The first novel, Lightlark, was published in 2022. A sequel, Nightbane, was released in 2023.
Centuries ago, powerful curses were cast over each of the six realms and their people, the Moonlings, Nightshades, Skylings, Starlings, Sunlings and Wildlings. The only hope of breaking these curses is for the rulers of each land to participate in the Centennial, a dangerous contest held on Lightlark, a magical island that is only accessible to outsiders for one hundred days every one hundred years. So far, no one has ever succeeded.
This year is the fifth Centennial and the first that Isla Crown, the young ruler of Wildling, will be participating in. Isla has a secret plan to break the Wildling curse and save her people, but the other rulers - most of whom are far older and more experienced - have schemes of their own. Isla must also hide a dangerous secret about herself, one that puts her at a serious disadvantage and would almost certainly be used against her. Isla will have to outwit her enemies and choose her allies carefully if she wants to make it to the end of the Centennial, let alone break the curses. But on Lightlark, it becomes increasingly difficult to know just who she can trust.
Not to be confused with Philip Reeve's series Larklight.
Tropes found here include:
- Action Girl: Isla has been trained in combat - especially bladed weapons like swords and daggers - since childhood. It's understandable given she lacks powers and so has to rely on physical combat prowess to protect herself. She's a good enough fighter that despite being only around 19 and never having been involved in a real fight, she can beat seasoned, centuries' old warriors like Grim in a duel and she only loses to Oro because she throws the fight to make herself look weaker.
- Alien Blood: 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 spilt, but as she lacks powers she has to fake this effect during a public demonstration.
- Ambiguously Brown: 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 usednote ).
- Amnesiac Lover: Isla is revealed to be this to Grim; they'd met a year earlier and became lovers, but Grim himself erased her conscious memories of their entire relationship, though she does still have dreams about their past together. Grim reluctantly did this because Aurora's plan required that Oro fall in love with Isla, but Aurora and Grim didn't believe it would work if Isla was already in love with Grim, thinking she wouldn't be willing to go along with it. It backfires because Isla ends up falling in love with Oro too and rejects Grim when she discovers his deception, never truly regaining her memories of their relationship, although Grim insists that her memories will return and she'll think differently then.
- Anachronism Stew: 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).
- Ancient Artifact: 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. It's eventually found in an extra secret library on Sun Isle that Oro tells Isla about, but it turns out Celeste lied about the artifact's nature; it's actually a bondmaker, 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.
- Arranged Marriage: Long ago, Oro's brother, King Egan of Sunling, was betrothed since childhood to the then-ruler of Starling, Aurora, though the marriage never took place because they both died shortly after the curses were cast. Oro later reveals that Egan had in fact broken his betrothal to Aurora to be with another woman, Isla's ancestor, which Aurora didn't take well.
- Artistic License – Biology:
- Isla claims that the reason she's so physically strong is because when she was twelve, her guardians forced her to hang by her arms off a tree branch for five hours. This isn't how strength training works (it's more about doing specific workouts over time to gradually adapt and grow muscle) and the tree exercise actually sounds like a great way to cause permanent damage to your muscles (especially as Isla points out she dislocated her shoulder by the fifth hour).
- The bondbreaker takes a large amount of blood from each person who uses it, though Isla and Celeste believe it's potentially survivable, especially with the help of a healing elixir. However, the bondbreaker is specifically said to take around "a gallon" of blood from each person. The average human body contains 8 to 10 pints of blood, while a gallon is equivalent to 8 pints. Losing at least 40% of your blood volume can be enough to send you into hypovolemic shock (which includes organ failure and likely becoming comatose) and it's increasingly difficult to treat blood loss at that level with transfusions. It's incredibly unlikely Isla and Celeste would survive losing either all or most of their blood, nor be able to remain conscious long enough to apply the elixir.
- Artistic License – Medicine: 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.
- Artistic License – Military:
- Isla describes Grim as wielding "a broadsword thicker than her thigh". Unless Isla has very skinny legs, the sword would be oversized to the point of being cumbersome and not all that useful as a stabbing/slashing weapon; a blade that thick brings to mind something more like a meat cleaver or an axe.
