Starside by Alex Aster
In this episode of Being Bookish, I'm digging into the layers of Starside, the 2026 fantasy novel by Alex Aster. This book marks her first step into more adult romantasy after her original foray into the genre with the YA Lightlark series.
While there's plenty of talk online about the deadly competition framework and the familiar tropes in this book, I'm much more interested in tackling the online discourse and evaluating how well these elements are actually executed. I'll be exploring whether the heavy use of the enemies-to-lovers trope feels justified and looking closely at whether the…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.