Now this one is a hot topic. TikTok especially has been giving this a ton of hate and unwarranted because as a debut, this was fantastic.
Synopsis: Isla Crown, ruler of Wildling, has been invited to her first Centennial. Every 100 years a deadly game is held in an attempt to break the curse that has wreaked havoc on all six realms and all six rulers for centuries. To destroy the curse secrets must be revealed, competitions must be held, love must be avoided and one ruler must die.
Plot: Now I can 100% agree that this was a little messy at times and it felt very similar to a lot of other books I've read – mainly Caraval – but that being said, I still really enjoyed this and couldn't put it down. It did try to do a lot, which is what made it messy and a tad chaotic, but I found so many fun aspects and romance tropes that kept me intrigued the whole time. I was also constantly marveling over how creative some of the writing and plotlines were. Although I can tell inspiration was drawn, as mentioned before, it was still super original and fast-paced with something always happening on every page.
Characters: Me swooning for a dark and mysterious king??? Typical but I absolutely sure did in fact swoon. Their romance and its build-up was perfection. There was also a love triangle in this that I didn't mind at all, which is shocking as I am pretty over that over-done trope. Despite having maybe one too many "possible betrayals," all the relationships in this book were pretty well-written and the main characters were done pretty okay too. I do wish there was a bit more information on some of the side characters because they were super interesting but they were a little brushed over so as to focus on Isla. And Isla was a badass heroine. She was strong and smart and had a compelling arch as well.
Overall, this doesn't deserve the numerous one-star reviews that it gets on Goodreads. Justice for Lightlark. I will be continuing with the series and looking forward to the next one.
4/5 stars.
Comments