2 light 2 lark is an amazing title

“Ruler curses his people so that if they kill him in a coup, they will all die with him.” Holy crap that is terrifying and diabolical. I can imagine a better author taking this one concept and just running with it. I imagine the revolutionaries will have a plan to keep him alive - life support type of thing, but imprisoning him forever so he can’t rule. But maybe the king takes a cyanide pill or something when he’s captured, and everyone has like 2 weeks to break the curse or else die. That concept seems very dark and heavy for a book like Lightlark.

Animal taming works by Pokemon rules. You gotta beat it up to earn its friendship.

So soon? The book 1 chatter has barely died down, and here’s book 2 already. Like a second wave hitting you when you’re still coughing up salt water from the previous wave.

Alternate Isekai Title for Lightlark: "I'm Queen of a Realm and Have No Powers (But that doesn't matter at all)"

When they said "maybe the real lightlark was the friends we made along the way," the book ceased to be an incoherent mess and became true art.

Have I read/plan on reading either of those books? No. Did I immediately abandon my uni work to watch this video? Betcha

F in the chat for James' sanity. Your sacrifice will be preserved for posterity.

Let's fuckin go. -One of the running theories is that Nightbane didn't get as much attention because it was released on the same day as Iron Flame, the Fourth Wing sequel, and that Aster is salty about that. -Fun fact, Aster said that it's pronounced eyes-la, and this is indicated in the book early on. Personally I like whichever pronunciation makes everyone as mad as possible while also not getting it right. -Nightbane is playing Skyrim and doing sidequests, all the while never visiting the Jarl's palace. -Ah yes, an heir. An excuse to get them to fuck. "Oh no I don't want to, I just HAVE to have an heir." -I knew a horse named Bear and a dog named Kitty, but for some reason a leopard named Lynx feels worse than both. -I don't think anyone expected Nightbane to be named after Fantasy Opioids. -Since it's fantasy but not technically confirmed medieval, maybe they do have EDM. Cleo should have a gun. You know, as a treat. -"I don't want to kill the king even though it would save everyone" has the same energy as "If god* had the power to end world hunger, he would have done it already. My singular wish is to resurrect my boyfriend" from City of Glass. (*edit: Turns out it was angels, not God, but same energy.) -And Lightlark being made from people from different dimensions and there's fuckery on the other side has Crescent City SJM energy Alex Aster Have An Original Thought Challenge Level One Million. -Try is debatable, but I suppose after seeing Fourth Wing it could have been worse. -Edit: Upon further consideration, VERY hard disagree on "trying." If you care about something, you put your heart and soul into making it good. It's not like LL and NB couldn't have been saucy pintrest moodboard books AND told a good story, and it's not like she can't afford an editor. From the way everything's cobbled together, it's hard to not see it as anything more than trend chasing. Where it differs from Fourth Wing (apart from controversy) is that Aster throws every cool idea that she likes it, with other worlds and rebellion and animal companions and magic ore and a lost sword and fantasy drugs. Fourth Wing isn't pretending to be anything other than dragon smut.

The bird whose egg is the heart of Light lark is not a lark!

The thing about this book is that if it wasn’t so inconsistent and the author wasn’t spreading half truths about the story, it would have been forgotten about entirely.

"There are people who have done multi-hour videos on Lightlark" - it's okay, James. We all watched Krimson suffer. @ 44:10 My view for all media is the same: Some like it, some don't. If you're throwing a tantrum because somebody doesn't like your favourite thing, that's a reflection on you, not on them.

These books really needed several editorial passes, the magic system doesn't make sense, the worldbuilding doesn't make sense, the characters are awful people, if she received any constructive criticism, I don't think she took it.

You're the first of my "booktubers" to even cover this which is WILD given how much hype Lightlark got. But I'm stoked bc I don't read the books but I'm interested in the Trainwreck of the plot lol.

Wait hold on, the curses are still a thing? I thought they broke the curses at the end of book 1 by killing Celeste/Aurora!

