly overcorrected. it's still nonsense, there's just more of it. where were these wild beasts before? why is nightshade exclusively populated by lascivious, hostile unnamed weirdos? what do these rebels think they're actually going to accomplish?

I don't know who finds the 500 year man and 18 year old girl romance appealing, but I'm so tired of it. It's laughable. Even if they look 20... seriously? Every time I remember the character's ages, and how they actually act in the book, I have to laugh. Even just the fact that she beats them both in combat. It's like... okay. Both of these men led their armies in a war against each other 500 years ago and have been practicing fighting since and they just got their asses beat by an 18 year old. She wasn't even doing anything new that they haven't seen or her puting her own spin on it. She just beat them. Funny. I know it's YA and the main character needs some quality that gives her worth like that, but it's just so jarring. Honestly, if you hate unoriginal names, don’t read this book. Isla is the ruler of Wildling, Celeste is the ruler of Starling, Cleo is the ruler of Moonling, Azul is the ruler of Skyling, Oro is the ruler of Sunling, and Grim is the ruler of Nightshade. And if that’s not enough: “Sky Isle for the Skylings, Moon Isle for the Moonlings, and Sun Isle for the Sunlings.” AND NO SPOILERS BUT THE FACT THAT EGGS AND YOLKS ACTUALLY ENDED UP BEING SIGNIFCANT IN THE CLIMAX OF THE WHOLE STUPID BOOK UGHHHHH That objectively does not make sense. Maybe wind power would make objects move, but why star power? 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.Sequel is called Nightshade (duh, Isla is half Nightshade because her dad was some Nightshade general and all signs point to Isla x Grim endgame) ok also the other two female realm rulers are basically identical when you look at their character art. they’re both white and very pale with light hair and their realms are night sky based. their names also both begin with the letter C. idk why you would do that. the curses attached to all of the realms are uneven and silly and the mechanics needed to break all of them are absolute gobbledygook. i had my friends explain the rules to me like five times, which is bad considering i got all of the mistborn worldbuilding while listening to the audiobooks too. Before I begin, I want to make it clear that I only made it 25% into this book. Not because I was too busy or too lazy, but because I refused to give this book any more of my time than that. I am actually insulted that YA publishing thought they could get away with this. I’m angry, flabbergasted, and extremely disappointed. you might be tired of reading great fantasy with great fantasy names like daenerys, cardan and might want to clear your platter by reading awful fantasy with awful fantasy names like grim, isla crown, oro. How do I find exclusive, special and limited edition books? Advice from a long-time collector. Introduction

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. Then there’s the logistical issues, such as a half a dozen bridges connecting these islands made of rope (???) that people have to cross on foot (??????) and where exactly these foreign realms that people fled to actually are. And sorry Skylings, Imma let you finish, but your curse being that you can’t fly anymore when Starlings drop dead at 25 and Wildlings have to do cannibalism is absolutely INSANE. Maybe I missed the second part of their curse, but they seem kinda chill with the whole arrangement on the whole. Listen, I am a seasoned fantasy reader. More than that, I was a Supernatural fan in my heyday. I have made sense of many things that do not make sense. I am unfortunately a bit of an aspiring writer myself (derogatory) and do not find my work to be anything good, or special. But making peace with this inspires me to be better, to work harder. I can take it, and I’m sure Aster can too.If you're here, you've probably already read, or know about the infamous Lightlark. I really didn't know what to expect going into the sequel. I mean, I don't think anyone expected a huge jump in quality, but it would be interesting to see what improvements the author made. Were there improvements? Sort of? I don't know. So I’ve written for far too long and I’m going to wrap it up here. To be honest, y’all, I did enjoy this book. It was so weird and bad it actually became kind of enjoyable. I know this was definitely not the review I was expecting to write (I was thinking a lot more capital letters and a lot more ranting lol) but I think I kinda shared enough of my mixed feelings about this book. Update: I was kindly given access to an audiobook on NetGalley and can now divulge a full, honest review! Fair warning, I was right about this being an ACOTAR ripoff with terrible prose. I feel thoroughly validated lmao preread: “but i thought you were done taking book recommendations from tiktok?” shhhhhhhhh. just one more.

Grim (bootleg Rhysand - seriously, he comes from a night themed realm/court and can read minds - but somehow, 13239x creepier. Every time he's mentioned he's "raking his eyes over Isla's scantily clad body." Not at all swoony. I would not trust this man to hold my drink.) But what if you want some of these special editions for your own book collection – books with sprayed edges, beautiful designs, limited editions – without the sort of serious financial commitment of a subscription or fine press edition – how can you get them? Well, I’m glad you asked, because I’m here to help! About this list But TikTok is not, she says, “something that anyone can game”. “People see what has happened to me. And they’re like: ‘Oh, I can just make a video and get a six-figure deal.’ I wish it was like that. I wish it had been that easy,” she says. For Aster, BookTok is about the BookTokers – the reviewers who read a book, love it and send it viral – such as @thecalvinbooks; @moongirlreads and @aymansbooks. The latter is the handle of Ayman Chaudhary, who is particularly excited about Lightlark. “Alex perfectly laces together an intricate world [while] also giving us a heart-wrenching romance,” she says. I rarely use GoodReads, but because I received an advanced copy of the book, I thought it best to distribute this review across all platforms where I have an account. You can find me over on the storygraph, username bean. Thanks for the arc btw! 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.

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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). Diversity? An attempt was made. As we learn more about the world, we see more people, and they're more diverse than in the first book. I have my criticisms about how in books like this, race only feels skin deep, but an attempt was made. Is it a successful attempt? It was a step in the right direction that's for sure.

Anyways it’s very clear to me that Aster cares about writing and storytelling, but perhaps not as much the art or craft of it. To quote Billy Joel, slow down you crazy child, you’re so ambitious for a juvenile. I really, really enjoyed LIGHTLARK. The whimsical fun, the mystery, the triangle, the anxiety and betrayal

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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. 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? Yes I have rated this book five stars. And no I am not lying. I read this book within 2 days and it genuinely surprised me. Imma be honest with y'all I did not think I would love this book. I went in not expecting much at all. But this book despite what many claim is very well written. The author went to one of the most prestigious writing and English programs in the world and has been working as a professional editor for years. The writing Is beautiful but still managed to be simple and easy to understand which I really really enjoyed. You're thrown right into the story and plot which I appreciate especially in fantasy books because often times at the start they can be hella boring.