🥀 i rewrote LIGHTLARK.
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
- wait did I just write lightlark fanfiction
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✨ / lynndjung
So while editing I realized this rewrite is really just streamlining/trimming a lot of the excess fat I found in the story! Some other changes I might incorporate upon further reflection:
- Isla has a third act crisis of faith and successfully runs away before realizing she’s grown too attached to oro and celeste and that they do, in fact, need her help
- Somewhere in here she’s able to confront her mentors and emotionally break free from their influence
- Grim starts acting up a lot more in the third act & is pushy toward Isla regarding the heart, making her understand that his motivations are selfish way earlier. Her pushing him away prompts him to start manipulating celeste behind her back
- Grim’s selfishness makes him a foil to Isla! He retreats further into it while she grows out of it, and that puts them at odds on multiple levels. Grim is her main antagonist and their falling out should be tragic
- I still don’t know what to do with cleo lol. I think putting her in league with grim makes sense but it also kind of doesn’t? What an odd character
thank you for watching :)
✨ timestamps:
0:00: today’s book
0:42: intro
3:28: part 1: the vlog
10:02: part 2: a brief summary of lightlark
17:58: part 3: my petty complaints
20:43: part 4: a brief breakdown of the main story issues
25:12: part 5: what are lightlark's goals?
27:37: part 6: my rewrite
46:55: the end.
✨ music:
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website: lynndjung.com/...
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✨ my published writing:
"The Fall of Esther Park" via Apparition Lit: apparitionlit....
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✨ tags:
booktube, authortube writing, writer, author, speculative fiction, fantasy books, science fiction writer, authortok, novel writing, reading vlog, writing advice, immortal longings, lightlark, booktok ya books, ya fantasy books, lightlark rewrite, Alex Aster, ya fantasy, young adult fantasy, lightlark review, book review, rewriting lightlark, reviewing lightlark, tiktok books
This video was written and filmed on Chumash land.
This kind of more critical craft content is actually what I CRAVE from authortube. I eat this stuff up! I would be super happy to see other stuff of this type in the future -- though it doesn't need to be all books you hate. You could absolutely just loosely redraft stuff you wrote when you were younger or maybe workshop audience suggestions? Or maybe even just take something you like and explain how you'd rewrite it just for fun? I think it'd be really neat
Thank you so much! I can definitely look into making more of this type of content in the future :)
RIGHT
"I expected it to be mid but it is so unpolished" is such an utter mood reading Lightlark. I'm an editor and... I do not want to believe this book saw one? Basic connotation and structure of paragraphs, plot, and character arcs had me legitimately baffled.
I am also convinced that it didn't undergo nearly enough editorial passes, I counted a bunch of typos as well!
@@alpha1solace Sure :D The most famous example is "the diamond as large as a small potato" when describing the necklace Grim gifted Isla. "Potato" is an inherently funny word that invokes working class food, farms, groceries, etc. whereas "apple" or "plum" would be smoother sounds, richer foods, and evocative of sinful imagery like the apple of Eden. Also, "small potato" is awkward as a descriptor because by having to amend "potato" with "small", it weakens the focus of the metaphor and draws more attention to the potato of the description rather than the beautiful diamond. Even naming a type of small potato, like a new potato, would create the image more quickly/smoothly because the reader isn't stopping to process the amendment of the image.
Other examples include describing Isla, Oro, or Cleo as saying things "meanly" in serious situations. "Mean" on its own tends to be used most by or about children, making it comes across as less serious than something like "ruthlessly/spitefully/harshly".
Grim having "enormous fingers" rather than "enormous hands" or "long fingers" suggests that his fingers alone are thick and almost inflamed?
And Azul's introduction is a constant mix of elegant descriptions ("pale blue cloak [that] cracked with wind", "muscled arms", "sculpted chin", "coiffed stubble that framed...") and cartoonish descriptions ("eyebrows larger than his eyes", "pink mouth") that aren't contrasted against each other. Also, "pink mouth" is simply the wrong word is you're describing his lips, as opposed to the insides of his mouth (which are always pink and don't need description). "Mouth" is more hollistic and conjures the full circle of a mouth, and making that pink on a dark-skinned man frankly calls to mind a golliwog doll. His elegant descriptions ruin the cartoonish ones and the cartoonish descriptions ruin the elegant ones, leaving no clear tone/effect.