- During a duel, Oro's armour and sword are both stated to be made from "solid gold", which would actually put him at a big disadvantage in a fight. Gold is one of the worst metals to use for weapons and armour because it's both dense and soft; gold tends to be heavy but is also easily malleable (gold used for jewellery is often alloyed with other metals to strengthen it). Armour made of gold would likely slow the wearer and provide little protection, while a sword made of gold would likewise be too heavy and would easily bend or break. It would be one thing if the armour and sword were merely gilded with gold for decoration (which has been done in real life), but the way the text describes them doesn't indicate this.
- Author Vocabulary Calendar: Alex Aster repeatedly uses "thing" or "thingy" when describing...well, things in the setting, or occasionally characters' actions.
- Badass Normal: Isla has no powers and so tends to rely on her regular combat abilities in a fight. However, she's so skilled at fighting she can defeat opponents much older and more experienced, including those with magic, with relative ease.
- 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).
- Big Bad: It's revealed that Celeste, the ruler of Starling and Isla's best friend, is actually the centuries' old Aurora and the one responsible for the curses (which admittedly wasn't her original intention; she just wanted to get back at her ex-fiance and best friend for running off together). Aurora's plan all along was to manipulate Isla into finding a magical item called a bondmaker and fall in love with Oro, enabling Aurora to steal the magic of all the rulers and committing the original 'offense' that led to Aurora cursing everyone (or so Aurora assumes). Thus, Aurora can break the curses while making herself all-powerful.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: For almost the whole novel, Celeste appears to be Isla's sweet, compassionate and optimistic best friend. She's eventually revealed to be the ruthless and power-hungry Aurora, and was only ever using Isla to further her plans.
- Bling-Bling-BANG!:
- Azul has a sword encrusted with gemstones.
- Oro has a sword made of gold, which matches his armour.
- Bling of War: Oro wears a suit of armour made of "solid gold", with a sword to match.
- Blood Magic: 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.
- But Not Too Evil: The Wildlings' curse necessitates a diet of human hearts... which they seem to get exclusively from trespassing thieves and vile prisoners. Somehow.
- Casting a Shadow: Nightshades can harness the power of darkness.
- Chainmail Bikini: During a duel early in the Centennial, Isla dons an outfit that - while not as hugely revealing as some examples - is more fashionable and fanservice-y than practical, including thigh-high metal plated boots, "chain metal tights", a breastplate that "accentuated her figure", metal shoulder pads and not much else.
- Chekhov's Gun: Isla gifts a diamond ring to Azul early in the novel. Much later, the ring is found clutched in the unconcious Celeste's hand after being poisoned, revealing Azul was the culprit and raising the question of why he did it.
- Chekhov's Gunman: While explaining the backstory to Isla, Oro briefly mentions some of the rulers who died when the curses were cast 500 years ago; specifically, he mentions his older brother King Egan of Sunling, Egan's betrothed Aurora of Starling and Isla's ancestor Violet of Wildling. It turns out these three are key to the entire plot: Aurora and Violet were friends until Egan broke off his betrothal with Aurora because he fell in love with Violet. In retaliation, Aurora cast the curses and killed Violet. Aurora also isn't as dead as everyone thinks.
- Contrived Coincidence: Isla buys a new dagger with a serpent-shaped handle when she first arrives on Lightlark. Much later, she tries to use said-dagger to attack Aurora, only for the dagger to shatter. Aurora reveals she anticipated Isla would choose that specific dagger and put a spell on it so it could never be used to harm her. Aurora gets incredibly lucky that Isla did just happen to purchase that particular dagger and that she happened to have it with her when she confronted Aurora, as opposed to the dozens of other weapons she owns.
