Unpopular opinion: Starside by Alex Aster

How to make a quest tedious.

Synopsis

From Alex Aster, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Lightlark series, comes her first adult romantasy. Enter the world of Starside , where swords wield magic and power is not inherited…but claimed.

Hundreds of years ago, a brutal war split a land in two. Starside is the realm of magic and immortals—the descendants of the gods, living in a power-rich paradise. Stormside is where mortals fight for scraps of that magic.

Every fifty years, the gates between them open, and fifty challengers are allowed to journey across Starside on a deadly quest to access a pool of magic that can heal, grant wealth, or extend life. Everyone has their reasons for entering, but Aris has only vengeance. As a child, a goddess set fire to her village, killing her family. Aris isn’t after the gods’ magic—she’s going to kill them.

First, she must survive the Culling, the king’s deadly competition to choose his fifty challengers. An orphaned blacksmith’s apprentice, Aris doesn’t have the superior weapons of the heirs from the Great Houses. But the greatest swords—ones that contain power—are not inherited or bought, they are claimed, by both sides. And when Aris claims a great sword, it makes her not just a real competitor—but a target.

Getting past the gates is only the beginning. Starside is deadlier than it seems. If the ancient creatures, magic-wielding beasts, and bloodthirsty immortals weren’t dangerous enough, a new peril has even immortals fearing what rises from the ground at night. With a blade most would kill to claim, Aris can’t trust anyone. Especially not Harlan Raker, the merciless and mysterious king’s guard who betrayed her years ago—and who may now be the key to her survival.

But Aris is hiding a secret tied to her family’s death. And when it’s revealed, not even the gods will be able to stop what’s coming…

Audiobook Review

5 stars for the first 30% and the last 10% of the book.

2 stars in between.

OK prepare for a rant here!

And of course this is my personal opinion, feel free to disagree as reading is a personal experience and blablabla.

BUT

That book had so much promises!

And began on a bang for me!

A poor heroine with mysterious markings is determined to enter a portal to go to the land of the gods to take her revenge. Her whole family and village have been killed by a god, she has been fostered by a smith who taught her his art and how to wield a sword and fight.

To get to the portal, you have to win your place and the odds are against her.

That’s clearly my catnip!

And it was great!

She didn’t get easily to Starside but had to be smart. She wasn’t the strongest. She didn’t have a team and money to help her. So that was great and I was happy!

And then, once in Starside, the book became tedious.

And that’s weird because a lot happened on her quest. But that was the problem with me: the quest was too long. And it was like the author had a vendetta with her main character because Aris had all the bad luck in the world. And yet,  there was also a pattern of her being saved miraculously multiple times! A dragon appears, an ancient goddess will help, some fae etc etc.

But a pattern becomes repetitive after some time and I just wanted to get to that confrontation with the gods.

Also her inner monologues (about Raker’s big hands, about how everyone died because of her  etc, rince repeat) were exhausting and frustrating! She was wallowing in her guilt and that didn’t endear her to me. Even if I understood that what happed to her was traumatic and that in real life I would probably react like her, reminiscing all the time, this wasn’t enjoyable to read.

Raker was mysterious and broody and sexy but he was so distant that I couldn’t “read “ him. That bothered me even if I think that was the point.

Last complaint for me: that sex scene was not believable (she was a virgin for god’s sake and the beginning was let’s say technically hard to believe) and far too long. But hey, if you love smut or long explicit sex scenes you will probably be very happy. I have nothing about a good sex scene but in this context I just wanted to roll my eyes.

What I did love though were the 10 last percents as reveals I had never expected were slapped in our face. And I relished in these. I was all “ok that makes sense and well done!”.

Will I read the sequel? Frankly, no.

Do I understand why so many love that book? Yes because we all have different taste.

Was that book badly written? No. But I still think it would have gained being 100 pages shorter.

Thanks for reading.

Sophie