Phrases like these are constant throughout Lightlark, and I'm very surprised that an editor didn't catch them.
Your “lazy” solution version of the story is SOOOO MUCH COOLER! Especially the ocean revealing the island that no one can leave from. And putting a sacrifice at the end to appease the God an if the God don’t like it they have to return for the next time!!! That would really explain the whole “once every 100 years” thing. It seemed like when the author was writing the book she just had a plot point and just wrote without planning it out. Which is fine if thats the way that works for you but i feel like with a story thats supposed to be so complex you have to plan it out or you’ll never catch your plot holes. Love the idea!!
Ahh thank you so much, that means a lot to hear! I'm definitely VERY biased toward cool eldritch gods so it was a bit of my own personal flavor lol. I agree, it felt poorly thought out but the potential was still there! tysm for watching!
It almost seems like with the rules and worldbuilding that she wanted to create something tense and threatening but they were inconvenient to her and how she wanted to write the story so she just tried to find ways around them, inadvertently making these rules and the worldbuilding not make sense and not that threatening or tense at all.
Yeah I don't want to pretend to know anything about the author's process or mindset but the lack of set-up and pay-off especially irt to the worldbuilding was really frustrating!!
High level changes for me.
1. Isla doesn't have the starstick.
2. The power mixing doesn't work, you only get one.
3. Isla goal is freedom, whether it is Grim or Oro, she is willing to marry one of them if she can't find another path.
4. She is the same age as the other rulers but she doesn't remember. The whole thing with a 500 year old marrying is 18 year is already creepy, but this resolves why they want her so bad. She is an equal.
5. Oro is unable to kill himself, but he is tired of the game. He just wants to be done with it all. The 'Heart of Lightlark' is a poison to him and it can only be given to him, he can never take it.
The way I would read the hell out of that book! I think it really speaks to the particular flavor of disappointment a lot of people had about Lightlark, that the genre and tone and themes ARE interesting to them, but that the execution undermined any enjoyment they might have gotten from the premise.
Idk, I feel like having her be younger (but the others think she's as old as them) would work because in this rewriting, the romance isn't something we're supposed to root for but an expression of the kind of compromise she's willing to accept to save herself.
@@antonioscendrategattico2302 Disagree. She only thinks she is 18 has the same narrative effect without the creepy 500 year-old men drooling over her. Like if Oro was 500 and Grim was only 24, it's better. But I think the romance was the purpose. The world building was middle grade at best. And that be seen with things like how the each realm and its people are named. It could have been a place holder name that never changed, but Isla's training is wildly is proportionate to her skin level when you compare it to the different rulers. By making her 500 like the other rulers, she skill level makes sense. Some deep down tells her not to trust either Oro or Grim. You could even make it where both of them screwed her over at a previous date. Grim knows she lost her memory, but Oro doesn't until she treats him well. Oro then sees it as a second chance.
Maybe it's just me, but the 'oh boy she's 18 now' thing is just creepy.
i know you said t was a "lazy" solution but i love the cold uncaring deity making kings fight to the death type of beat
haha it's not the most original idea in the world but I always find it fun!!
It almost upset me how this trash heap of a book was compared to the hunger games. It’s almost laughable! the hunger games which was CATERED to younger audiences still holds up to almost all ages of readers. This book had so much potential, and i’m so sad it fell so short. I love the revisions you made, you are so talented and so pretty!❤️
RIGHT??? it would annoy me less if there were any actual hunger games-esque stakes or politics or fighting at all, but at that point it was just false adveritsing. thank you so much!!
this reminded me of the concept I had for a rewrite where the stakes of the tournament were that the rulers do fight to the death until one is killed - the realm of the dead monarch gets the curse of the monarch who killed them in addition to their original curse. Isla in the rewrite is actually a royal guard since the wildling realm was severely affected by the last tournament and can't afford to risk another ruler dying/getting another curse
your rewrite was really cool and intriguing!!
