Back in December, I remember finding a book on TikTok called Lightlark. After I finished reading it, I looked up the hashtag and found most people didn’t like it. Did it deserve all the hate it got?
Summary
A brief summary of Lightlark by Alex Aster: every 100 years the island of Lightlark appears to host something called the Centennial. In the Centennial, the rulers of the six realms come together to play almost a game, in order to break the unique cruel curses that have been bestowed upon each realm for centuries. There are rules in order to destroy the curses, including that one of the rulers has to die. Revolving around the youngest ruler, Isla Crown ruler of Wilding, Isla has to survive, which comes at a cost.
The negative reviews
Many people have rated the book negatively. It’s been described as having no plot and that the writing isn’t very good. At the same time, somebody else also disliked how there were many plot twists. According to BookTok, it is one book that most agree to dislike. Although there are many negative reviews on TikTok, Goodreads has some that are mixed. Overall, Lightlark is rated 3.7 stars.
Where i think it went wrong…
Although I do like the book, I understand where other people are coming from. Many people mentioned how the editing should have been better. I agree that there are parts of the book, like many mentioned that she uses the word “thing” a lot, and that could have been fixed or improved by her editor. Also, many of the chapters end in cliffhangers, which can be seen as overdone.
My opinion
So, do I think Lightlark deserved all this hate? No, I don’t think it did. I think people are being way too serious. In my opinion, Lightlark is a fun fantasy book to read. It kind of gives the feeling of a comfort show to me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am going to reread it again. Every plot twist caught me off guard and I had to continue reading to see what would happen. I finished the book in one day. I think people heard many negative reviews which may have also impacted and clouded their judgments. But like I said earlier, it’s just a fantasy book, it’s not meant to be serious or something that’s supposed to make sense in the real world; it’s meant to be something enjoyable and fun to read. At the same time, there are some people that didn’t like it, and that’s okay, everybody’s allowed to have their own opinion. I on the other hand though, liked it and will be ordering the second book!
In the end,
In the end, everybody has their own taste and style of books. It’s important to remember not everybody will hate or love the same book as you!
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