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** Oro's family name is Rey, which means "king" in Spanish; Oro's family have ruled Lightlark for centuries, with Oro being the current monarch. It's also phonetically the same as "ray", as in "sun ray", alluding to the family being Sunlings.
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* OneNameOnly: The vast majority of the cast have only one name with no mention of whether they have surnames; the exception is main protagonist Isla, whose family name is Crown.
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* OneNameOnly: The vast majority of the cast have only one name with no mention of whether they have surnames; the exception is exceptions are main protagonist Isla, whose family name is Crown. Crown, and her love interests, Oro Rey and Grim Malvere (though their family nanes are only briefly mentioned).
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Grim's full name is Grimshaw Malvere, though he's commonly referred to as just Grim by both the characters and the text.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Grim's full name is Grimshaw Malvere, though he's commonly referred to as just Grim by both the characters and the text.
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* TallDarkAndHandsome: Grim is described as being tall, black-haired and incredibly handsome, something Isla frequently takes note of.
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* FetchQuest: A lot of ''Lightlark'''s plot consists of quests for certain items in-between public demonstrations, obstacle courses, parties and romantic drama.
** The first third of the story is mostly centered around Isla and Celeste searching for hidden libraries on each isle in an attempt to locate the bondbreaker, an ancient magical item that is said to be able to break curses. They first have to locate gloves made of human skin that will grant Isla a smidge of each realm's power, as it's the only way to access the libraries (and she has no powers of her own). [[spoiler:They don't manage to find the bondbreaker until the climax, where it turns out it's not what Celeste led Isla to believe; she uses it to steal the magic Isla didn't know she had]].
** The second half of the novel largely focuses on Isla and Oro trying to find the Heart of Lightlark, a living manifestation of Lightlark's power that only appears every century; Oro believes that it's connected to both casting and breaking the curses, while Isla also hopes she can use the Heart to gain magical abilities. They first have to talk to an oracle frozen in a glacier to get a hint as to the Heart's location, are told it will be in a place "where darkness meets light" and then go searching in different areas that fit this description.
** The first third of the story is mostly centered around Isla and Celeste searching for hidden libraries on each isle in an attempt to locate the bondbreaker, an ancient magical item that is said to be able to break curses. They first have to locate gloves made of human skin that will grant Isla a smidge of each realm's power, as it's the only way to access the libraries (and she has no powers of her own). [[spoiler:They don't manage to find the bondbreaker until the climax, where it turns out it's not what Celeste led Isla to believe; she uses it to steal the magic Isla didn't know she had]].
** The second half of the novel largely focuses on Isla and Oro trying to find the Heart of Lightlark, a living manifestation of Lightlark's power that only appears every century; Oro believes that it's connected to both casting and breaking the curses, while Isla also hopes she can use the Heart to gain magical abilities. They first have to talk to an oracle frozen in a glacier to get a hint as to the Heart's location, are told it will be in a place "where darkness meets light" and then go searching in different areas that fit this description.
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* DarknessEqualsDeath: A ''literal'' example for the Nightshades; their curse means that if they go outside at night, the darkness causes their skin to burn.
* HealingHands: One of the Moonlings' powers (related to their [[HealItWithWater control over water]]) is magically healing others, which they're somewhat renowned for.
* HealingPotion: To demonstrate what her realm can contribute, Isla presents a healing elixir the Wildlings have created using their knowledge of herbs, which heals a second-degree burn in seconds (though the pain lingers). Later, [[spoiler:Grim]] is able to find and use a Wildling elixir to cure [[spoiler:Celeste]]'s poisoning (as the poison was resistant to Moonling healing powers).
* HealingPotion: To demonstrate what her realm can contribute, Isla presents a healing elixir the Wildlings have created using their knowledge of herbs, which heals a second-degree burn in seconds (though the pain lingers). Later, [[spoiler:Grim]] is able to find and use a Wildling elixir to cure [[spoiler:Celeste]]'s poisoning (as the poison was resistant to Moonling healing powers).
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* HiddenVillain: For most of the first book, it's unknown who cast the curses and why, with the characters debating who was responsible. Lots of people think Grim is the culprit, given Nightshade's dark reputation and the fact they'd been at war with Lightlark when the curses were cast (to the point Nightshade were never even ''invited'' to the Centenial until now). Isla herself starts to suspect Cleo, as Cleo is known for being a {{Jerkass}} and she appears to be building up an army for unknown purposes; Isla also reasons that the Moonlings' curse isn't as severe as some of the others. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that ''Celeste'' is the BigBad; Grim did technically help her cast the curses by finding the Heart of Lightlark for her, but wasn't directly involved]].
