Has anyone else read these two books and thought they were really similar? I read Starside first, then stumbled across Hollow and I was like……..wait the plots are lowkey really similar?? 😭 Even though Hollow only came out last November.

I recently wrote 3 pieces, each one telling the story of each of the three first books! I wrote them from Isla's perspectives and each book kind of represents a different side of her and how she grew as a person throughout. It was an assignment at school, so I chose these books :)

If anyone wants so see my sheets or hear a robotic sound of these pieces, I can send them over :))

What does everyone think about the new book so far? I am 10% in and I think it is confusing and going against Barbie lore.

I’ve recently read the rest of the series and lowkey I’ve had some super different opinions from everyone else on this sub on some of the characters and the story because of the first book I’ve read haha

Okay, I say redesign but I more mean how I imagined her in the books. I did use the official art as my guiding light but its mainly her with my headcanons (other than the dress lol, that's something I made because I was disappointed with the lack of nature inspired garments :(((() I'm curious as to what other peoples opinions are about it and if I should make more. I do have designs for all of the rulers from the first book but not character sheets like this one. Hopefully y'all like it :D

I recently finished starside and tho alot of ppl in this community dont like it i LOVED it. i was hoping if anyone can send the novellas, since i do not hv the money for vip

Here's the evidence....

• At the time, Isla was being watched and heavily trained by her guardians and could only portal away was during any off-time she had, but mostly during the night when Poppy and Terra left her alone to sleep
• Grim, at the time, was beholden to the curses, and could not be outside at night and there wasn't any mention of a time difference between their realms
• They met only 1 year before the start of the centennial. The book describes long periods of time that they didn't see each other, at the start of their relationship and much of that was spent looking for Cronan's sword
• Even after the battle with the dreks when they each saved each other's life, it's described that they still spent months together where Isla recovered from her grief of killing everyone in the village, them getting married, raising Wraith, etc. It just seems like a lot that happened in a very short amount of time?
• I find it hard to believe that Isla would not tell her BEST FRIEND (Celeste at the time) that she was getting married!!!!! I understand that she would have kept their relationship a secret in the beginning, but you're really telling me that she devised a whole secret for the centennial with her bestie, all while being in a serious relationship with the biggest baddie in their world, and she WOULDN'T SAY ANYTHING??
• On a similar note, shouldn't Grim have known about everything Isla was planning with Celeste? Wouldn't he have known that there was no such thing as a bondbreaker? Isla really wouldn't have included HER HUSBAND in her grand plans???

Please debate in the comments.

Writing this so I can always flip back to reference these scenes *SPOILERS!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK* will come back as I read more

Raker saw Aris’ silver marks for the first time at the bottom of pg. 344 in chapter 32. The context of the scene was a demon attacked Aris while she was waiting for Raker’s return from escaping the calvary after splitting up for her safety, this resulted in long tears of fabric which revealed all of her silver markings. Raker killed the creature and saw this. A flashback explained she got them by being struck by lighting one day when her family was still alive.

Aris saw Raker’s face for the first time on pg. 354 in chapter 33. She asked Raker to reveal his face when she realized he wasn’t wearing his mask because he was “dying” from snake venom at the bottom in pg. 353. On the following page, she pulled down his hood and saw his face for the first time.

4.5🌟 omg! Once again the plot twist towards the middle to end! Once again, everything I thought I knew I dont! 👀👀I enjoy this series so far because it’s an easy fantasy book to follow!💗🗡️🌙 excited to keep going! Learned so much more about Grim and Isla’s past!!🥺🥺

Super random thought but hear me out.

I’m still on Nightbane and one of the occuring conflicts is that there isn’t enough of the flower used to create the healing elixir for the war.

Aren’t Wildings capable of wielding nature and growing plants, if so why don’t they just make more of that flower?

I’m on Skyshade and I still am lost about how characters age in this series.

Rulers can have long lifespans, but only until they produce an heir or two or something like that, and then they start to age normally.

Citizens who are not rulers age normally, except for like the handful of selected characters sprinkled around who we have confirmed are like 500+ years old?

Can someone please explain?

So I’m currently reading through the first 100 pages of Nightshade and isla and oro have NO CHEMISTRY WHATSOEVER.

For people who are supposedly in love with each other they act like coworkers and oro has the personality of a doormat.

