ALEX ASTER
(Lightlark #1)
Synopsis:
Welcome to the Centennial.
Every 100 years, the island of Lightlark appears to host the Centennial, a deadly game that only the rulers of six realms are invited to play. The invitation is a summons—a call to embrace victory and ruin, baubles and blood. The Centennial offers the six rulers one final chance to break the curses that have plagued their realms for centuries. Each ruler has something to hide. Each realm’s curse is uniquely wicked. To destroy the curses, one ruler must die.
Isla Crown is the young ruler of Wildling—a realm of temptresses cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with. They are feared and despised, and are counting on Isla to end their suffering by succeeding at the Centennial.
To survive, Isla must lie, cheat, and betray…even as love complicates everything.
Content:
Language: Not present
Violence: there are curses that largely involve death (though none of it is showed on-page), flashbacks to intense training sessions with abusive guardians, manipulation, discussions of murder, fight scenes, duels, etc, but there are actually very limited descriptions of blood and gore. There are some mentions of a race eating hearts and a character is forced to eat some of one, but again, little description of the gore.
Sex: a few kisses, allusions to sex, some mentions of "guiding his hand right where she wanted it," etc. There are two scenes (and a third, in the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition) where breasts and other areas are touched, but there are few details.
LGBTQ: One of the male characters is mentioned to have had a husband.
My Review: This would 1000% be a five star read if it weren't for a few of the issues I had (occasionally repetitive scenes, some plot points that had my brow furrowing in confusion, scenes where I just wanted to scream at the characters, and the overuse of the word "meanly"). But, I enjoyed everything else about it. There is still room for more world building, but I completely love what we've seen so far, and I loved the way the Centennial was structured.
I suspected parts of the plot twists (yes, twists!) at the end, but there were others that just left my mouth hanging and my emotions too conflicted to deal with. So yes, overall I would say this was well worth the read!