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* HiddenVillain: For most of the first book, it's unknown who cast the curses and why, with the characters debating who was responsible. Lots of people think Grim is the culprit, given Nightshade's dark reputation and the fact they'd been at war with Lightlark when the curses were cast (to the point Nightshade were never even ''invited'' to the Centenial Centennial until now). Isla herself starts to suspect Cleo, as Cleo is known for being a {{Jerkass}} and she appears to be building up an army for unknown purposes; Isla also reasons that the Moonlings' curse isn't as severe as some of the others. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that ''Celeste'' is the BigBad; Grim did technically help her cast the curses by finding the Heart of Lightlark for her, but wasn't directly involved]].
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** The Centennial is described as a deadly competition, but while there is a segment of the game during which the competitors are supposed to try to kill each other, that doesn't start for nearly a month, and more importantly, nobody has ever ''actually'' been killed. It's really more like an extended house party with an athletic scavenger hunt attached, which is not a bad premise but hardly on the level of the thirteen-year-olds-stabbing-each-other no-holds-barred violence of the Hunger Games.
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** The Centennial is described as a deadly competition, but while there is a segment of the game during which the competitors are supposed to try to kill each other, that doesn't start for nearly a month, and more importantly, nobody has ever ''actually'' been killed.killed (Oro does mention that during the first Centennial, many civilians were accidentally killed when they were caught in the crossfire, so they implemented more rules to prevent this in the future and none of the rulers have ever gotten a scratch). It's really more like an extended house party with an athletic scavenger hunt attached, which is not a bad premise but hardly on the level of the thirteen-year-olds-stabbing-each-other no-holds-barred violence of the Hunger Games.
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The first novel, ''Lightlark'', was published in 2022. The sequel, ''Nightbane'', is set for release in 2023.
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The first novel, ''Lightlark'', was published in 2022. The A sequel, ''Nightbane'', is set for release was released in 2023.
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** The Centennial is described as a deadly competition, but while there is a segment of the game during which the competitors are supposed to try to kill each other, that doesn't start for nearly a month, and more importantly, nobody has ever ''actually'' been killed. It's really more like an extended house party with an athletic scavenger hunt attached, which is not a bad premise but hardly on the level of the thirteen-year-olds-stabbing-each-other no-holds-barred violence of the Hunger Games.
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* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: All the rulers save for Isla and Celeste are over 500 years old and remember what life was like before the curses were cast. None of them look five centuries old; based on the official artwork none of them look older than 30. It's explained that rulers stop aging and are essentially immortal until they get an heir, at which point they begin aging normally.
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* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: All the rulers save for Isla and Celeste are over 500 years old and remember what life was like before the curses were cast. None of them look five centuries old; based on the official artwork none of them look older than 30. It's explained that rulers stop aging and are essentially immortal until they get an heir, at which point they begin aging normally. (With the exception of the Starlings, whose curse means they all die young.)
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* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: Isla demonstrates a Wildling healing elixir that heals a fresh burn on her arm in minutes. However, she's still in pain hours later and privately states that the elixir isn't advanced enough to both take away the pain ''and'' heal. Unless the cause is psychosomatic, we only feel pain if we're sick or injured; the purpose of physical pain is to alert to us our body is damaged in some way. If Isla is still feeling pain, this would indicate she wasn't fully healed by the elixir or that it merely gives the ''illusion'' of healing.
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* AnachronismStew: The general descriptions of the technology, weaponry, certain clothing and buildings suggest a roughly medieval setting, but there are some elements that contradict this.
** The descriptions of people's outfits are all over the board in terms of time period, ranging from suits of armour and chainmail to something you'd see at a modern Haute Couture fashion show.
** Isla lives in an "ancient" greenhouse attached to her family's castle. While greenhouses were built as far back as the reign of Roman Emperor Tiberius (AD 14 – 37), Isla's greenhouse is described as a large, orb-shaped, modern-style greenhouse constructed mostly from glass, which weren't really around until the 17th century thanks to advances in glass-making and construction.
