Lightlark by Alex Aster

Description from Storygraph:

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. The Centennial offers the six rulers one final chance to break the curses that have plagued their realms for centuries. Each ruler has something to hide. Each realm’s curse is uniquely wicked. To destroy the curses, one ruler must die.

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.

To survive, Isla must lie, cheat, and betray…even as love complicates everything.

Filled with secrets, deception, romance, and twists worthy of the darkest thrillers, Lightlark is a must-read for fans of legendary fantasy writers Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer, and Leigh Bardugo.

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My Review:

First, was this book basic? Yes. Yes, it was.

Second, was it enjoyable? Also yes.

This book has a lot of things going on that I can critique it for. First, I really wish the author came up with better names. Starling, Sunling, Moonling, etc..... It was a bit too on the nose for me. I'm also not a fan of the love triangle. The main character is super young while both of her love interests are hundreds of years old. Just cringe. Also, I am not a fan of the Starlings' curse. To have everyone die at 25 is just weird. Basically, teenagers are having kids and raising them. Made me just a little uncomfy.

I really did like the premise though. The idea that six different rulers with different cultures and magic needed to come together to break their curses but still be strategic were interesting. I enjoyed learning about each realm's abilities. I can see why Alex Aster said this book was a mix of Hunger Games and ACOTAR. The strategy and killing made me think of the Hunger Games, while the trials and magic made me think of ACOTAR.

I really did enjoy the characters a bit. They were a bit simplistic but not too much where they were one-dimensional. I liked that Isla had a bit of a temper and basically was like "f*ck it" to what was expected of her. I surprisingly was not a fan of Grim. Usually, I swoon for his character type but something about him just absolutely rubbed me the wrong way. Even the romance between him and Isla felt off. I will not spoil it, but let's just say my instincts were not wrong with this one. I really liked Oro. I liked seeing little bits and pieces of him poke through under his tired grumpy exterior. I enjoyed his scenes with Isla the most. I was a bit disappointed with Celeste's character. She's supposed to be Isla's best friend and "secret partner" but they rarely have scenes together. She disappeared for long periods of time before popping up again right before I could completely forget about her existence. Maybe that was by the author's design but I wasn't a fan.

Overall, this book was not a masterpiece. The prose wasn't the most beautiful. Did it deserve the unnecessary hate it got? Definitely not. As I mentioned earlier, this book is a bit basic. There are a lot of tropes in here that were not executed in the most interesting manner. I really enjoyed reading this book though. I had a lot of fun. Sometimes, I don't need a book to be the most unique or best piece of literature. It also piqued my interest enough to read the next book when it eventually comes out. My take is that if you love magic and common tropes, borrow this from the library and enjoy it.