Ooh I like that twist on the tournament a lot actually!! It's so wild how the original made the whole centennial so unclear and so unexciting at the same time. thank you so much!
Damn, this re-write is fantastic! One thing I would change about it is that Faux Isla should still be cursed. It would open too many plot holes to have her exempt from curses. BUT Wildlings only have the one curse where their lovers die. The heart eater thing is pointless and nonsensical even for this fantasy setting. So she's still affected, but it's not going to totally break her motivations for wanting to run away from it all. She'll just have to be OK with being a hermit. Celeste's betrayal could have more personal stakes. She had a thing with Grim in the past and wants to get back in his good graces, and/or helping him means he won't vote for her to be sacrificed. There's also the star/night theme. Speaking of the lings, if we're gonna have stupid names for these cultures let's get more creative with it! Wilding and Nightshade are fine I guess, but the others should be Sungleam, Dawntreader, and Moonbeam. Get rid of Starlings and Cleo, make Celeste a Moonbeam.
OOH I LOVE THIS IDEA, yeah the heart eating thing threw me so bad but then the lover's curse element was also not?? explained properly?? God so much just didn't make sense haha. But your idea gives so much opportunity for Isla to have a growth arc in regards to her personal relationships, what a simple but elegant fix!!
Those names are also so much better. Man there were a lot of opportunities for this book to be... not what it was LOL ty for watching and contributing!!
i appreciate that you recognize that this book SERIOUSLY needs an edit. i'm not sure what the industry is doing these days, but it doesn't seem to be assigning competent editors to authors and getting them to realize that their writing is not the be all and end all. everyone needs a second opinion, and that's okay!
I feel like a big factor in this is how capitalism is impacting the book industry. The demand for new books and the next in a series seems to be pushing publishers to prioritize quantity over quality.
this rewrite was so entertaining to listen to!! as someone who can't plot for shit i was like 'wow i'm fr getting a crash course from lightlark fanfiction' LOLL. something that i wish we would've seen more of in lightlark was the other leaders? i LOVE big casts but if they're underexplored it makes me sad :') why add them in when they're just gonna be furniture pieces yk? i kinda think if that web of relationships was developed (since they're all stuck on the damn island/have the stressful responsibility of saving their people) the story would've been so much richer for it. just my hot take & personal bias talking 🙅♀ but i agree with the other points you make sm 🥰 slaying these bookish vids (and your red eyeshadow is so pretty)
aww thank you so much!! yeah a LOT of the other realms/leaders were so underexplored, even Isla's own realm felt like a big question mark to me!! I think that's a great editorial thought :)
im crying rn cause i absolutely LOVE this rewrite and feel like it would be one of my favorite books. i need this story to be reality. your version makes me so happy. big fan of the ocean god too. damn. please, please write this. if not as a publishable book that’s had more elements changed so you dont get sued, then as a fanfic 😭❤❤ id read the hell out of this!
I love this energy so much-unfortunately, I don't have any plans to write this version of Lightlark, although I do write original stuff!
@@lynndjung ah, that’s fair! and yeah, i did start watching one of your other videos where you start rewriting a past work you had shelved. very interesting ideas! :)
publish your version of Lightlark, cause it'd be funny af to see Lightlark by Lynn D. Jung be more popular than the original iteration of Lightlark
The dedication should be _"There, I fix it miss Aster"_
11:35 - if she gets Oro to fall in love with her, she can use his power, and make up for the fact that she has no power of her own, and save the Wildling newlands
14:27 - There's the main "Lightlark" island, then basically a little embassy island for each realm.