** Celeste uses the term "stay under the radar" to describe her and Isla keeping their plans secret, which would suggest that people in the setting know about and possess radar technology (to the point the word "radar" has become part of the everyday lexicon). Radar wasn't fully developed until World War Two (1939 – 1945), with some earlier research and rudimentary experiments taking place in the late 19th and early 20th century. There's nothing to suggest anyone in the setting would even understand the concept of electromagnetic waves and radiolocation.
** There are shops on Lightlark selling chocolate and Isla has also eaten chocolate back home in the Wildling newlands. Solid, sweetened chocolate as described in the book wasn't invented until the 1840s (and refined in the 1870s). While the people of Mesoamerica had been harvesting cacao seeds for thousands of years (dating back to at least 1500 BC), they were consumed as a fermented drink (and quite a bitter one); drinking chocolate was brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 1500s (who added sugar to make it sweeter) and it was generally a luxury item restricted to the wealthy until advances in technology in the late 1700s made mass production easier, thus making chocolate more accessible to the entire populace.
** There are also vendors selling cotton candy (invented in the 19th century) and ice cream (modern ice cream wasn't created until the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as it wasn't possible due to a lack of food freezing technology; prior to this there were frozen desserts similar to ice cream dating back thousands of years, but they were more like sorbets).
** The descriptions of people's outfits are all over the board in terms of time period, ranging from suits of armour and chainmail to something you'd see at a modern Haute Couture fashion show.
** Isla lives in an "ancient" greenhouse attached to her family's castle. While greenhouses were built as far back as the reign of Roman Emperor Tiberius (AD 14 – 37), Isla's greenhouse is described as a large, orb-shaped, modern-style greenhouse constructed mostly from glass, which weren't really around until the 17th century thanks to advances in glass-making and construction.
** Celeste uses the term "stay under the radar" to describe her and Isla keeping their plans secret, which would suggest that people in the setting know about and possess radar technology (to the point the word "radar" has become part of the everyday lexicon). Radar wasn't fully developed until World War Two (1939 – 1945), with some earlier research and rudimentary experiments taking place in the late 19th and early 20th century. There's nothing to suggest anyone in the setting would even understand the concept of electromagnetic waves and radiolocation.
** There are shops on Lightlark selling chocolate and Isla has also eaten chocolate back home in the Wildling newlands. Solid, sweetened chocolate as described in the book wasn't invented until the 1840s (and refined in the 1870s). While the people of Mesoamerica had been harvesting cacao seeds for thousands of years (dating back to at least 1500 BC), they were consumed as a fermented drink (and quite a bitter one); drinking chocolate was brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 1500s (who added sugar to make it sweeter) and it was generally a luxury item restricted to the wealthy until advances in technology in the late 1700s made mass production easier, thus making chocolate more accessible to the entire populace.
** There are also vendors selling cotton candy (invented in the 19th century) and ice cream (modern ice cream wasn't created until the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as it wasn't possible due to a lack of food freezing technology; prior to this there were frozen desserts similar to ice cream dating back thousands of years, but they were more like sorbets).
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* AncientArtifact: Celeste confides in Isla that she found a reference to a magical artifact, the bondbreaker, in an ancient book, which they could theoretically use to break the curses on themselves and their people. As the bondbreaker is said to be hidden in one of the secret libraries on each isle on Lightlark, Isla and Celeste spend a lot of the book searching each library for the bondbreaker. [[spoiler:It's eventually found on Wild Isle, but it turns out Celeste lied about the artifact's nature; it's actually a bond''maker'', created by the Sunling rulers as a way to transfer their power to their heirs without having to die, and Celeste tricks Isla into using it to steal her power from her. Later, Isla uses it to take back her own power and Celeste's power]].
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* AncientArtifact: Celeste confides in Isla that she found a reference to a magical artifact, the bondbreaker, in an ancient book, which they could theoretically use to break the curses on themselves and their people. As the bondbreaker is said to be hidden in one of the secret libraries on each isle on Lightlark, Isla and Celeste spend a lot of the book searching each library for the bondbreaker. [[spoiler:It's eventually found in an extra secret library on Wild Isle, Sun Isle that Oro tells Isla about, but it turns out Celeste lied about the artifact's nature; it's actually a bond''maker'', created by the Sunling rulers as a way to transfer their power to their heirs without having to die, and Celeste tricks Isla into using it to steal her power from her. Later, Isla uses it to take back her own power and Celeste's power]].