- Cosy Catastrophe: Lightlark has been completely cut-off from the rest of the world for five centuries, save for a 100 day period every 100 years. Despite this, most of the island is a beautiful, prosperous and well-maintained place with a booming economy (they even have shops selling luxury items like chocolate) and all the people seem quite happy aside from the curses. Lightlark has also maintained the upkeep of multiple castles/palaces for the rulers and their attendants to live in. Only Wild Isle and Star Isle have fallen into ruin and this is attributed to Wild Isle being long abandoned and Starlings not living long enough (they don't live past 25) to keep the isle maintained.
- Curse: One of the main plot elements is that every realm in the world has been under a curse the past five hundred years, with each realm's curse having a unique effect on them. Some of these curses tend to make life pretty difficult or can potentially cripple a realm, and the main plot revolves around the protagonists trying to break the curses.
- Curse Escape Clause: A prophecy vaguely foretells a way to break the curses; the "original offense" that led to the curses must be re-committed and a "ruling line" must [come] to an end". Everyone has interpreted this to mean that one of their six rulers (and by extension their subjects) must die to end the curses, though no one has been able to figure out the original offense. Oro believes that it could've been the use of the Heart of Lightlark to cast the curses, which could be seen as an abuse of its power, and hopes that by finding the Heart with Isla's help they could use its power to end the curses. Aurora believes the original offense to be a Sunling and a Wildling falling in love, given she was prompted to cast the curses because her Sunling fiance left her for a Wildling woman, leading her to try and set up Isla and Oro as a couple. Isla finally figures out that the true offense was the betrayal and killing of a friend; Aurora killed her friend for running off with her fiance, while Isla kills Aurora (who had befriended then betrayed her), thus fulfilling both requirements to break the curses.
- Darkness Equals Death: A literal example for the Nightshades; their curse means that if they go outside at night, the darkness causes their skin to burn.
- Deceptive Legacy: It turns out that the version of Isla's origins that her guardians, Poppy and Terra, told her isn't entirely accurate. Isla believed her mother was able to resist the Wildling curse that compelled her to kill the man she loved long enough to have Isla, but shortly after Isla was born her father went mad and killed her mother before killing himself, and Isla was born both uncursed and without magic because of her mother's actions. It's eventually revealed that this is only partly true: Isla's father was a Nightshade general rather than a Wildling and his power was able to suppress her mother's curse. As a consequence, Isla has both Nightshade and Wildling powers, the effect of which made it appear she was powerless. Isla's father also didn't kill her mother, nor did he commit suicide; he himself was murdered by his lover's killers.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Isla has a tendency to glare at people or make verbal threats "meanly", as opposed to, y'know, kindly.
- Did Not Die That Way:
- Isla was led to believe her father killed her mother because of the Wildling curse, then killed himself. Her parents were in fact both murdered by Poppy and Terra, on the orders of Aurora.
- It's widely believed that Isla's ancestor Violet sacrificed herself along with the other rulers of the time to bring forth the curse-ending prophecy, but Aurora eventually admits she actually murdered Violet because she ran off with Aurora's fiance.
- The Ending Changes Everything: 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, 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 true.
- Et Tu, Brute?:
- Isla had started to trust and even like Oro after they were paired up to search for the Heart of Lightlark, to the point she confides in him that she was born powerless. She's left devastated when Oro publicly reveals this to the other rulers and announces he wants to change partners because of it. Oro later explains he only did this to gain Cleo's trust and search Moon Isle for the Heart, though it still takes a while for Isla to trust him again.
- Isla is horrified to learn that Celeste, who she loves like a sister, has not only been manipulating and lying to her ever since they met, but has only ever viewed her as a pawn and even ordered her parents' deaths.
- It's revealed that the "original offense" that is key to breaking the curses is the betrayal and killing of a friend: Aurora killed her best friend Violet after Aurora's fiance left her for Violet, while Isla is able to break the curses by killing Celeste (actually Aurora) after she is betrayed by her.
- False Friend: It's revealed that Isla's best friend Celeste has never been her true friend; she merely befriended Isla in order to manipulate her into fulfilling her plot to break the curses and seize power, and managed to keep up the charade for four years, to the point Isla was utterly clueless and genuinely thought they had a close bond. Once Celeste - or rather Aurora - has what she wants from Isla, she is quick to reveal her true nature and makes it clear she cares nothing for Isla, viewing her merely as a pawn and scorning her naivety.