(I'm one of those sick people who've watched those really long reviews a couple of times, I have lots of useless knowledge!)
i've been watching a lot of ya fantasy rewrites, so that's probably why i stumbled upon this video, and i came out a fan! i really like how calming the tone of the videos is, and the advice in this and your other videos has helped me a lot, even from how little ive seen so far. the rewrite in this video is so fun, and i feel like it really captures the potential the original missed
If you have any recommendations for other rewrite videos please lmk!! Thank you so much for watching, those were my goals so I'm glad I met them ☺️
@@lynndjung Caraval
@@lynndjung more rewrite videos would be epic :O
I agree with the age change. Here's another reason why they should not be centuries old; having done the trails more then once would give way too much of an advantage to a ruler and it makes it even stupider that they haven't figured out how to break the curse yet. What makes more sense is if Lightlark seems to appear sort of "between generations" of rulers. Meaning, like it does in the book; every 100 years or so, but it happens to line-up in a way where the last ruler who attended has already died before the current ruler, who will have to attend, is alive/ old enough to learn directly from this predecessor. This way you've got sort of a new layer/theme of complexity, without actually creating a bunch of extra material to write; that "theme" now being how information is lost through time. It never needs to be directly focused on, though; readers would just naturally understand that's a factor with how the timing works out.
By the rulers always being on the younger side, in that early stage of their reign/career, they are then all lacking in the wisdom that might otherwise make the mystery much easier to solve. The problem I have with the original book is it's difficult to understand how challenges scale versus how powerful the characters are; grounding things in real world, relatable issues like age, time, maturity, the passing down of knowledge, the loss of knowledge through time, so on and so on is easier for any reader to comprehend without needing a huge exposition dump to justify it. Fantasy stories with creative magic and original concepts are great, but interjecting real world, very personal/intimate human issues (not politics / broad marco issues) such as aging, mortality, learning, growing, so on helps to ground the narrative and make it more visceral / believable off the bat.
Am i the only one who wanted Aurora to succeed in her plan? Like your fiance cheats on you with ur best friend and both are talking about getting married behind your back? OHHHHH I would be hot.
I don't usually comment, but I'm loving this video. so informative and a fun way to learn!
thank you so much!!
I immediately latched on to your form of analysis and your perspective when addressing the books and the others you covered then you mentioned nando who I used to watch quite a bit. I’m sat.
Im thinking about your fixed version 24/7! I think it would easily be my favorite if you wrote it. The dynamic between the characters esp grim and isla are so good and very interesting.
I like to think that the content of Lightlark is just there so that its beautiful cover has some pages to sit on while viewers admire it from afar
Thanks for the video!!! You have a FANTASTIC editorial eye :)
ty for watching!! the ultimate compliment from u tbh
This is such a fun idea! It was great listening to you break down how you would make it into something readable. I almost wonder if we could do something similar in the discord as an exercise? Take a universally panned book and each attempt our own rewrite of it.
Thank you! That sounds like a fun idea :)
I loved this video so much!! it felt so creative and actually constructive aswell. So many light lark critique videos are so negative and like super super long it’s crazy. You explained things so well and now i wish I could read your version of the book hahaha
I would love to hear your review + rewrite of Fourth Wing. Loved the video. This is the type of content I’ve been looking for :)
That's been the next title on my list, I'm just keeping my eyes peeled for a used copy. Thank you!!
Yes!! I honestly kinda enjoyed the Fourth Wing *just* because it was so ridiculous that it was kinda fun. It’s definitely not a serious read and could be improved. So that’d be a cool video.
I LOVE this kind of content! this kinda inspires me to get up and start working on polishing my works in process
Girlll the rewrite was SO GOOD! Now I need you to help me plot my own book 🥺 because I cannot figure anything out lol 😀👍
If you have a specific question, you should totally submit a writing woe to the Dear Lynn segment of my podcast next time it opens up!! I'm not sure how helpful I'll be haha but I can try my best :)
@@lynndjung okieee ty and sorry for late reply ahh 🫶
i would have actually liked to read your version of lightlark, it sounds fun
Wait I love this . I would love seeing u do this with other books
Wow just wow i rarely push through long videos on youtube... but man this video had me hooked from the beginning- and I havent even read lightlark! But this is rewrite seems very interesting so much so that I might read lightlark myself given how much I heard about this book.
Never have I subscribed so quickly! I LOVED your rewrite, I think that is such a cool skill to have to be able to reimagine a story like that. Love your vibe! Also congratulations on getting representation (yes I just watched that video but came back here to comment on this because I wanted you to know that this video is perfection)
Ahh, thank you so much!! This was definitely a fun video to put together
I honestly didn’t realize how bad the writing was until halfway the book (as I listen to the audiobook). I felt like the book didn’t really get the ending either, as it was confusing and the writing style felt choppy.
