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 one: vengeance.
3.5/5 stars – Had a fun time listening to this audiobook, though definitely see the parallels to other fantasy books and this isn’t entirely a unique story (at this point is it that surprising given how many books are released each year?). I’m glad I chose the audiobook, though, because I feel like it made the story easier to digest and the narrators were perfect.
I’ve only ever read Alex Aster’s book Summer in the City and I do feel like her writing has improved here. With both books, the writing is more YA if you remove the more graphic bits from the spicy scenes. Some of the dialogue is still straight cringey.
The major complaint with any enemies to lovers plot is that there never is the “enemy” part but I felt like this one was handled decently and the progression of their relationship made sense to me. I loved how the book ended and really sets up for an exciting next book in the series. I’ll probably give it a listen.