Reading With Tyler

Name: Skyshade
Series: Lightlark #3
Author: Alex Aster
Publisher: Amulet Books
Format: Kindle
Genres: Young Adult, Romantasy
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (still pretty tame, but it was on the page)

Rating:

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Review:

“You’re right. I don’t know what love is. I don’t know how to love. If you ever gave me another chance to love you, I would learn. I would learn the right way to love you.”

Skyshade is the third book in the Lightlark series. Originally, this was set to be a trilogy but at some point the plans changed and it was revealed that it would instead be a 5 book series. There will likely be spoilers for the first two books in the series, Lightlark and Nightbane. Any spoilers for Skyshade will be hidden as normal.

I loved the story of Lightlark. I loved the trials, I loved the reveals, the betrayals… It certainly had its flaws but I the story I liked. Then we went into Nightbane and I once again really enjoyed the story. Though very different from Lightlark, the reveals and the plot were there! And I liked them – albeit for a portion of Nightbane it felt like nothing was happening… And then Skyshade. And I liked the last quarter, and parts of the majority of the book. But I definitely think it’s my least favourite (and the few reviews I have seen, seem to be suggesting the same thing!).

Going into Skyshade, I really love Isla and Grim and coming out of it, that has changed a little. I can’t believe I’m writing that. Skyshade really made me question whether or not I still felt like Grim was going to be end game for Isla. Mostly because I started to fall out of love with Isla, partially because I struggled to accept the way she was handling Grim and Oro and partially for the writing. But I really did start to love both Grim and Oro separately, and so now I’m not sure who I think will be end game… Apparently we find out in Crowntide, so I’ve got two novella’s to read before I get there… But I am now actually in a position where I can’t say with 100% certainty – I’m Team X.

So, why did I feel like I was perhpas falling out of love with our FMC? Well, I was not the biggest fan of Lightlark when I first read it, as I felt like the author was making some jumps and expecting the reader to keep up and understand with what felt like little information. On a second read I was able to put more of the pieces together and enjoyed it more! Skyshade felt like this. And I don’t think three books in I should be having a repeat of this!

I’m unclear as to whether or not it is because there was such a big gap between reading Nightbane and Skyshade for me as to why I felt so constantly out the loop for the first 3/4s of it. And I accept that. But for the final quarter I felt like everything Isla was figuring out, putting together and planning was done off page and told in a way that made me feel like I was pretty dumb for not figuring it out too.

But despite that, the last quarter was actually my favourite. I feel like if it had been fleshed out a bit more – relying less on ‘you should know this’ and more on showing us how we got where we were – this quarter alone could have bumped the rating up. There were some excellent reveals in this, and some brilliant moments that honestly felt like they would work spectacularly on screen!! Story wise, I’m so in. I absolutely need to know where we go from here… I just wish it didn’t feel so difficult to love the book.

“I go to that cliff, that beach, every single morning because the sea is the green of your eyes, and it’s the closest I get to waking up next to you.”