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* AncientArtifact: Celeste confides in Isla that she found a reference to a magical artifact, the bondbreaker, in an ancient book, which they could theoretically use to break the curses on themselves and their people. As the bondbreaker is said to be hidden in one of the secret libraries on each isle on Lightlark, Isla and Celeste spend a lot of the book searching each library for the bondbreaker. [[spoiler:It's eventually found on Wild Isle, but it turns out Celeste lied about the artifact's nature; it's actually a bond''maker'', created by the Sunling rulers as a way to transfer their power to their heirs without having to die, and Celeste tricks Isla into using it to steal her power from her. Later, Isla uses it to take back own power and Celeste's power]].
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* AncientArtifact: Celeste confides in Isla that she found a reference to a magical artifact, the bondbreaker, in an ancient book, which they could theoretically use to break the curses on themselves and their people. As the bondbreaker is said to be hidden in one of the secret libraries on each isle on Lightlark, Isla and Celeste spend a lot of the book searching each library for the bondbreaker. [[spoiler:It's eventually found on Wild Isle, but it turns out Celeste lied about the artifact's nature; it's actually a bond''maker'', created by the Sunling rulers as a way to transfer their power to their heirs without having to die, and Celeste tricks Isla into using it to steal her power from her. Later, Isla uses it to take back her own power and Celeste's power]].
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* BloodMagic: The bondbreaker is said to an ancient magical item resembling a large needle, which can break the curses of those that use it, but it also takes a ''lot'' of blood as the price for its power, to the point of being likely un-survivable.
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* BloodMagic: The bondbreaker is said to be an ancient magical item resembling a large needle, which can break the curses of those that use it, but it also takes a ''lot'' of blood as the price for its power, to the point of being likely un-survivable.
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* ChekhovsGun: Isla gifts a diamond ring to Azul early in the novel. Much later, the ring in found clutched in the unconcious Celeste's hand [[spoiler:after being poisoned, revealing Azul was the culprit and raising the question of why he did it]].
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* ChekhovsGun: Isla gifts a diamond ring to Azul early in the novel. Much later, the ring in is found clutched in the unconcious Celeste's hand [[spoiler:after being poisoned, revealing Azul was the culprit and raising the question of why he did it]].
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* AmbiguouslyBrown: Besides being attractive with green eyes, Isla's physical appearance is left vague, with only her outfits being described in detail. Official artwork of Isla depicts her as having a light brown skin tone, though it's unclear if she's intended to be a person of colour or a tanned white person. Her name doesn't offer many definitive clues either, seeing as Isla is European in origin ("island" in Spanish, "from the strong/resilient place" in Scottish, and it's not clear which pronunciation is being used).
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* AmbiguouslyBrown: Besides being attractive with green eyes, Isla's physical appearance is left vague, with only her outfits being described in detail. Official artwork of Isla depicts her as having a light brown skin tone, though it's unclear if she's intended to be a person of colour or a tanned white person. Her name doesn't offer many definitive clues either, seeing as Isla is European in origin ("island" in Spanish, "from the strong/resilient place" in Scottish, and it's not clear which pronunciation is being used).used[[note]]According to the author and the audiobook, her name is pronounced "eyes-la", but this isn't how it's pronounced in Spanish or Scottish[[/note]]).
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* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Isla has a tendency to glare at people or make verbal threats "meanly", as opposed to, y'know, ''kindly''.
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[[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lightlark.jpg]]
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* ButNotTooEvil: The Wildlings' curse necessitates a diet of human hearts... which they seem to get exclusively from trespassing thieves and vile prisoners. Somehow.
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''The Lightlark Saga'' is a planned series of young adult HighFantasy novels written by Alex Aster.
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''The Lightlark Saga'' is a planned series of young adult HighFantasy novels written by Alex Aster.
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* AuthorVocabularyCalendar: Alex Aster repeatedly uses "thing" or "thingy" when describing...well, things in the setting, or occasionally characters' actions.
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* TheEndingChangesEverything: There are a barrage of reveals and plot twists in the climax of ''Lightlark'' that recontexualise earlier scenes and explain some things about the plot and characters that didn't make sense. Namely, [[spoiler:Celeste and Grim have been manipulating and lying to Isla this whole time (even before the novel begins) and barely anything she believed about herself and her origins is untrue]].