- Fetch Quest: 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). 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.
- Fisher King: King Oro is magically connected to Lightlark, especially as his ancestors helped create the island. Oro reveals that because of the curses he's terminally ill, which begins causing the island to crumble. This puts even more pressure on the rulers to find a way to break the curses this Centennial, otherwise the island will be lost forever and with it their chance to ever be rid of the curses.
- Flashy Teleportation: Isla has a magical device called a starstick that lets her teleport by creating a portal of stars to step through.
- Foreshadowing: Isla mentions she found the starstick - a magical device that lets her create portals that teleport her long distances - in her mother's wardrobe, which makes you wonder how it came to be there. Isla's Nightshade father stole the starstick and used it to teleport to the Wildling newlands, where he met and fell in love with Isla's mother, which is why the starstick was among her mother's possessions.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: Applies to the six rulers and six main characters: three are women (Isla, Cleo and Celeste) and three are men (Oro, Grim and Azul).
- Generic Doomsday Villain: Celeste/Aurora. While her original motive for casting the curses is explained (she only wanted to curse her ex-fiance and former friend in revenge for them running off together, but screwed up the magic and cursed all six realms) and her reason for manipulating Isla makes sense (she believes that getting Isla to fall in love with Oro is necessary to breaking the curses), it's never explored in depth why Aurora wants to gain ultimate power and Take Over the World besides that being a thing fantasy villains do and giving the climax higher stakes (especially given that up until this point, Aurora and the protagonists had the exact same goal).
- The Gentleman or the Scoundrel: Isla's two love interests are Oro, the aloof and regal Sunling ruler who puts his people first, and Grim, the snarky and arrogant Nightshade ruler who has a dark reputation. Grim is very forward about finding Isla attractive and their relationship is heavily based around flirting and sexual attraction. Isla and Oro's relationship takes much longer to develop and is based more around a growing respect and emotional bond between them. Although Oro betrays Isla, he had good intentions and still aids her; it also wasn't personal. Grim's betrayal of Isla is far more personal given their past relationship and was done for selfish reasons.
- Good All Along: Isla notices a large blue bird following her around and initially thinks its one of Cleo's spies, though it doesn't appear to do anything but follow her. Isla eventually realises the bird will actually lead her to the Heart of Lightlark.
- God Save Us from the Queen!:
- Cleo, ruler of Moonling, is cold, cruel and always has a spiteful remark ready for Isla. She's building up some kind of army and Isla even suspects she could've been the one to cast the curses, potentially to try and weaken the other realms so she could take over. Cleo isn't responsible for the curses, though she's still pretty mean.
- Celeste, ruler of Starling, is revealed to be the centuries' old Starling ruler Aurora, and the one who cast the curses in retaliation for getting dumped by her fiance. She murdered her own sister to fake her death and has spent years plotting a way to break the curses while giving herself ultimate power, including murdering Isla's parents and manipulating her for her entire life to achieve her goals, remorselessly casting Isla aside once she has no more use of her. Aurora intends to use her power to wipe out the other realms if they won't submit to her rule.
- Green Thumb: One of the Wildling powers is the ability to create and control plantlife.
- Healing Hands: One of the Moonlings' powers (related to their control over water) is magically healing others, which they're somewhat renowned for.
- Healing Potion: 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, Grim is able to find and use a Wildling elixir to cure Celeste's poisoning (as the poison was resistant to Moonling healing powers).
- Hereditary Curse: The curses were first cast 500 years ago and they were automatically passed down to the descendants of those alive then; besides some of the current rulers (who are effectively immortal if they don't have an heir), there's no one alive who remembers what life was like without the curses.
- Heroic Sacrifice: 500 years ago, all the rulers sacrificed themselves so that the oracles could produce a prophecy telling how to break the curses. The only rulers this didn't apply to were Aurora, who faked her death by killing her sister in her place, and Violet, whom Aurora secretly murdered.