I imagine in audiobook it's a lot harder to notice!! Definitely, the ending felt like it was rushing to wrap up loose ends/introduce as many twists as possible
This is such a good rewrite!! 😯✨
I too, look at some not-so-great books and see sick potential hiding within them.
27:41 This reminds me of a time where I actually planned to do a rewrite of this old forgotten sci-fi book called Zenith, the original book had a really stupid enemies to lovers romance between the female main character, who was a edgy space pirate that wouldn’t shut up about her long convoluted backstory the authors gave her because they favorited her over every character, and the male love interest, who was a bounty hunter from the female main character’s past (he and her were exes) and was the character the authors kept rapid changing his personality and motives every second, and he eventually became kind of a punching bag to the female main character and her friends and also ended up being in love with her even though she ruined his life basically. It was stupid.
I had planned a sort of rewrite that threw the old plot into the trash can and could potentially turn into a space crime noir or a mystery, where instead of following the female lead and her space pirate crew, you follow the male love interest as he tries to take down the female main character, who instead was the primary antagonist of the story. (I cut out the old primary antagonist because she was edgy) The story wouldn’t have any “enemies-to-lovers” just two mortal enemies trying to take each other down. In space.
But sadly, I couldn’t exactly figure out how to plot, but the rewritten male love interest character actually got redeemed as a DND character for a science fiction campaign!!!
Congrats if you made it to the end of this long-ass comment, I hope you liked the rambling!! 😄👍
In case your wondering, here’s some other (some I’ve probably said before maybe idk) changes I had in mind for the hypothetical “rewrite”
This is all as non spoiler as possible but also kinda in REALLY vague spoiler territory, I hope this doesn’t spoil anything for you (hopefully)
Also, my DND character is separate from his rewrite counterpart kinda because the plot and works they’re in is different. I plan that I might do the rewrite maybe on my own time?? (I thought about maybe making some fangame for it on Scratch or maybe trying to write it?? I’m not good at writing..)
WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE WERE THE CHANGES (vague spoilers ahead??)
- Giving the female main character’s space pirate friends (did I mention the story really likes elaborating they’re all girls) more backstory and relevancy to the plot. One of them in the book literally doesn’t even get a backstory, and the authors are just like “oh it’s amnesia” and never elaborate so they can focus on telling the same backstory information about the main character. So I really wanted to fix that somehow.
-I don’t even know if I want to main character’s space pirate crew as space pirates or fellow bounty hunters, as it really didn’t feel like they were terrifying space pirates sometimes.
The only person I might maybe excuse and still kept a space pirate alongside the female lead was the best friend of the female lead, as she actually had more of a backstory and slight plot relevance at one point (although it’s not very good or executed at all.)
-For the Male Love Interest, who is now the main character in the rewrite, I combined his two motives (AKA the one first given and the one they added in to make him more sympathetic(?) (it was very forced though. LITERALLY.) before he was a punching bag for the plot)
-Also, the plot made the love interest an alcoholic for no random reason, I hoped to rewrite it so that he still has that trait, but it’s in a negative light
-The Male Love Interest was given an actual personality! When I roleplay him in DND, he’s basically turned into kind of a “unlikable hero.” He’s so miserable and he’s mean to everyone. (WHOOPS that was NOT actually intentional 😣) He’s kinda like some sort of “fallen star” whose original passion of bounty hunting for law and justice (and money) has only turned into doing it for so much more money and for “escapism” out of his problems he’s so desperate to avoid
-There’s no romance. The two main characters who were once “enemies-to-lovers” now are mortal enemies who wanna obliterate one another, thats the primary conflict
-I cut out the actual main villain, her motive, and the whole big plot twist involving her and another character who I also cut out.
