Starside (2026) is a romantasy novel by Alex Aster, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Lightlark saga. Aster is a notable figure in the BookTok literary phenomenon, where her viral social media pitch for Lightlark catapulted her from a rejected author to a bestselling sensation. As the first installment in a new series, Starside builds on the author’s established brand of high-stakes fantasy, fast-paced action, and romantic tension. The novel is set in a world divided between a barren mortal realm and a lush immortal one. The story follows Aris, a blacksmith’s apprentice who enters the Questral, a deadly competition held every 50 years. While other mortals fight for a chance to win life-altering magic, Aris’s true goal is to reach the immortal land of Starside and kill the gods who destroyed her family and her village years ago.

Starside is a romantasy centered on a deadly competition in which challengers cross into the magical realm of Starside in search of a powerful goblet capable of granting miracles. It explores Revenge as a Motivation for Survival, Building Authentic Connection Through Vulnerability, and The Societal Harms of Greed as Aris’s quest expands beyond personal vengeance into a struggle over the future of both realms.

This guide refers to the 2026 Avon first edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of graphic violence, physical abuse, sexual harassment, rape, pregnancy loss or termination, sexual content, cursing, and illness or death.

Plot Summary

In the land of Stormside, where magic has all but vanished, a blacksmith’s apprentice named Aris plans to enter the Questral, a deadly competition held every 50 years. While 50 mortals will be allowed into the magical realm of Starside to seek a goblet of magic, Aris’s true goal is vengeance: to kill the gods who burned her village of Silverside to the ground years ago. Her guardian, the blacksmith Stellan, who survived a past Questral, forbids her from going but cannot stop her. The first trial is simply to reach a stone platform in the town of Nightfell, a chaotic and murderous affair. Aris uses stealth to approach, but when she sees a young boy about to be killed by a king’s guard, she intervenes, revealing a dagger made of superior Starside steel that Stellan forged for her. Her dagger shatters the guard’s silver sword, instantly making her a target. She fends off multiple attackers, including the massive Pagnus Ender, whom she wounds before he corners her on the platform, promising to see her in the Culling. On the stone, she meets a fellow challenger, a red-haired girl named Kira. The final contender to arrive is Harlan Raker, the formidable and feared head of the king’s guard, who steps onto the platform unchallenged with his own legendary Starside steel sword.

After the trial, Aris returns to the forge to find Stellan dying. He was attacked by someone seeking her dagger, which is now gone. With his last breaths, he tells her to find an immortal named Vander Evren. Aris vows revenge on Stellan’s killer and joins the other challengers on a cart journey to the king’s castle. Alongside Kira and a quiet heir named Zane from House Sterling, she endures hardship and the taunts of the wealthy Cadoc Bolter. The next phase of the Culling begins when their carts are abandoned, forcing them to race through a deadly forest for a limited number of horses. Aris saves Kira from an attacker named Waldron, and they secure horses just as Harlan Raker kills Waldron, hurling his sword through the air to claim a mount for himself. At the king’s castle, the survivors attend a feast where the king offers them powerful silver swords in exchange for an oath to give him half of any magic they acquire. Aris refuses, leading to a tense exchange. That night, after overhearing a cryptic conversation between the king and Raker, she has a tense confrontation with the knight. The following morning, the final Culling trial begins: a race to the gates of Starside.

The race is a series of deadly traps. Aris survives an onslaught of archers before entering a vast, shifting labyrinth of thorns. Realizing Raker is the most likely to know the way, she follows his bloody path to the exit. Beyond the maze lies a graveyard forest where ancient swords are tangled in the trees. Here, Cadoc and Pagnus corner her. Cadoc breaks her titanium sword and reveals he possesses Stellan’s dagger, admitting he was the one who killed him. As Cadoc is about to deliver the killing blow, Aris desperately reaches out, and a powerful sword of Starside steel rises from a grave to claim her. Her new weapon makes her an even greater target, and her escape is complicated by a stampede. She finally reaches the bridge to the Starside gates, only for them to open and unleash beasts. Raker carves a path through them, and Aris discovers the creatures hunt by scent. Smearing herself and Kira in beast viscera, they navigate the chaos. Zane saves Aris from one of Cadoc’s men, securing her place as one of the final fifty to cross into the glimmering land of Starside.