- Hidden Villain: 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 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. It's eventually revealed that Celeste is the Big Bad; Grim did technically help her cast the curses by finding the Heart of Lightlark for her, but wasn't directly involved.
- Holding Back the Phlebotinum: Early on, Isla is revealed to have an ancient magical device called a starstick that allows her to teleport long distances, which she found in her mother's wardrobe five years ago. She's been using it to secretly visit places outside of the Wildling newlands and it's how she met and befriended Celeste and became lovers with Grim. Isla brings it with her to Lightlark, but outside of a few instances she rarely uses the starstick even though it would be useful to her plans; for example, when she's debating how to get into the hidden libraries of each island to search for the bondbreaker, the starstick never comes up as an option, although she does use it on one occasion to escape from the Moonling palace during the search. Isla claims that the starstick is harder to use if she's travelling to a place she's never been, although considering she's been using it to travel to entirely different countries she's never set foot on the past five years, a neighbouring island doesn't sound too difficult (not to mention she could easily go there on foot first to get a lay of the land).
- Hufflepuff House: 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 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 figuring out Celeste's true identity as Aurora and incapacitating her with poison, but he fails to inform anyone else so it alters nothing.
- An Ice Person: As an extension of their water powers, Moonlings also have ice magic.
- I'm a Humanitarian: One effect of the Wildling curse is that they must consume human hearts, at least one a month. The Wildlings try to get around the morality issues with this by eating the hearts of captured thieves that come to their territory to steal gems.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Grim used magic to specifically remove all of Isla's memories related to their year-long relationship, leaving her only with a vague sense of having met him before and erotic dreams starring him. When Grim reveals the truth, she's initially in denial, insisting she's never been to Nightshade lands before and that they were strangers until the Centennial. She realises Grim is telling the truth when he asks her where she'd been when she teleported back to her room at the beginning of the novel and she can't remember; Grim states she'd just been at his castle to visit him, where he'd erased her memory.
- Living Lie Detector: It's revealed that Oro has a "flair" (an extra power alongside his usual Sunling powers) and his is being able to instinctively detect when people are lying to him. As such he knew early on that Isla was lying about having powers.
- Long-Lived:
- All the rulers can live for centuries without physically aging, though they can be killed by other means. This is presumably because a ruler's life is magically linked with that of their realm; if a ruler dies without an heir then so do all their people. As such, rulers are essentially immortal until they gain an heir, at which point they slowly begin aging at a more normal rate.
- All the Starlings suffer the inversion thanks to the curse; all of them die either on or after their 25th birthday (it's not specified exactly how it works, only that none of them live past 25). Consequently, their realm's infrastructure is crumbling and advancements in technology have stalled because none of them live long enough to properly maintain and develop things.
- Love Makes You Evil:
- An enforced example; Wildlings are cursed to murder the person they fall in love with and it's indicated the curse compells them do so. Isla's mother attempted to resist the curse to spare Isla's father, only for him to end up killing her shortly after their daughter's birth (he then took his own life). Or so Isla was led to believe.
- It's revealed the whole reason the curses were cast is because Aurora was so devastated and bitter that her fiance left her for her best friend, she tried to curse them using the Heart of Lightlark but accidentally cursed everyone in the process.
- Love Ruins the Realm: Egan, Violet and Aurora's love lives ended up ruining six realms including their own. Aurora and Egan were in an arranged marriage, but prior to the wedding Egan fell in love with Violet and they 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.
- Making a Splash: Moonlings can control water with their powers, due to the moon's link to the tides.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Isla is about 19 (she says she's been alive "almost two decades") and forms romantic connections with Oro and Grim and is revealed to have been Grim's lover, both of whom are over 500 years old. They're both old enough that they were personally acquainted with Isla's long-dead ancestor Violet.
- Meaningful Name:
- Oro means "gold" in Italian and Spanish, which is appropriate for the ruler of Sunling, who draws his power from the sun, can turn objects to gold, has golden blonde hair and frequently wears gold clothing.
- Azul means "blue" in Spanish and is the name of the ruler of Skyling, who has powers related to air and frequently wears blue.