-A massive backstory subplot involving the main villain’s mother was also entirely cut out, as it has zero relevance to the story and also isn’t good
-Cutting out so much edgy female main character backstory fodder, and also making her less “sympathetic”(?) as she’s now the main villain (the authors try to make her “sympathetic” even though she’s a space pirate, but it’s so forced it doesn’t work)
-Random Side Characters have more relevance to the plot, other side characters were cut out entirely (the female main character’s best friend’s brother and the male love interest’s other ex-girlfriend were planned to be given extra attention in the new plot)
-There was a robot character in the book that I forgot about. Whoopsie
I got this book as a free review copy and I want a refund
very much agreed. I do love the idea of the plot line. I did have fun listening to it more than reading the book physically. It was better because I listened to it with my husband. When we went to read Nightbane, I couldn't remember any of the story.
i enjoyed this sm and learned so much just from hearing ur revision suggestions!!! love love love
ahh thank you so much brielle!! i LOVE making these types of videos and can't wait to do more
OOhh this was really fun to watch! My gosh you are underrated, I'm surprised that this only has a bit over 1k views. I've heard a lot about this book and it being horrible, but not really about what it is (probably because I'm not big into book tok...?) so this run down was interesting :00
ngl when i read some books i want to rewrite them too 😭too lazy to think it out that well. Also, I have a serious contender for the worst ya published book (not sure how popular it is, but on the front it brags that the author is a million book best seller?). Not read light lark tho, but "the girl who dared to think" is peak not like other girls (cuz she can think lmaoo) + terrible romance (there is an actual point in the book where the love interest promises rly important stuff for a kiss. She kisses him... and he doesn't deliver lol. The worst part is it happens TWICE) + confusing plot. It could possibly be worse... 😨also "geek girl" is a whole nother can of worms.
Also, small correction, but Isla is normally pronounced "eye-la", like in island.
Thank you so much for watching and for the kind words!! I haven't heard of those books but man the "not like other girls" energy is STRONG in YA. Tbf a lot of teenage girls (esp bookish ones) have that type of complex so maybe it's a know your audience situation lol??
In the book there's a passage where Isla describes the pronunciation of her name and it's stated it's pronounced with a "hissing s" or smth along those lines-I speak a bit of Spanish so I was also confused about this but I decided to go with the book's pronunciation for this video! (I'm not a complete dummy I swear 😭)
@@lynndjung Your welcome! I haven't heard any conversation about them so I'm kinda surprised that they sold that well. I have to agree with you abt the not like other girls trope. I'm kind of the target audience for these books, but I can't stand the underlying "not like other girls" tropes that a lot of books directed at girls have. Most of the popular ones, anyways. It probs is a know ur audience situation, but kind of frustrating bc i thought as a society we decided to move away from that after like 2017 or so??
Thats kind of a strange decision from the author. Feeds into the not like other girls trope even more haha. I'm also learning a bit of spanish too, so i had similar feelings 🥲Maybe it was some sort of decision from the author to clarify that names are different there? idk why she didn't just spell it differently tho. If this were some sort of futuristic book it might make sense about words changing their pronunciation but not their spelling (like what happened with the great vowel shift) but i don't think thats what the author was going for.
I gotta say I started reading the 2nd book and it is so much worse lol. I liked the 1st for some reason but the 2nd just really has me rolling my eyes a lot. I find Isla so annoying and it's relying on Isla's past memories to continue the story lmao. ALSO I AM SO SICK OF THE 500+ YEAR OLD LOVE INTEREST TROPE!! I allowed it in ACOTAR but it's so overused!!
Hahaha I hate that comments like these make me want to read the second book so badly (for science ofc). And yeah the super ancient love interest trope is so silly especially when they're just randomly immortal for no reason and it doesn't affect their character at all
DUDE I LOVE REWRITING BAD BOOKS YOU ARE MY KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR
SO BEAUTIFUL
With how exciting the end was (two people probably injured, one dead, one person on the lamb because they tried to betry the others) it would be hilarious if the ocean god finally was like "you did it!" because the leaders were finally entertaining lolol
LOLL honestly you might be onto something
@@lynndjung lowkey it made me think of the manhwa "Flirting With the Villain’s Dad" where the god of that world calls the mc "little crumb" and is constantly bothering her about what she's doing lol
I misread the title as "LIGHTLARRY" and clicked on it and now I gotta watch bc "LIGHTLARK" sounds even more interesting lol
I love your version of Light Lark compared to the author. I read the first chapter of the book and was already to confused.
haha thank you!!
