Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Lightlark

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Lightlark by Alex Aster

22 reviews

dearhaleynicole's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was such a page turner read for me! It had me from the moment Isla first stepped foot on Lightlark. But the plot twists in this book, y'all 👀 I was invested and couldn't put the second half of the book down. I literally had to know what happened next. Such a thrilling read with an interesting world, curse & magic system, and some equally love-able/loathe-able characters. I definitely felt so many emotions reading.

Potentional relationship/love interest spoiler:

I have never been so conflicted with a love triangle before, truly. If you're a fan of believable love triangles...WHEW. Buckle up. This one's for you. At the conclusion of this book, I don't know who to cheer for. I am personally in love with both love interests. And also equally heartbroken. Read with caution 😭 'cause I need Alex to help pay my therapy bills now.

Cannot wait to read Nightbane. Like, currently restructuring my whole tbr list to accomodate as I write this...

Content Warnings

mj_86's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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esterslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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scribesquadrant_sierra's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Overall Rating: (2.5/5 stars)

Spice Rating: (0.25/5 peppers)

Summary: Every 100 years Lightlark, an island that hosts a deadly game, appears for the rules of the six realms to compete in a deadly game to free the mysterious curses that have plagued their land. Isla, the Wildling ruler, is unlike the rest of the realm rulers. She doesn’t have magic to offer…or to protect her. This book follows her journey filled with curses, magic, books, and romance.

What I loved:

-Not much. This book was difficult to read.

What I hated:

-Isla, the FMC. She is one of the most unintelligent FMC I’ve ever read.

-The story. The game rules are confusing in some cases and repetitive in others. Not only that, Isla keeps breaking the rules and no one seems to care at all.

-The love triangle that doesn’t work.

-The romance. It seems awkward and forced.

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greystory's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

2.5-3 stars
I liked the premise so I finally went for it. It was eh. The writing itself was alright. Not good, not great, but not bad either. My biggest complaint was the sheer YA-ness of it all which kind of isn't fair to hold against it. I was going to say this wasn't predictable like I thought it would be but in the end, it was, it just took longer getting there than anticipated.

I also don't love the sort of love triangle. Nor the massive maturity gap in the end relationship. I had unanswered questions at the end, which was a bummer given we had to sit through that extended antagonist monologue revealing stuff (unfortunately some of the same stuff more than once because Isla wasn't getting it for some reason).

Notes I jotted down while reading: (beware there be spoilers)

* She keeps referring to Grimm as having done her a favor when he implied there'd be a duel, but I find that to be a stretch. Everyone in the challenge had a sword so it wasn't like she would have been without one, right? And if you're preparing for this event your whole life, why wouldn't you have a suit of armor prepared or part of your plans? I found this really confusing.

* The severe training memories and reminders of being trained her whole life were at odds with Isla's general unpreparedness. Some of them training memories especially made no sense. These are regular humans with some magical abilities right? It's not possible to hang from something for 5 hours straight. Even if she could, doing it once like a decade ago does not prepare one for a swordfight. That does not translate, at all.

* The whole relationship with Grimm felt rushed and built on absolutely nothing. He flirted a little bit with her and she was so attention starved she was eating it up, apparently.

* She gets a secret from the secret dude Juniper and at 25% in, it's implied she can only ever get one secret from him. Why would she waste it on asking about getting around the moon guards? The answer was to wait until the full moon because the moon guards would have to be inside because all of the moonlings have to be indoors during it. How is that not basic information you already have about the moonlings? Shouldn't she or Celeste already know this??

* More of the Grimm relationship nonsense. Isla's making choices like I guess someone in their early 20s in their first ever romantic foray would but god is it frustrating and embarrassingly foolish.

* Isla is constantly telling herself she can't trust anyone and then going and trusting everyone.

* She will literally do things that make no sense. "Isla had to be quick!" then 2 seconds later she melodramtically kneeled on the floor, sighing and dwelling on her situation with emo lenses for awhile instead of doing anything. Ma'am. Ma'am, I can't with you.

* Isla is really not the brightest at times

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bronzel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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thereadingmarshmallow's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The book has a good base. The story is there, the plot is there, and the characters work. My main issue with this book is that nothing is fully explained. The FMC has decent development but the world building isn’t there like I would like for it to be. I don’t feel as though I can engage with the book like I want to because I don’t understand what’s fully going on, what their struggle is like.

That being said, I enjoy the plot and it was consumable. It took me a bit longer to get through it because I didn’t feel as engaged as I would like.

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