- Celeste means "heavenly" from the Latin "caelestis", which is appropriate for the ruler of Starling. It doubles as an Ironic Name, given Celeste is revealed to be the Big Bad.
- Cleo, ruler of Moonling, has a name of Greek origin meaning "celebrated", "famous" or "glorious", which is fitting for her given she's a ruler and has a lofty opinion of herself.
- Isla has the surname Crown, which is appropriate for a ruler and hints at her being the eventual winner of the Centennial.
- Oro's deceased older brother and predecessor as the Sunling king was called Egan, which means "little fire" in Irish Gaelic, referencing the Sunlings' fire powers.
- 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.
- Named After First Installment: The series is named after the first book Lightlark which doubles as The Place.
- Never Trust a Trailer: There was a lot of promotion for the first book, especially on social media and talk shows, prior to and in the lead-up to Lightlark's publication, some of which doesn't quite reflect the finished product.
- Alex Aster described the book as The Hunger Games meets A Court of Thorns and Roses. While there are notable similarities between Lightlark and A Court of Thorns and Roses (namely that there are lands where people have different element-based powers, there's a curse that needs breaking, a love triangle in which one of the love interests has darkness-based powers etc.), Lightlark has little in common with The Hunger Games beyond superficial similarities, such as characters representing different realms taking part in a dangerous competition (which is hardly exclusive to The Hunger Games).
- 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 (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.
- Aster claimed that the book would have many "spicy" scenes (by that, we mean sexually explicit content). While the book does have some sexual content, it tends to be suggestive more than anything; there's only one sex scene in the whole book and it uses a written version of a Sexy Discretion Shot. This is understandable given Lightlark is aimed at teenagers, although the aforementioned comparisons to A Court of Thorns and Roses probably didn't help the perception Lightlark would be sex-filled given ACOTAR's reputation for smut and its older target demographic.
- Lightlark was promoted as having a "diverse" cast. In practice, the main cast are all white and straight with the exceptions of Azul, the ruler of Skyling who is black and gay (he's mourning his dead husband) and Cleo, the ruler of Moonling who is mentioned as being bisexual in a single throwaway line. Out of all the rulers Azul has the least revelance to the main plot, while Cleo is a Hate Sink suspected of cursing everyone and all but disappears from the story by the third act, especially with the confirmation she's not responsible for the curses. Isla can be interpreted as Ambiguously Brown based on official artwork, but overall it's left vague.
- The promotion for Lightlark describes all the realms' curses as "deadly", but in the book itself this only applies to some curses; the negative effects of some curses are also relatively easy to avoid (Sunlings have to avoid going out in daylight, Moonlings have to stay away from the coast or take shelter during a full moonnote and Nightshades have to avoid going out at night) or are barely an inconvenience (Skylings simply can't use their powers of flight anymore). The Wildling curse is more deadly to other people than the Wildlings themselves (the need to eat human hearts and being compelled to kill whoever they fall in love with). Starlings are the ones who get a really rough deal (none of them live past 25).
- Odd Name Out: All the realms and their respective peoples have names ending in "ling", bar one: there's Wildling, Starling, Skyling, Sunling, Moonling and... Nightshade. It's never specified why Nightshade is named differently.
- One Name Only: The vast majority of the cast have only one name with no mention of whether they have surnames; the exceptions are main protagonist Isla, whose family name is Crown, and her love interests, Oro Rey and Grim Malvere (though their family nanes are only briefly mentioned).
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Grim's full name is Grimshaw Malvere, though he's commonly referred to as just Grim by both the characters and the text.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: Only a person who finds the Heart of Lightlark can properly wield its power. Aurora explains that when she used the Heart to try and curse the Sunlings, because it was actually Grim who found it for her she lost control and cursed everyone. Isla, who finds the Heart herself, is able to effectively wield its power to defeat Aurora.
