Book Review: Starside by Alex Aster
Published: March 31, 2026
Series: Starside #1
Genres: Adult // Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Open Door)
Quick Thoughts: I really wanted to love Starside. Unfortunately, the characters and writing felt very YA for an adult debut, and the plot felt like mostly filler with weird, unbalanced pacing. Writing clarity was a recurring issue and everything felt too convenient and forced. The enemies-to-lovers romance didn't land for me either.
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What is Starsideabout?
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. 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…
Starside Review
I had a lot of fun with the first couple of books in Alex Aster's Lightlark series before it started losing direction, so I picked up her adult debut Starside hoping she had matured as a writer. I really wanted to love this but unfortunately, I think it suffers from a lot of the same issues that Lightlark had.
Plot & Pacing
Like I mentioned, this is her adult debut. However, the characters, their behavior, and the writing felt very YA. The tone and vibe are actually quite similar to Lightlark if you remove the spice scene. Plot-wise, this is probably the first book I've read where the first in the series is mostly filler. By 70-ish percent, I started wondering when the plot was going to pick up. I have enjoyed books where most of the plot was a drawn out quest, but strong character and relationship development filled in for the lack of constant action (one of my faves Warrior, Princess, Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer comes to mind). That was not the case here.
The pacing was weird and unbalanced. Battle scenes and the single spice scene went on forever, but the big thing we were working towards the entire book was handled in two sentences. Similarly, crazy reveals were breezed through with barely a reaction from the characters.
Writing
Writing clarity was also a recurring issue. I found myself stumbling over unclear sentences and losing track of where characters were during scenes, which was the same problem I had with all the Lightlark books. On top of that, everything felt too convenient and predictable. People and things poofing in and out exactly when needed made the story feel very forced.
Romance
The romance was a miss for me. Enemies-to-lovers needs to be a two way street, in my opinion. It becomes clear why Aris hates Raker, but Raker’s hatred of her is less personal because he seems to hate everyone and pushes people away. Because we don’t get an explanation from Raker until the end, I thought he was insufferable and cruel in a way that felt unjustified. Lastly, there's no gradual development between them so the confession of love was pretty jarring when it happened.
So, should you read Starside?
That cliffhanger was wild though, so I'll likely pick up the next book just to find out how everything gets resolved. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend but if you loved Lightlark or enjoy a broody, closed-off MMC, Starside might still be worth a shot.
Check out this review on Goodreads or Storygraph.
Happy reading!
Kim
Starside FAQs
Some of the answers may be spoilers if you haven’t read it already. Proceed with caution!
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Potential spoilers ahead ⚠️
Blood/Violence
Murder
Death
Torture
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Potential spoilers ahead ⚠️
Enemies to Lovers
Reluctant allies to lovers
Forced proximity
Only one bed/cave
One horse
Revenge plot
Hidden secret/identity
Deadly competition/quest
Broody, merciless MMC
Prophecy
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Yes! Starside is the first book in a new series. Alex Aster has already finished writing the second book, which is titled Starscythe.
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Starside is a 3🌶️ or open door. That means we’re present for the spice scene but it’s not described in explicit detail.
There is one spice scene near the 90% mark in chapter 42.
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There is one spice scene in Starside near the 90% mark in chapter 42.
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Alex Aster has already finished writing the second book, which is titled Starscythe.
The release date hasn’t been announced yet.