The thing is I really like the idea of a protagonist starting weak and eventually becoming one of if not the most powerful person in the setting. However, I want this to be costly, slow, and hard. Most of these books make it cheap, quick, and easy.

I swear I have heard several booktubers explain the plot of Lightlark at this point and I still have no idea what tf it's about. I don't know if this has to do with my verbal processing issues or if the plot was just so bland it failed to provide my brain with enough dopamine for me to care about retaining any information lmao

Light Lark 3: no time to lark

I love that he tell us all about lightlark with a dagger in hand 😂

All right James. I don't want to burst your bubble, but the one line that you did like was actually my least favorite part of the entire book 😂 The line is cute out of context, but on the previous page Isla voices that she thinks she's a terrible ruler, weak, and a liar. And then on the next page he says "it's the things you like the least about yourself that I love the most" That line is cute for things like snort laughing, or stretch marks, maybe even like wrinkles, but not massive character flaws 😂 But I think we were supposed to just forget that Isla said that on the previous page... Because it's a cute cliché line. To quote One Direction, " You don't know you're beautiful! Oh oh! That's what makes you beautiful!"

I'm still debating whether it was a blessing or a curse for Aster than Nightbane had the same release date as Iron Flame.

As a developmental editor and author myself, Lightlark and Nightbane desperately needed developmental editing and then some. It's clear Alex Aster cannot take criticism and that's definitely a fatal flaw for a writer.

This feels like someone printed out every chapter of a mobile isikai otome game, dumped the papers on the floor, then quickly gathered the mess up leaving the story shuffled out of order. Maybe that's what Aster could have invested her story in: hire an artist and employ a game company to make LightNight LarkBane a mobile game instead and make a pile of money from in-app purchases gating the spicy chapters behind DLC

the most interesting part of this book is literally the offhand mentions of humans. i care more about the humans in that world than any of the main characters which says alot.

I'm incapable of following even your summary of this book. My brain remembers some of the individual things you say, but it can't connect them. Someone call SCP and tell them we've found a new anti-meme.

The Boston Public Library currently has 536 ebook copies of Nightbane available to borrow on their website.530 are available.I wish I was exaggerating or being silly, but I am not.I'm guessing the publisher cut some kind of deal with libararies? Usually you would only see numbers like this when the BPL is pushing some sort of "commuity read" on their website. Which they're not for this.

OK from someone who has a tiny tiny tiiiiny bit of insight in the publishing industrie Night Bane was probably already finished and in line editing given the fast pace of publishing the books. If not is was written very fast and the author had probably no chance to even rework it. Yes the absence of editing is upsetting. And I kind of hate the first sentence. Does Alex want us to know death tastes bitter? 😅

"We're under a curse where if the king dies, we all die. This curse was placed in order to stop us from killing the king. We break it by killing the king." My brain is breaking listening to this.

There's a YA dystopian novel you might be interested in called "The Unwanteds." It's pretty different from the Hunger Games, so it might make for an interesting video.

If Isla got trapped in a magical coma and had to go on a Memory World-esque journey through the past she doesn't remember to try to solve a problem, that would've been cool. But alas...

Your reviews in those troubled times is a light in the lark

2 light 2 dark is the best title, don't change it.

petition for you to do an iron flame review (fourth wing 2)

I saw this book in the window of a bookstore. Funnily, the first thing I thought of was your Lightlark video.

I think a lot of people like Fourth Wing compared to Lightlark is because of the seemingly more mature approach to YA. Like there is no stupid or childish sounding stuff like a "starstick", "wildlings", "moonlings", or "starlings" in Fourth Wing. To me that sounds like something a 9 year old fantasy book about magic horses or something. Whereas the concept of dragons just seem more appealing and all of the rebellion stuff even though it is definitely not explore in any kind of way (authors just like to spit out the word "rebels" or "rebellion" to add some kind of tension even when it's not going anywhere plot-wise).

Glad that Aster is making "dumb plot twists" a staple in her literature lmao (great video, glad you're talking about this so I don't have to read

Is it just me Or why is Grim even attacking in the first place?

I love the way you frankly review books with just the right amount of snark. It's... Yes, the author is trying. She's not like EL James. I wish she would listen to some of the criticism though. Yes, some of it is due to the book not being advertised correctly/not enough pandering (though I see the criticism with the book not being properly advertised), but some of it was genuinely about her writing. I credit her for just wanting to do her own thing and sticking with it, but people also need to listen to constructive criticism to grow. Even if I didn't like Lightlark, I want authors to get better.

The only reasons why I haven't watched any of the multi-hourlong videos are because Lightlark's story doesn't appeal to me and I'm not a masochist. I think this is the shortest video I've seen relating to the book. At least James is having fun, so I might start watching those videos, starting with his.

I recently reread the Dispossessed recently, and it also does the alternating present and flashback thing well. The difference there is that it actually has a plot.

Thank you for the bad boy versus evil boy bit! That drives me bananas!

I don't known why, but whenever someone mentions Oro all I can picture is the Magic: The Gathering card "Oloro, Ageless Ascetic" and it's very distracting.

You are definitely right about light lark's lack of following in comparison to fourth wing. These two sequels came out close enough together, but i mostly see iron flame reviews despite author controversy or maybe because of it? Its not worth watching that many iron flame reviews to find out which it is.

The shadowhunter tv show was a massive success and was only cancelled due to a petty squabble between networks about episode count. It wasn’t a flop.

i feel bad for 2 light 2 lark tbh. iron flame is so much worse.

It's actually tragic that these books as bad as they are, because there are so many parts that could have been so cool in the hands of a better author. The imagery and aesthetics, for example, seem really interesting. Like, imagine the amazing visual art that could have come from it

Maybe the real light, was the one we larked along the way.

You should read Lauren Loscig's debut novel War Hour. It's a proper YA fantasy (with no smut). I read it and it was good but I think there are definitely things to talk about

honestly, if someone took the ideas in this series and the world building and built on that foundation, brought the sequel ideas into the main and had memory coming back be a recurrant theme, it could be a decent story. as it stands the sequel feels like its making stuff up, which is fine! but to best do that you go back over the first stuff and weave stuff back in you really need to have a solid idea of your world and its backstory to build *on* i honestly respect that shes trying to make it work

The getting each other’s power through love/marriage thing feels like a weird rip off of a concept in the Mirror Visitor series…

I feel like the issue was the author straight up lied to promote Lightlark (promising tropes and scenes that weren't there etc) and once word spread the hype died and all that's left is a few critics, most of which were likely so frustrated with the first book that barely anyone's going to come back for book 2

the way you pronounce Isla is the correct way you pronounce island in Spanish So you got that armor 🎉

R.L. Stine always tells his students to plan their books first. Outlining is important. Period!

I haven’t seen your videos in a bit till this. And omg the glow up! 🤩

Lol this is so cursed that there is already a second book - thanks for your sacrifice

Lightlark 2, Electric Boogaloo

Why is Grim attacking this stupid island(s) all of a sudden? And didn't they already break the curses?? How MANY fuckin curses are there??? And wasn't it a big point that Eesla avoided genocide of the Starlings via some plot convenience that I can't be arsed to remember, why are there only a hundred of them left now? lmao Thanks James, looking forward to 3 LIGHT 3 LARK

James Tooloes back to it again

literally didn't know there was a sequel until this video

This is a great birthday present for me!

I'm ngl I have a bit of a softspot for Lightlark as a Bad Book sort of thing. Like it's not good and the writing is sluggish and weird, but its endlessly funny to me!

I thought it was called “nightbang” and was choosing between several bad and inappropriate jokes about that, so you can imagine how distraught I was to realize that it was, in fact, nightbane. Which is stupid, sure, but not funny

Oh god, I'm looking forward to this...

