Alex Aster on writing Starside in secret for years: 'I didn't want any limits'

May 18, 2026 · 19:42

The Lightlark author sat down at Spotify Studios to discuss her new revenge quest fantasy, duet narration, and why she thinks romantasy is the gateway back to reading.

Alex Aster spent years building a fanbase with Lightlark, the fantasy series that turned her into a BookTok phenomenon. But the whole time, she was working on something else. Starside, her new adult fantasy, was written in secret, a project she guarded so she could push past the boundaries of YA. The book is a revenge quest soaked in female rage, centered on a woman in her twenties who knows exactly who she is and exactly who she wants dead.

Aster told Olivia Ponton at Spotify Studios that she kept Starside quiet because she did not want limits. She wanted to write a character who was not finding herself but learning to crack open a heart hardened by fury. The dedication reads, "For all those phoenixes out there keep rising from the ashes." Ares, the protagonist, is that phoenix. She has a sad backstory. She gets knocked down. She gets back up. Repeat.

"I was writing Lightlark for so many years, and I always wanted to write more romance or more more, you know, like an adult experience. And so I had Starside in the back of my mind, and I I've been writing it in secret for many years, and I didn't tell anyone." Alex Aster

Starside vs. Stormside: a quest built on sword magic and mortal stakes

The world Aster built splits in two. Starside is the land of magic, immortals, gods. Stormside is post-apocalyptic, where mortals fight for scraps of magic. Every fifty years, giant gates open and fifty mortals are allowed through on a deadly quest. Survive, bring back a cup of magic, use it to heal or gain wealth or transform your corner of Stormside. Most do not survive.

Ares is not going for magic. She is going for revenge.

The magic system runs on swords. On Stormside, metal matters. Copper shatters against silver. On Starside, there are god swords that glow and grant powers, and you claim them based on your strength. Claim a powerful sword and you become a target. Kill the wielder, take the blade. Aster also invented the beast tree, a massive structure you climb, then jump off, hoping one of the dragons or helm hawks circling below catches you. If not, you are crushed. Aster wrote what she wanted to live in.

Ponton asked why romantasy is resonating with Gen Z. Aster pointed to Twilight, The Hunger Games, Divergent. A generation discovered reading through those books, then stopped for a decade. Romantasy brings back the fast pace of YA but layers in adult romance, adult stakes, an adult lens. Enemies-to-lovers lets you explore things that would never fly in real life. Aster insists her enemies truly hate each other. Harlan Riker, the deadly knight, and Ares have history. They want each other dead. That is the starting point.

"It only takes one good book to make a lifelong reader." Alex Aster

Duet narration and the audiobook as portal

Aster requested duet narration for Starside from the start. She wanted Harlan Riker to have a voice. Anthony Palmini, who voiced Grim in the Lightlark audiobooks, plays Riker. Aster said hearing the actors perform her words felt like watching a movie. She cried listening to clips of the audiobook even though she wrote every sentence. The intonation shifted meaning. The emotion hit differently.

Ponton brought up Spotify's Page Match feature, which lets you scan where you are in a physical book and jump to that spot in the audiobook. Aster called it a game changer for long books. You can travel light, pick up reading in a waiting room, switch formats without losing your place. She thinks audiobooks lower the barrier for intimidated readers. A 500-page book feels less daunting when you can listen while cooking dinner or walking on a treadmill.

Aster said she swapped scrolling in the morning for reading and felt calmer. Ponton agreed. She accidentally left her phone across a hotel room one night, read instead, woke up without it nearby, and kept reading. Twenty minutes turned into an hour. No notifications, no work emails, no anxiety spiral. Just a book.

The bet that one good book changes everything

Aster has heard the same story at book events: someone had not read for ten years, picked up Lightlark, now they have read a hundred books. She thinks Spotify recommending a book could be that gateway for someone who has not read for fun in five years. She knows how much books have done for her own life. She writes exactly what she wants to read.

Ponton's sister had not touched a book in seven years. Family events turned into a running bit about not letting Ponton talk about books. The sister finally picked up Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. She got it. Ponton sent her a list. Lightlark was on it. The idea was to give her a main character who gets knocked down and comes back stronger.

"I just wanted not necessarily a character finding themselves, cuz she's in her 20s, like she kind of knows who she is, but it is like a journey of um her being like so full of rage, and then kind of learning how to open her heart up a little bit to love." Alex Aster

Aster compared every book to a portal. You are in that world and nothing else needs to exist. When she is going through something tough, a book is the best medicine. Ponton said she tells friends having anxiety attacks to read five pages. It works. You forget what you are going through because you are in a magical world with creatures and you do not have time for anxiety in there.

