I seriously love the Lightlark series by Alex Aster, so it’s only natural to want to read about the POVs of Isla’s love interests, right?

Grim and Oro, what a magnificent display that is. The sprayed edges are insane but the cover and the artwork in the book? It blew my mind! I’ve never thought of Oro being the young god he looked like on the cover but I did kind of imagined Grim looking like he did, weird right? Since they’re about the same age.

Whilst reading the Lightlark series I always kind of leaned more towards Grim in the beginning but later on I switched sides to Oro, so his side was the first I wanted to read. Reading Oro and taking in all that has been done to him, a father that absolutely ignored his son and only had eyes for him when it was revealed that Oro could guild.

His mother having a soft spot for Oro but at her whit’s end about how to keep him occupied and his powers in check, she sends him to other isles to master their skills, at moonling he encounters Calder. A young man that everyone seems to fear, a man that lost his father at the hand of sunlings King (oro’s father), Oro feared Calder would want him dead for what his father did but that didn’t seem to be the case. They became fast friends and Calder even moved back to the Sunling castle.

It isn’t until the war is in full swing that Grim gets in the picture, giving himself up to being captured after Grim’s father killed both the Sunling king and queen.

I really don’t want to spoil a lot, so I will say this. Oro has been a mess, he has been questioning everyone’s intentions always thinking the worst of said people even when he meets Isla, but reading his side of the story you get to understand why he is behaving the way he is.

Grim, oh how I loved him in the beginning because of his broodiness… Reading how Grim grew up, with 31 other siblings that never gave him the light of day. Well one did, his sister, and they went on all kinds of hunts for trouble. Being caught was nasty business because they would flay your skin where you stand. Pain is the most powerful emotion, so pain is what you’ll feel.

His father has been looking on from the sidelines during the war when Grim did the dirty work. Thousands of lives gone, taken by his blade, only when Sunling was at their lowest did his father come to show, so he could off the king and queen. After that happens and his father is looking rather ghostly does Grim understand something isn’t right… His father is cursed and won’t have long to live still.

Grim let’s himself get taken by Sunling to he can locate some kind of stone, to help his father. But really? He enjoys the time of being secluded, not having to participate in war, dirtying his blade… Taking demands from his father. It’s almost some kind of freedom. After months of being in a cel he even gets to stay at the castle and Oro and Grim seem to be getting along nicely. That is until a curse has been cast and the king of Sunling dies by it and the rest of Lightlark has to abide by a certain regime if they want to stay alive.

Every centennial is a failure, until Isla comes along.

I absolutely loved this book so I’m giving it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars!