Lightlark

Lightlark is a fantasy romance by the American writer Alex Aster, published in 2022. It is the first book of a series and is written for young adult readers.

The island of Lightlark appears once every hundred years to hold the Centennial, a deadly contest that only the rulers of the six realms are invited to enter. The invitation is a summons as much as an invitation, with victory and ruin held out together, and it offers those rulers a final chance to break the curses that have afflicted their realms for centuries. Each of them has something to hide, and each realm's curse is different and cruel; the rule that governs the whole contest is that one ruler must die before the curses can be destroyed. Isla Crown is the young ruler of Wildling, a realm of temptresses cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with, whose people are feared and despised and who are counting on her to end their suffering by winning. To survive the Centennial she has to lie, cheat and betray, at the same time as her own feelings complicate everything.

The novel belongs to the romantic fantasy published for young adult readers, and its sequel continued the same story.