Magical tattoos, god swords, and the beast tree

One character Ares meets, Zara, has a silver tattoo running down her neck and spine. When she grips the hilt, it becomes a real sword. The metal is made into ink. She also has a blade on her finger that comes off when she gestures. She is a dagger sister. Aster wants a magical tattoo of a sword that becomes a sword. She wrote what she wants.

Aster described Starside in three words: enchanted, dangerous, phoenix. There are ball scenes and fairy tale dresses. There is also Harlan Riker, who is scary and deadly and hated. True enemies-to-lovers. They actually want each other dead. The whole book is transformative in the way Ares learns to shed anger so she can be happy. The dedication is not decorative. It is the arc.

Aster hopes readers finish Starside wanting the next book but also feeling like they took their own journey. She cried writing it because you go through it with Ares. There are magical moments in a deadly world. Ares keeps rising. Aster hopes readers find their own inner strength by the end. She wrote a revenge quest. She wrote female rage. She wrote it in secret for years so she could write it without limits. Now it is a portal anyone can walk through.

Featured guests

Alex Aster Olivia Ponton

Topics & books

Audiobooks Female Rage Fourth Wing King of Greed Lightlark Romantasy Starside

Hi angels, welcome back to Booked N' Busy

As you guys know, we've already had the queen here, miss Alex Aster, but we're here today to talk about her newest book, which is called Starside

And okay, so my first question, obviously you built like a huge fan base with Lightlark, i.e. me

Also, I found her through Summer in the City, we were talking about that earlier

How does it feel to kind of like transform into this new kind of genre? Yeah, I think cuz I was writing Lightlark for so many years, and I always wanted to write more romance or more more, you know, like an adult experience

And so I had Starside in the back of my mind, and I I've been writing it in secret for many years, >> [laughter] >> and I didn't tell anyone

And so I just didn't want any limits to what I wanted to explore in the story

And so yeah, I just wanted not necessarily a character finding themselves, cuz she's in her 20s, like she kind of knows who she is, but it is like a journey of um her being like so full of rage, and then kind of learning how to open her heart up a little bit to love

And so I I I knew I wanted to write a quest, and I don't know, I just wanted to go more beyond what I wrote in Lightlark. >> I feel like female rage is like >> Yeah, oh, female rage

Starside has [laughter] so much female rage

But I feel like that's like the epitome of Gen Z

It's like I feel like we hold on to a lot of mental things. >> yeah, and it's like a revenge quest

Like she she's going on the quest not for magic, she wants to get revenge

And so but then you see these parts of her that she's not as monstrous as like she thinks she might be, and she's really kind, and she cares about other people

And so her her journey um she's going on a quest, but obviously she also has like an inner journey that she's going through, too

Mhm, the personal arc

Well, going into that, I feel like we can relate to the characters that we are reading as consumers

Reading is having such a like cultural moment right now, in my opinion, especially with Gen Z, and that's like what I'm promoting so much with my friends even

I'm like Read this book

It [laughter] will change the way that you you think about life or if you have friends going through a breakup or whatever it may be

It's like you don't understand how much a book can shift your thought process I would say

So how do you hope that people I guess what do you hope that people resonate from this book and learn? Yeah. >> Besides female rage

I think so the dedication is like for all those phoenixes out there keep rising from the ashes and Ares in this book is a phoenix in many ways like she she has like a whole like kind of sad backstory but um she's had to kind of like fish herself out of the ashes and like rise up again and again

And so I think just finding the strength even if you're going through something really hard or it feels like um it's the end and you can't get back up like just just keep getting back up is kind of um the process that like Ares learns and there's always something else out there and there's more to your story and so I just hope like I cried so much writing this book because you really go through it with Ares like she goes through a lot but there's also magical moments and and in this deadly world of Starside like you see like magical balls and like beautiful dresses but also like deadly creatures that are trying to kill you

So it's like it's kind of you see both sides of it um but through it all she just keeps rising up and rising up and I hope that readers end the book kind of having gone through that journey with her and and kind of finding their own inner strength too

Wow

Well, that's what I hope to learn from >> [laughter] >> Why do you think like romantasy specifically are resonating with such a young audience right now? >> Yeah

I think that like 10 or 20 years ago obviously like Twilight, The Hunger Games, Divergent were so big and so many of us discovered our our love of reading through those books and then a lot of people just stopped reading for the last like decade

And so I think romantasy is this amazing blend of a really fast pace that you find in in YA books but it has the adult romance and the adult like stakes and a story through like an adult lens

So, I think it really is an amazing escape, especially right now

People want to live in another world

You want to like be in the magical world, but you also want to follow a strong character who's going through it, um but still, you know, rising again

And yeah, I think that enemies-to-lovers romance is like also like huge cuz you get to explore things that in real life would never [laughter] be okay

But in fantasy, yeah, these characters go through like the most extreme circumstances and then they still manage to find love