Such a good video
Really enjoyed this. Excited to have found your channel! 😀
thank you so much!!
I LOVE THISSS UR SO COOL
It's just so depressing knowing how much potential this book had! It was a pretty fun premise, terrible execution.
agreed!!
I gave Isla a different love interest called shade he’s a half human half ghost
And with Celeste I made it that Aurora took over Celeste at the start
Just realized Lightlark and The Fourth Wing are so generic in their genres that when I saw a video about The Fourth Wing part II, I had the plot of Lightlark in mind 😅
I prefer fourth wing honesty
After watching this, i feel like Aster saw this vid, stole everything from it and shoved it into Nightbane without thinking of implications and contradictions to her shitstain on the page. Because istg, practically everything you said is somehow in there. The other world people are trying to escape into, more focus on Grim to justify him existing (to our disappointment and cringe), more "romance" and "politics", outside force compelling plot to happen, Grim working with Isla to find a mcguffin that would save the world or whatever
I learned about this book in a 7 hr video by Krimson Rogue and then pirate it for this exact reason
Well if someone told me why I betrayed and apologized I would accepted that but told him that that we aren’t friends anymore or partners
wait that actually sounds rlly good i'd read that book
Can we have an updated video after reading book #2? 🤔🤔 I honestly was happier with the series after book 2. Would love to hear your thoughts! I loved this video so much! Thank you ❤
I kinda really hope you do the sequel. 😂
lol i really want to!!
For her having nightshade abilities I think her dad was a nightshade
Is Nando the one who pissed and moaned about Black Panther being invincible in his suit, even though Iron Man is practically invincible in his suit and Hulk is just generally invincible until he snaps his fingers?
Listening to this, it feels less “Hunger games” and more so “Fantasy drag race”
Where can I purchase this Grim-free version of the book? 🤚😊
I like your Ideas. The ending best. Maybe the god didn't want a human sacrifice but a human that sacrifice him/her/them self for someone else? I mean ceartaily the ultimate sacrifice would satisfy a god.
What would I change? It's not my book. But I realy, realy want to sit Alex down and talk about worldbuilding. The heart eating thing has to go or to be explained. I did the math with one heart per wildling with 100 and 1000 and if they need a heart per week or month. The math ain't mathing even if they do eat the Starlings who die at 25 and therfore must breed like rabbits. Then we have to talk names. I mean I have no problem with obvious names but a lot of people do. And why is Isla the only one with two names? One Spanish one English? Then the Ling thing. Either all are lings or it's strange. If she has the latin based naming, most is Spanish, already why not staying with it and do the "tribe" names in pseudo latin. The Cielorian, Solarith, Lunath, Steliain... what ever those are just my instant naming Ideas.
My next problems are the unequal curses. Some like the Skylings just can't fly but the Starlings all die at 25? Seems harsh on them.
I know it’s not related to the book, but I want to know what’s the name of the background melody and its composer? I like it.
Anyway, the Mai character's name is pronounced as ice-la.
I wonder if you’ll read the next book, Nightbane.
youre a genius dejbdeuhd
alksdja not at all but ty!!
I love the book but I want to rewrite it
I couldn't take the word 'starstick' seriously and reading the book went really slow for me... Although that could just be because it was an ebook, which I'm not really used to yet :) Also, I didn't finish it soooo I'm a little short on info 🤭
Honestly, even with the little amount of appearances Grim made, he was my favourite character. I kept making ridiculous notes everytime he showed up, my first one literally just being his name and I added 'Already love him'. Yeah... The rest of the book was sooooo boring to me for some reason?? Basically was just there for Grim.
funny enough that's what happened to star wars : - )
The reason she has to kill the king is because wildlings are beautiful and can seduce with just a look and if she gets the king to love her, she will get all his powers. ? It said that many times
It’s not her plan. It’s her guardians plan but she refuses, and goes with her own plan with celeste
No she did cast the curses (aurora) she got Grimm to get her the heart by seducing him and the she did her thing
The reason she doesn’t have power is that wildlings curse is that they have to kill whom they fall in love with. Islas mother refused so her dad then had to kill her mother but we later found out that she has both powers and her guardians killed her parents due to aurora’s persuasion
There are plenty of good ideas in Lightlark. They're just the decaying corpses of good stories buried under a mountain of rotting fat, festering tropes, and butchered narrative structure.