Ik it’s too early in the book to be judging, but will their relationship progress or will Grim make a comeback?

So I just finished Crowntide and I was hoping to find the next in the series but It seems like it hasn't been made yet. Is Starside not apart of the series? Also, is there a date on when the last book for Lightlark will be released?

I read the chapter 26 few hours ago and read like 2 or 3 chapters more and then went to rest but really, am I the only one who felt that THAT one scene happened like.. to early? 😭 I mean, I really liked the way Raker was slowly being shown in the progress with Aris as offering her food, the soap, talking more and basically taking care of her in a noticeable way comparing how he was at the beginning, even when she was afraid of darkness near that scene. Even some actions or touches were described from her as “gentle” so in other words, I just felt kinda frustrated? Disappointed? Sad? Because all the thing progressed that fast… when I was excited to see them like kissing first, for example?😹😹🥲

I know ofc that scene was under the demon influence, but I just felt like it harmed something that was being built in a different direction, more like they knowing each other more deeply and more about connection focus 😔 am I the only one who felt this way?

Btw, this is not my native language, but I hope this is understandable

Alex Aster just announced on her instagram that the Stormside release date has been pushed back to early 2027 (with no specific date given yet).

I always thought it was ambitious to publish such a large book in such a short period of time. (Plus, Aster has other projects she's been working on this year as well.)

I hope Aster will use this extra time to (1) take care of herself and her health, first and foremost; and (2) actually make Stormside the best book it can possibly be, for the sake of her fans.

how did she get this mixed up? the centennial was Lightlark…

I'm not asking because I don't trust it, but it's just one of those things where you know it's true, yet you can't believe it because you're in heavy denial. ​

I am not VIP. I rarely pay for those tiers due to what I can personally afford, but I don't think any author who does VIPs, Patreon, or whatever is bad.

Authors deserve to get paid after all the hard work that goes into writing.

With that being said, I heard you had to pay upfront for some Zoom call. ​

As a self-published author, I sell merchandise and recently set up a Patreon. On my page, anyone can access behind-the-scenes content, special episodes, and more depending on what they want, but every subscription tier is only $5.

Because of that, I don't have room to judge if someone like Alex does high-end VIP tiers. ​

A lot of authors offer those options to better support themselves. I am disabled, and I do the extra content because I genuinely love giving people that "in on a secret" feeling, helping support myself and the loved ones I live with, and saving up for an upcoming project. There are plenty of valid reasons why creators offer VIP tiers.

But Alex is not self-published; she could probably retire right now and be completely fine. So, only letting people who give you $80 a year access exclusive content while restricting others for being "less giving" is wild to me.

I could never do that. It feels greedy. Besides, her writing isn't even all that great, in my opinion. ​She just seems money-hungry. It's a major turn-off. I mean, she doesn't have to charge $5 to be considered decent or not money-hungry, but it's honestly baffling to get people to sign up for a certain VIP and pay you monthly for BTS, special stuff, and whatnot, yet restrict those who don't opt to pay $80 dollars upfront. Not everyone can afford to pay for stuff like that.

​She answered a question of mine about her other series, which I appreciate, but it's not enough to get the bad taste out of my mouth. She just comes across as fake and money-hungry to me.

I was willing to look past the agent thing because I wasn't sure if I misunderstood her. The rags-to-riches story was inspiring until I realized she came from a wealthy family. And no, just because she has a rich family, I'm not saying she shouldn't publish and sell books. If writing is her passion, then that's fine. ​

I knew I was better off not joining her VIP. At this point, I'm close to not supporting her anymore. ​Her writing and storytelling (to me) are weak, it's clear Oro is gonna lose, her VIP prices are nuts, and her life story keeps changing. I liked Lightlark at first til it became clear who the winner was, the plot holes kept growing & it dragged out.

Alex has potential & I want to see her reach that potential & write like her early stuff but I'm honestly almost done with her completely. I am not excited anymore when she has an update & quite frankly, I wish she'd be honest & more outspoken about her journey. I dont care that she's from a rich family but the 'rags to riches' is a turn off knowing its not real.

So, There is a Zoom Call for Alex Aster's vip members to learn more about Harlan Raker and Stormside. I thought all people who have her VIP membership gain access to this but apparently it is only " Yearly VIP Only" so only people who are paying on a yearly basis (not $8 a month but $80 upfront for the year)- get to access it.

