I read Lightlark so you don't have to- Rant Review [Spoiler Free]

As the title implies, I was not a fan of Lightlark. And I didn't even know how hyped it was, so I wasn't even going into it with high expectations.
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[@mikaylan.8948]

Im about 35% into this book and amature is definitely a good descriptor. Everything is written to be melodramatic and tense but very little in the story actually warrents that kind of writing because we're told so little about characters, motivation, world building etc., and everything is fast paced and eventful with little actual substance. It seems to me like a symptom of booktok advertising/trope-ification of stories where the ideas of relationships and tropes are appealing but theres little content to actually create and develop such tropes and relationships because so little is put into world building and characterization.

[@UnicornHunterbooks]

Yeah, so much is missing from the whole story, from start to finish.

[@nc9804]

Thanks for taking one for the team. I was going to buy this one but now I'll just skip it.

[@UnicornHunterbooks]

You’re welcome

[@LilyEvans1996]

I feel like her being a good fighter is pretty well explained. She has been trained since she was a kid and her whole life was basically just training.

[@UnicornHunterbooks]

But the other competitors are centuries old and have been training for a lot longer than she has.

[@ckat13]

Would you agree with my opinion that it feels like a book 2? Like there's a first book that explains everything?

[@UnicornHunterbooks]

That’s a good point, actually. It does have that “am I missing something?” feel like when you start reading a book in a series not realizing that it’s not the first one.

[@rhiannonbeveridge6849]

@@UnicornHunterbooks I listened to it on audiobook and I think that made it a bit better as it gave the characters a personality because of how they said things... but I get what you mean about lots of things just aren't explained until later.. like how are we supposed to know.. but I guess that was to try and build the plot twists

[@JayEllisAlexander]

I bet money she totally forgot to give the other characters last names LMAO

[@UnicornHunterbooks]

Considering how much else in this book was just flat-out not described, I bet you’re right, she probably thought things were clear to the reader because SHE knew that information, and thusly didn’t realize she actually didn’t put a last name of anyone else in the whole book.

[@ThePhantomofBooktube]

Yikes, this book sounds so terrible. Great review. It seems like publishing didn't even bother to edit this book or try to polish this book. They saw the tik tok fame and pushed this book out as fast as possible to make a quick buck. I don't know the whole story or what really happened but I find it hard to believe if publishing actually cared to make this a decent book they would publish a book with this many plot holes and that made no sense. I wasn't interested before but after everything, I heard I don't think I'll ever read a future book by the author either.

[@UnicornHunterbooks]

I feel like that’s what’s been happening when a book gets published because of the author’s following more than the book itself. That’s kind of what happened with Wicked Saints, The Ones We Burn, Breaking Time, etc. So publishing has some kind of problem there.

[@annakobuk3618]

I've got a tiktok ad before this. 🤦‍♀️

[@gretchenp13]

i think most of the things wrong with the book might have to do with editors because they should have told her the things that were missing and things she may having forgot to include.

[@UnicornHunterbooks]

If this book were self-published, I’d say that makes sense, and I’d cut an indie book a lot more slack with some of this stuff, but since this is a traditionally published book, editors should have been a lot more on it in terms of what needed to be changed and what’s too much of a plot hole.

[@JGVIllustrations]

The book just sounds like pure cringe! Thank you for doing the hard work so I don't have to read it haha

[@UnicornHunterbooks]

Thanks! Yeah, it’s not worth it.

[@Jasminedesi16]

Is Isla Crown really her name? omg lol

[@UnicornHunterbooks]

Yeah, that’s seriously her name, AND no one else in the whole book has a last name at all, so it felt weird for there to never be any explanation of why that’s her last name

[@MrRorosuri]

Eek

[@MrRorosuri]

💜💜