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* TheEndingChangesEverything: There are a barrage of reveals and plot twists in the climax of ''Lightlark'' that recontexualise earlier scenes and explain some things about the plot and characters that didn't make sense. Namely, [[spoiler:Celeste and Grim have been manipulating and lying to Isla this whole time (even before the novel begins) and barely anything she believed about herself and her origins is untrue]].true]].
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* HiddenVillain: For most of the first book, it's unknown who cast the curses and why, with the characters debating who was responsible. Lots of people think Grim is the culprit, given Nightshade's dark reputation and the fact they'd been at war with Lightlark when the curses were cast (to the point Nightshade were never even ''invited'' to the Centenial until now). Isla herself starts to suspect Cleo, as Cleo is known for being a {{Jerkass}} and she appears to be building up an army for unknown purposes; Isla also reasons that the Moonlings' curse isn't as severe as some of the others. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that ''Celeste'' is the BigBad; Grim did technically help her cast the curses by finding the Heart of Lightlark for her, but wasn't directly involved]].
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* HufflepuffHouse: Skyling is one of the six cursed realms in the setting, with air-based powers, but out of all the realms they have the least revelance and development compared to the others. Their curse is also one of the least severe, as it simply prevents them from using magic to fly (it's further mentioned they've managed to adapt in the five centuries since the curse was cast, such as adding stairs and ladders to their floating cities). Azul, the Skyling ruler, contributes the least to the plot and is barely present or entirely off-page for large chunks of the book; the only significant thing he does is [[spoiler:figuring out Celeste's true identity as Aurora and incapacitating her with poison, but he fails to inform anyone else so it alters nothing]].
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* HufflepuffHouse: Skyling is one of the six cursed realms in the setting, with air-based powers, but out of all the realms they have the least revelance relevance and development compared to the others. Their curse is also one of the least severe, as it simply prevents them from using magic to fly (it's further mentioned they've managed to adapt in the five centuries since the curse was cast, such as adding stairs and ladders to their floating cities). Azul, the Skyling ruler, contributes the least to the plot and is barely present or entirely off-page for large chunks of the book; the only significant thing he does is [[spoiler:figuring out Celeste's true identity as Aurora and incapacitating her with poison, but he fails to inform anyone else so it alters nothing]].
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* HufflepuffHouse: Skyling is one of the six cursed realms in the setting, with air-based powers, but out of all the realms they have the least revelance and development compared to the others. Their curse is also one of the least severe, as it simply prevents them from using magic to fly (it's further mentioned they've managed to adapt in the five centuries since the curse was cast, such as adding stairs and ladders to their floating cities). Azul, the Skyling ruler, contributes the least to the plot and is barely present or entirely off-page for large chunks of the book; the only significant thing he does is [[spoiler:figuring out Celeste's true identity as Aurora and incapacitating her with poison, but he fails to inform anyone else so it alters nothing]].
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* AlienBlood: When the rulers spill their blood, it carries a magical effect that reflects their powers. Oro's blood burns, Celeste's blood gives off sparks, Azul's blood floats, Cleo's blood freezes and Grim's blood turns black. As a Wildling ruler, Isla's blood is supposed to cause a flower to bloom when split, but as she lacks powers she has to fake this effect during a public demonstration.
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* AlienBlood: When the rulers spill their blood, it carries a magical effect that reflects their powers. Oro's blood burns, Celeste's blood gives off sparks, Azul's blood floats, Cleo's blood freezes and Grim's blood turns black. As a Wildling ruler, Isla's blood is supposed to cause a flower to bloom when split, spilt, but as she lacks powers she has to fake this effect during a public demonstration.
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* {{BFS}}: During a duel to show off the rulers' combat skills, Grim wields a massive broadsword that Isla describes as "thicker than her thigh" (it's implied but not specified that she's referring to the blade).
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* LoveRuinsTheRealm: [[spoiler:Egan, Violet and Aurora]]'s love lives ended up ruining ''six'' realms including their own. [[spoiler:Aurora and Egan were in an arranged marriage, but prior to the wedding Egan fell in love with Violet and they [[MarryForLove planned to elope]], regardless of the potential political ramifications of the king of Sunling ditching the ruler of Starling for the Wildling ruler. Aurora took this so badly she seduced Grim, ruler of the Nightshades, to persuade him to help find the Heart of Lightlark; she tried to use the Heart to curse her unfaithful fiance and his lover, but ended up cursing all the realms]]. The whole romantic mess between these characters is the reason for the current state of the world, which has led to much suffering and death over the centuries.