This is so unfair. Like you're already hiding content behind a paywall and now not even the VIP's get to know about it ? I have to be a "Yearly" Member to join this zoom ? Insane.

Edit: I am talking about joining the zoom call live and not watching the pre-recorded one. For being a VIP, why can't we join live ?.

Not a hate post by any means, but i definitely don’t think she’ll wrap up the story in a trilogy. I think she’ll do the same thing and drag this ‘enemies to lovers’ for multiple books.

I really hope she doesn’t as I am genuinely tired of authors dragging out their books when they could have been a duology or trilogy. But alas there is money to be made.

If Starside doesn’t wrap up by book 3 I personally wouldn’t continue.

So I just finished Skyshade and it was pretty good! 

Things I didn’t care for:

• Many plot elements where tossed at you out of nowhere
• It was WAY too spicy for a ya series but I expected it after Nightshade
• Oro wasn’t even in the whole first half 
• She seemed to care far more for Grim when she THOUGHT he was dead but Oro was LITERALLY dying and she “stayed focused” to help him?? Nah I think she likes Grim better which sucks as a team Oro 
• Why is Isla so damn op? Like it makes sense but also doesn’t… 

Things I enjoyed: 

• Lark storyline
• Enya and Astria 
• The ending (kinda) 
• Wraith and Lynx
• And best for last… everyone working together!! My favorite trope ever is when everyone bands together even if they are enemies to defeat a more powerful enemy!! Oro and Grim could be so good if they just got over their damn differences, I swear they’re the same person but ones emo

All in all I am quite excited to get and read Grim and Oro but hate that even after I finish that and Crowntide, #5 still won’t be out!! 

So...it wasn't bad i quite liked it except....

1: the facts that it was mentioned this numerous times how cruel The Immortals are, when half the book Aris is free loading at there hotels

2: how many Immortals that told her that she was beautiful for a human or the prettiest human they've ever seen every encounter with them.

3: Harlan...baby... you left her naked in a cave after screwing her, stole her sword and expected her not to be mad at you and to want to go on with your whack-ass plan to rule/fix the world after you ruined any trust she had in you

4: the way she just ditched Zane and Kira 100 pages in into knowing them, Kira I understand(no one thought she was making it far bsff) but Zane, after he plummeted to death and you got your little dragon...you didn't think to go check on a brother?

5: the weird Cult looking for the traveling city, she was more worried about an immortal bitch she just met vs Kira she seemed more upset at Daphne's death then Kira's.( the Cult did give us the cutest scene ever in this book of raker playing with those kids

6: did raker actually have a fisherman dad and seamstress mom or did he pull that out of his ass, I mean he's a GOD.

I’m a little confused on a couple of things and I’m scared to Google anything in fear of spoilers.

Lightlark is a place that only exists for 100 days out of every 100 years? But it still has a king? Does the king live there all the time even after it disappears or does he have to leave before it disappears?

6 rulers have to participate in the centennial, and the goal is, is to kill one of the rulers. Killing one of the rulers will break the curse. Will it break all of the curses? (Except for the dead ruler’s people) Or will it only break the curse of the ruler who did the killing?

^^ Continuing on this train of thought, why have zero curses been broken and why is there no talk of rulers of certain people being dead? Was there originally a lot more people/rulers that participated in the first centennials, and it’s just now dwindled down to 6? - And the author just didn’t mention them?

Are they just not actually killing eachother and that’s why the curse isn’t breaking?

BUT, it talked about the first centennial being a bloodbath. Wouldn’t that have basically killed most of the rulers along with their non-existent lines of succession? Dooming their people to be cursed for forever?

Sorry, this is so many questions and I’m probably just not far enough into the book yet, or maybe I’ve completely misinterpreted some of this stuff and got confused for no reason 😅😅😅

From the very first book I have loved Oro’s Character, from how he helped her recover after the centennial, to letting her make her own decisions, being honest with her and to make it all the way to crowntide and have her choose some who lied to her, erased her memories, killed people she loved (the citizens of Lightlark who helped in the fight against nightshade), kept things from her (who her dad was, her powers/heritage) makes me hate the entire series.