Upon entering Starside, Aris, Kira, and Zane form a pact to survive together. They soon encounter immortal scholars who lure them to the Tower of Knowledge with promises of shelter, secretly planning to dissect them. Aris feigns illiteracy and tricks a scholar named Pelas into giving her access to the tower’s library, where she steals a journal containing a complete map of Starside. After creating a chaotic diversion, the trio escapes. They journey toward the Beast Tree, a place where they can claim flying creatures, but a vicious storm on a magical river leaves Kira gravely wounded. Honoring their pact that the quest must come first, Kira agrees to be sent back, but not before making Aris promise to deliver magic to her ailing sister, Anise. At the Beast Tree, Aris and Zane witness challengers leaping to their deaths, hoping to be claimed. Cadoc’s group is murdering successful jumpers and stealing their mounts. Cornered, Aris is forced to leap from the treetop. She is saved by a silver dragon that emerges from beneath the ground and bonds with her. Their partnership is short-lived; Cadoc attacks them, injuring her dragon and forcing Aris to send her away for her own safety while she flees into a forest set ablaze by Cadoc’s forces.

Hiding in a cave, Aris finds Raker. She brokers a reluctant alliance, offering her memorized knowledge of the map in exchange for his protection, and the two agree to travel together toward the Land of the Gods. That night, a demon disguised as her dead sister lures her from the cave into an ambush by nightmarish creatures. Raker saves her, and they escape by diving into a lake, where he pulls her from drowning. They travel onward, and Raker begins training her to wield her heavy sword. Their journey takes them through blighted lands where they are attacked by immortals serving the God of Death; Aris’s improved combat skills impress Raker, who intensifies her training. The truce is tested when Aris is bitten by a venomous silver snake. Raker saves her by sucking the poison from the wound but falls gravely ill himself. To save him, Aris performs an ancient ritual to summon Vander Evren. Vander reveals Stellan gave his own quest’s magic to save Vander’s people. He agrees to aid Aris’s quest to kill the gods and takes them to his castle, where Aris recovers. Vander hosts a grand ball, Heartfall, providing Aris an opportunity to secure alliances. Revealing her silver markings, she obtains oaths from several Great House heirs, including Lord Rodin, whose estate is nearest the Land of the Gods.

A recovered Raker confronts Aris at the ball, their animosity flaring into a tense, charged dance before he storms off. Vander provides Aris a special scabbard that prevents her sword from being summoned away from her. Aris and Raker portal to House Rodin, where a blacksmith confirms Stellaris is a godsword. Lord Rodin betrays them, revealing his allegiance to the God of Death, who is coming for them. Aris’s oath to Rodin renders her sword useless against him, but Raker, unbound by any oath, kills the lord and all his knights. Fleeing into a desert, they encounter a sand creature that forces them to relive their deepest traumas. Aris saves Raker from his own inner demons, and their fragile alliance deepens into a night of passion. The next morning, Aris awakens to find Raker and her sword gone. Left defenseless, she is attacked by other challengers but kills them. The Astral Queen appears, revealing Raker’s sword and hers were once a single, powerful blade that must not be reunited. Aris’s dragon returns to her, and she flies to the Land of the Gods.

In the gods’ domain, Aris claims her goblet of magic. She summons the God of Travels—the goddess who destroyed her village—and tricks her into a blood oath of non-violence before having her dragon devour the goddess whole. Before dying, the goddess reveals a secret: Killing the God of Death can bring Aris’s family back. Fueled by this new hope, Aris immediately summons the God of Death. She is teleported to a throne room where she finds Harlan Raker seated on the throne—he is, and always has been, the God of Death, having faked his demise centuries ago and used the Questral to regain his power. Enraged by his betrayal, Aris attacks him. He easily deflects her strikes. In a moment of vulnerability, she confesses her love for him, then stabs him through the heart with Stellaris. As death incarnate, he cannot be killed this way. He grins and tells her, “You’re going to need to try a little harder than that, Aris.” (493) Realizing their love allowed him to take her sword, she understands the reverse is also true and seizes his blade. With both halves of the legendary sword in her possession, she flees on her dragon. She races Raker to the gates of Stormside, which are closing for another 50 years. He catches her ankle just as she slips through, but her dragon intervenes, allowing her to escape. Raker is trapped in Starside while Aris returns to her own world, the two swords—and their wielders—now separated between realms.