With all these books, I have to wonder, where the fuck was the editor??????

Man I love your videos

I read both Lightlark and Night bane and liked them both. I made a bingo sheet for each book with tropes and plot points I expected to happen and it just made the reading experience fun. There where definitely parts where I felt like I lost brain cells, but to be honest I'd read the rest of the series because they are just fun to read because of how bad they are.

It’s a matter of time before Lightlark: Tokyo Drift

2 Light 2 Lark. Don't even need to watch, thumbs up.

Thanks James. These are great

Great video, great title (also great other title ideas in the comments, I actually had to watch 10 Minutes of the video twice because I couldn't stop laughing and therefore missed what you said)!

I've looked forward to this!!

"Instead of having the character be hated for something that they are have them be hated for something that they did" Like in Chicken Little, got it

funny title! i see a lot of comments mentioning it but literally clicked just for that lmaoo

thank you for your sacrifice

Finally finished reading through this on my channel so i can finally watch this! For some reason i wanted to go into that mess blind...

I too came here to say I love your title lol

I can only think of Kit Harington singing “Wildlin’” to Rose Leslie in that Cold Play musical for ‘Game of Thrones’

It's only been two weeks since the release!? Damn I thought it was a good month or two

I'm only 20 seconds in but that was an amazing intro.

I really hope krimson Rogue does this book too, if only to see him squirm. :D

The title of the video is too good omg

if memory serves right, isn't Isla like literally 19 or 20??? she's married???? to a 500 something year old guy??? she went on like several quests with Grim all before the first book??? jeez girl I'm exhausted for you.

12:41 This is consistent with everyone else's names.

lol nice one James

Why do you have a knife?

You actually are pronouncing Isla name correct per the author's saying it in one of interviews.

I recently went through an experience like this one. I have written 4000 words about everything I hate about a book that I am not even half way through.

On the leopard companion: Why there isn't a Bem-te-vi animal companion, or idk a monke? Why are all animal companions snakes (uncool, no limbs and usually with sneaky evil people), dogs (dog good, but very generic), catty creatures (from smilodon to a kitten, they all are the same but in different scales) or dragons (COOL, but people for some reason don't know how yo write dragons for some reason). Why not a fucking parrot that goes around screaming bloody murder to your enemies? An elefant to smash your foes and ride on the way of Rome? An monitor lizard with a bigass tail, just so the MC has a hard time keeping it alive? I still feel the most optimal option is a monke. They have thumbs, so they go bonk. They are jacked up, so their bonk hurts a lot. They are intelligent enough so you can talk with them using sign language.

i just wanna add onto the point of people not noticing this book came out: the lightlark WIKI (im on there because i like making changes to the worlds of fantasy books and i did not remember a single detail about anything) has not gotten the cover for the second book on the site for comparison: warrior cats, an interest whose BEST descriptor is "niche" has the cover for a book that will be out next year on the site. did even?? the fans stop caring????

if you ever think your plot isn't good enough, remember this series

I think the only make to way money is writing a shit book, when was the last time any good book made money?

ancient Greeks used lead pipes to make something akin to primitive showers

I forgot oro existed...

Why is this man waving a knife at me while talking about a magic princess

Pain

The lightlark Krimson Rogue Video is very good if you are interested in knowing precisely what wasnt working with that book and you have a few hours

I wrote my first full book when I was 14. It lacked character arcs, the romance was weak, and it was a pretty dense read. However, since I had been planning it for two years prior, it definitely made more sense than this

19:56 i can explain the charm thing. So if my memory serves me right, you can spend your life energy to put an aspect of your power into a charm. Isla's father had an extra ability that allowed him to negate curses. Since he was grim's general, her father made the charm for grim.

Supportive comment. Regardless, it's my hope that our kind host, one day, deems fit to sample anything at all by R.A Salvatore. Maybe "Homeland" specifically. But until then, I will Like and Listen.

Most big screen adaptations also fail miserably because Hollywood can't keep to the plots of the books.