Trivia / The Lightlark Saga

• Dueling Works: Nightbane was released the same day as Iron Flame, the second book in The Empyrean series (November 7th 2023). Both are fantasy stories that heavily feature dragons/dragon-like creatures, emphasis on romance plots and love triangles, rebellions and warring factions, a 20-something heroine grappling with newfound powers and betrayal, and so on. A notable difference is that Iron Flame is marketed to adults rather than teens like Nightbane, so it has more graphic sexual content.
• Extremely Lengthy Creation: According to Alex Aster, she first came up with the concept for Lightlark in 2012, ten years before the completed novel was published in 2022. Aster stated she worked on different drafts over the years, but had difficulty getting the publishing industry interested in the book, with publishers repeatedly rejecting Lightlark due to feeling it wouldn't sell well in a market saturated with similar books. It wasn't until 2021, when Aster made TikTok videos about Lightlark which gained a massive following, that Lightlark was picked up for publication.
• Follow the Leader: The first novel is clearly influenced by popular YA fantasy/sci fi books of the 2010s, such as the works of Sarah J. Maas (especially A Court of Thorns and Roses) The Hunger Games and The Grisha Trilogy. This includes a deadly competition, a curse, a love triangle, competing factions who all have their own unique gimmick (including element-based powers and a related dress-code) and more. Many people have pointed out that Grim especially appears heavily inspired by Rhysand and the Darkling. It makes sense considering Alex Aster has stated she first started writing Lightlark in 2012, when she was a teenager and thus in the same target demographic of these books.
• Similarly Named Works:
  • The title is very similar to the Larklight trilogy by Philip Reeve, just with "lark" and "light" swapped. Besides the similar names, the two series have nothing in common (Larklight is a Steampunk Space Opera, Lightlark is High Fantasy).
  • The second book shares its name with the 1995 Dark Fantasy Tabletop RPG Nightbane.

---