- Parental Betrayal: Isla discovers that Poppy and Terra, the women who raised her since infancy, have actually been working for Aurora this whole time; they especially knew Isla actually had powers all along, but kept this hidden from her, and they were the ones who killed her parents on Aurora's order. Admittedly, Poppy and Terra say that Aurora threatened to wipe out all of Wildling unless they cooperated and that Isla shouldn't use her magic as it could kill her, so it's debatable how much choice they had in the matter, though Isla is understandably still hurt and angry when she finds out her guardians have been lying to her all her life and made her an orphan.
- Playing with Fire: Sunlings can create and control fire because of their connection with the sun.
- Poor Communication Kills: Azul poisons Celeste because he figures out she's actually Aurora and responsible for the curses, but for some reason he doesn't explain this to anyone and so everyone assumes he was just trying to murder Celeste to save his own skin; it also results in Aurora successfully tricking Isla into helping her steal her powers because she still thinks she can trust her and nearly dooming everyone.
- The Power of Love: It's mentioned that if you fall in love with someone on Lightlark, you can gain access to your love interest's abilities and vice versa. Terra and Poppy both want Isla to seduce King Oro to get access to his powers and gain an advantage in the Centennial. In the end, Oro is able to use Wildling magic to save Isla's life, revealing they've fallen in love, but Grim can't use Wildling magic anymore because Isla no longer loves him.
- The Power of the Sun: Sunlings draw their power from the sun, which grants them fire magic among other abilities. Strangely, the Sunlings' realm and powers are treated as entirely separate from the Starlings', even though the Starlings draw their powers from the stars and the sun itself is a star.
- The Prophecy: When the curses were cast, three oracles provided a prophecy foretelling how the curses could be broken, which is subsequently a driving element of the plot:Only joined can the curses be undone.
Only after one of six has won.
When the original offense has been committed again, and a ruling line has come to an end.
Only then can history amend. - Really 700 Years Old: 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.)
- Reincarnation: The source of Lightlark's power is the Heart of Lightlark, which is continuously reincarnated as a living thing, usually a plant. Isla discovers that this time, the Heart has been reincarnated as an egg that can only be found at sunrise.
- The Reveal:
- About midway through, it's revealed that Lightlark wasn't just created by Sunling power, as is common knowledge, but also Nightshade power, which is why Nightshade and Sunling were at war over control of Lightlark until the curses happened. And then near the end it's revealed that Wildling power created it too; Isla's ancestor Lark Crown helped create the island and it was even named after her. According to Oro, only a person from one of these three realms can actually find and thus properly wield the Heart of Lightlark, which is good news for Isla. It's also a factor in why Aurora - a Starling who didn't personally find the Heart - couldn't control its magic.
- Isla and Grim had actually met a year before the Centennial when Isla travelled to Nightshade lands with her starstick and they became lovers, but Grim erased her memories of all their interactions so that Isla could seduce Oro as part of Aurora's plan.
- Celeste is actually Aurora, the ruler of Starling who supposedly died when the curses were cast, and it was she who cast the curses in the first place out of romantic jealousy. She's been manipulating Isla before they even met in order to break the curses in a way that grants her supreme power over the world.
- Isla doesn't just have Wildling heritage; her father was a Nightshade and thus she has the powers of both peoples.
- Sequel Hook: Lightlark ends with the curses broken, Aurora dead and Isla gaining great power due to winning the Centennial, wrapping up the main plotline of this book. However, it sets up a sequel due to Isla and Oro still being uncertain how their relationship will progress despite having fallen in love, Grim vowing that Isla will be his again once she regains her memories, the implication that Cleo is plotting something, and Isla unlocking and walking through the locked vault door on Wild Isle.
- Someone Has to Die: The prophecy specifies that a ruling line must end for the curses to be broken. All the rulers interpret this as one ruler having to die. It's a fair bit more extreme than that, because the rulers are all magically linked to their people, so if a ruler dies without an heir it's curtains for the entire population too. It's therefore believed that an entire realm will have to be wiped out to save the others, which is part of the reason all four previous Centennials failed to break the curses given the huge moral dilemma this poses. Isla is able to get around this issue by killing the treacherous Starling ruler Celeste while also transferring her power to herself, thus making her the Starlings' new ruler and sparing them.
- Star Power: The Starlings get their power from the stars, allowing them to shoot beams of energy, among other things. Oddly enough, the Starlings and Sunlings are treated as separate realms with separate abilities even though the Sunlings get their power from the sun, which is a star.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Grim is described as being tall, black-haired and incredibly handsome, something Isla frequently takes note of.
- Teleportation with Drawbacks: Isla states that her starstick is harder to use accurately if she's trying to portal to a place she's never been, which is her excuse for rarely using it during the Centennial (although she was able to previously teleport to the Starling newlands and Grim's castle in the Nightshade newlands). She also has to be physically holding the starstick to create the portal.
- Theme Naming: The Wildlings tend to have names associated with nature, due their connection with plants and animals. Isla's guardians are called Poppy and Terra; poppies are flowers while Terra is the Latin word for "earth" (as well as the Roman name of the primordial earth goddess). Isla has an ancestor called Violet (a flower) and Lark (a bird). Isla's name can potentially be an example too (it means "island" in Spanish).
- Too Dumb to Live: You'd think after five hundred years thieves would stop trying to sneak into the Wildling newlands to steal their gems, given the Wildlings' reputation for capturing and killing thieves to eat their hearts. But apparently, enough thieves still get caught that their collective hearts can sustain just about the entire Wildling population.
- Unequal Pairing: Grim and Isla; while they're both rulers of their own realms, Isla is much younger and less experienced than Grim (she's not even 20 yet and still under the guardianship of Terra and Poppy, while Grim is over 500 years old and has reigned almost as long), and she generally comes off as naive and sheltered. There's also the revelation that Grim and Isla had previously known each other and had a romantic relationship for a year, but Isla remembers none of this because Grim intentionally wiped her memory (without her permission); this means Grim knows many intimate details about Isla (including things she doesn't even know about herself) while to her he's a vaguely familiar stranger. Isla even thinks she's still a virgin when she has sex with Grim, only to learn later she already traded in her V card with him and they've had sex many times. The fact that Grim acts as though they've never met before while heavily flirting with her only increases the inequality.
- Un-Sorcerer: It's common for everyone in the setting to have access to magic powers, but Isla was born without magic; she's not affected by the Wildling curse but she can't use any Wildling magic either. This is a problem because she's the ruler of the Wildlings yet can't even use their abilities and because all the other rulers are incredibly powerful when it comes to magic. She hopes that once the curses are broken she'll be able to use magic and has to fake having powers during the Centennial. She can also use magical items, which helps her get around some of the limitations and hide her lack of magic. It later turns out that Isla always had magic, but she has the magic of both Wildling and Nightshade, so they were cancelling each other out.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: It's revealed that Celeste's "flair" is shapeshifting, which has enabled her to take on different identities over the centuries to hide her true identity as Aurora.
- Weakened by the Light: The Sunlings' curse causes them to burn in the sun, despite the sun being the source of their power, which forces them to stay indoors and away from windows during the day.
- With Friends Like These...: Aurora and Violet were best friends until Aurora's fiance Egan fell in love with Violet and intended to dump Aurora to be with Violet; according to Aurora, Violet was also in love with Egan and quite willing to be with him despite him being betrothed to her friend. Aurora took this very badly, including murdering Violet in revenge.
- Woman Scorned: It's revealed that Celeste, or rather Aurora, cast the curses because she was bitter that the Sunling king Egan - to whom she had been betrothed - left her for the Wildling ruler Violet, who was also Aurora's best friend. Aurora does admit that she only meant to curse Egan and Violet, but she lost control of the magic and ended up cursing everybody, including her own people. As the caster of the curses, only she was spared.
- Young and in Charge:
- Isla is younger than 20 (she states she's almost two decades old) and has been ruler of Wildling since infancy due to her mother's death, although her guardians Terra and Poppy have been ruling in her stead due to her young age.
- Enforced in the Starlings' case, as none of them live past 25. The current ruler Celeste is indicated to be about the same age as Isla, if not slightly younger.