Wow. A lot of curses.
The only issue I had with this video was how you pronounced Isla’s name. You said it like “is-la” it’s pronounced as “eye-la”
I addressed this in a different comment, but in the book it's specifically stated that Isla's name is pronounced with a hissing s sound! This threw me for a loop as well. but I went with the book's pronunciation for the video :)
I think you missed a few important details or key points. I haven't read the book, and while it doesn't sound like it's clear even to most people who have, other read alongs tell *me* that you can't just "not be cursed." Isla not being cursed in the actual book doesn't even make sense, especially since she manifests powers at the end. While it does sand your brain down if you have any capacity for nuance, I believe it's made pretty clear (for Lightlark anyway) that their entire population will die if their leader dies (in the centennial anyway). Personally I find this kind of crypto-fasci in its symbolism, but this also makes it clear, if it wasn't already, that everybody is cursed.
Let's say instead that Isla is an imposter. Isla is a Starling. Everyone gets the powers of people they fall in love with from other kingdoms right? (When they reach Lightlark, at least.) Isla's handlers have erased most of her memories to help her focus on her mission. This has negatively affected her ability to use her powers over all, but they are confident she will be able to manifest Wildling powers when she reaches Lightlark, in order to pose as their leader, because she fell in love with the true Wildling leader (also a girl) who has gone mad, but is very much alive. They're keeping her hidden and locked away to preserve the realm. Once the curse is lifted Isla will be reunited with her true love, who will return to sanity, and Isla's memories of her will be restored.
All of this is a lie.
There is no "true ruler" Isla was always the one and only. Falling in love is incredibly advantagous, but they are cursed against it. When Isla was very young her people noticed an unfortunate proclivity for romantic flights of fancy. They know if she falls in love they are all doomed. However they have discovered that people who suffer significantly impaired memory are unaffected by the curse. You can't love someone if you can't remember them. However this is a closely guarded secret, because there is no known way to afflict impaired memory that isn't experimental, and more importantly, extremely dangerous for the brain. Weigh that against the welfare of an entire kingdom though...
The day they feared finally comes Isla begins to fall in love, and once they've erased her memory, for the very first time, they know that it works because Isla doesn't even need to eat human hearts. It is as if she really is the girl from nowhere.
This may seem as pointlessly convoluted as the book itself. So I'll breakdown the gambit very simply: As the Wildling ruler Isla must be the one to attend the Centennial. To survive the Centennial Isla must be the most powerful. To be the most powerful Isla must repeatedly fall in love. To fall in love Isla must not know her true identity as a Wildling. To conceal her identity she must have an alter-ego. Said alter-ego must be motivated to succeed on behalf of the Wildlings. By nature Isla is most easily motivated by thoughts of true love.
The star stick was planted to encourage her to roam, and meet people from other lands. When she falls in love, like she does with Grim, they just wipe her memory after awhile to be safe, and so she won't get any crazy romantic ideas like "monogomy" that could tie her down to a limited power set. Telling her she is a Starling puts a starstruck lovers ticking clock on every relationship she has, making whirlwind romances more likely. It's not clear that without memories she will ever manifest powers before going insane, but it's better than the alternative of just letting that happen. As a bonus, they reason, if she is no longer cursed then perhaps if she were to die during the Centennial, while unaware of her true identity, her people would be spared as well. They train her in every other way they can under her alter-ego to give her her best chance at survival.
I see all your points but i just feel like you made all of the plot twists dissapear. I do see all of the books lack but i feel like the good thing about the book was all the many many plot twists. And now Theres not even that anymore
The problem with plot twists is they are a conversation for prose, not plot. While I will debate that the book even had plot twists from a plot viewpoint some of the twists were ok but the author was practically allergic to foreshadowing. Maybe she ruined the plot twists but I am pretty sure that a half decent author could still make these big moments serve as a plot twist without requiring as many ass pulls as the original book.
Me every time I read a bad book 😅