Fresh Fridays: Starside (#1) by Alex Aster

Fresh Fridays: On Friday, I review a brand new series (ie. only has one book released so far) to see if the series is worth keeping up with. Here is this week’s offering:

Starside Series

Other books planned to be in the series:

Synopsis for Starside (from Goodreads):

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…

Author: Alex Aster
Series: Starside
# of Books: 2 (Full Reading Order Here)
Book Order: Chronological
Complete?: No
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Action, Romance
Heat Rating: unknown
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Date: March 2026 – ongoing
Source & Format: Public Library–Audiobook

Disclaimer: I stopped reading Starside at 44% (middle of Chapter 20). Find out why below…

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I have a bit of a love-hate thing going on with Alex Aster’s Lightlark series. I love the premise, hate its current execution. So when I saw that she was writing her first “adult romantasy” series, I wanted to give it a fair shot and see if I would enjoy this more.

What I Liked:

–The Premise–

I liked the idea of a Hunger Games for the Gods as it seems like a fresh romantasy setting in a trending world filled with fae and dragons.

Ironically: the premise here becomes the ultimate mashup of every romantasy novel currently on the market. But I can forgive that if I find its delivery engaging…which leads me to

What I Didn’t Like:

–Excessively Long & Repetitive–

I was hoping the Culling would be more like the Hunger Games itself where there would be non-stop action as Aris battled her way to securing a spot to the final. Instead, it morphed into an adventure story filled with repetitive narration from Aris as she made stupid mistake after stupid mistake. I felt like I was rereading the same chapter over and over. And so I found myself no longer being engaged in the story.

–Lack of Side Character Development–

As an avid reader of “survival game” stories, I know better than to get attached to any side characters when they can be at the risk of death at any time. But I still want to feel that attachment. Everyone here just seemed so one-dimensional and that shouldn’t have been the case when I was nearly halfway through.

Will I Finish It?

Nope. I was starting to see this morph into Lightlark where we use 50 pages to get a point across when it could have been summed up in 5. I don’t like unnecessarily long novels and this fit that mold perfectly. The idea of spending another 10 hours listening to this book drone on was unappealing.