They still manage to find happiness and magic

And I think that we all want to read books like that

Yeah. >> I agree cuz that's how I am

I always escape my >> [laughter] >> I escape my reality and just like pop over. >> Yeah, and nothing I like I don't know about you

Like obviously like I also love Tik Tok

I love like watching movies and TV shows, but nothing gets me out of my head more than a a good book

Like that's the only thing that will just quiet my mind and like just swallow my existence for days

And so, I really think of every book I buy as like a portal

Like you're you're in that world and nothing else needs to exist

Especially like when I'm going through something tough, nothing like a book

Like that's like the best medicine. >> [laughter] >> Whenever I say I'm having an anxiety attack, I'm like if I read five pages of a book, >> Yeah

I weirdly will just really calm down because I forget what I'm going through because I'll be like in a magical world with creatures and I'm like, "I don't have time for my anxiety in here." Exactly

I know

I started like swapping scrolling on my phone in the morning to I just opening a book

And I'm so much calmer

Um I still scroll like later >> [laughter] >> But at least like not starting the day with anxiety

I noticed that I started putting my phone Well, this wasn't even like on purpose, but my I was staying at a hotel and the charger like the outlet wasn't near the bed

So, I had to plug my phone in across the room, but I let my cable next to my bed and I was like, "Okay, I'll read before I go to bed." And then I woke up and I was like, "My phone isn't here." >> [laughter] >> Okay

So, I just started reading and then, you know, 20 minutes turned into an hour

And then I was like, "Oh, wow

Like this is instead of being bombarded in the morning with all these notifications from teams and from your friends and from whomever about hangout or work that needs to be done

You're like living in a magical >> Yeah, I know

No, so it's like I can't get enough of these stories and like I write exactly what I want to read like always

This is just like Starside specially is exactly what I wanted to read

So I wrote it and so I think I love discovering books like this too

Like I love I always want to be transported and there's so many amazing books coming out um this year like last year

So yeah, I'm just really excited that people get to finally read the story that's been in my head for years

Okay, well speaking of the world that Starside is built upon

Can you give us a little background on on the actual world >> itself and like what created like we were looking at the map and the inner workings of the world

Like kind of what inspired those like main places? >> So there's um Starside and that's the land of magic and immortals and the gods live on Starside and then there's Stormside and that's the side where mortals like fight to the death for like little scraps of magic

Like so it's like not a great place to be like kind of like post-apocalyptic

And then there's like these magical giant gates between them and they only open every 50 years and then 50 mortals are allowed to like go through a deadly quest across Starside to try to bring back like a cup of magic and you can use like little drops of magic for like different things like you can heal, you can like have wealth, you can like you you know, transform a part of um Stormside but you have to survive and come back

And so that's the deadly quest that Eris is trying to go on um but she doesn't want magic, she wants revenge

And so I just kind of wanted to have a world where like one side is this beautiful magical place that you've heard legends about like for for your entire life but it's also super dangerous and you're a mortal in a world of immortals and and magic and powers and then sword magic is a huge part of it

So the metal of your sword really matters. on Stormside, even though they don't have magic, if you have like a copper sword and it goes against like a silver sword, the copper blade will like just shatter

Like, yeah, so so there the magic that's left on Storm side is like metal cuz it comes from the ground, but then on Star side you have magic swords that have power and it has to be claimed by both sides

So, if you are like, you know, like you're a really strong person, like you will be able to claim an amazing like powerful sword

And so, Aris claims a sword, but it makes her a big target because if you kill her, you get her sword

So, it's like a good thing to have a powerful sword, but also it's a target Yeah, not a wow, not a great thing

Very immersive. >> [laughter] >> What is it like? Well, obviously if since your story line is so immersive, what's it like to get it to have it be an audiobook form? How does that So, I from the beginning asked my publisher if they would please do a duet narration because I wanted His name is Harlan Riker

He's like the enemy of this book. >> [clears throat] >> And I just wanted him to have a voice

And so, Anthony Palmini is like plays like Harlan Riker

And he's so good

And so, and he actually voice Graham in the Lightlark books, so that's how I discovered him and he did such a great job

And so, I just wanted like the lines that he says, you hear from his voice

And so, I really I really wanted to have that because that's what I kind of like listening to

So, I'm grateful that my publisher did it

So, it is a duet narration and it was really important to me to have voices that to me sounded like them

Yeah

Funny random story about audiobooks

I was taking a flight from Switzerland to LA cuz I wanted to download Anna Huang's third book in the King of Sins series

I think it's called King of Greed

Okay

I downloaded it all in German

Oh, no

And I bought it in German and then I was just like, "Well, now what?" I was like, "Do I just learn German?" >> [laughter] >> I was like, "Question mark? I'm not going to know what they're saying." Wait, that's amazing that they have it in German

They have it in like I think German and Spanish

Oh my god, that's cool

I love podcasts and I love audiobooks now, too, but I just feel like I don't know

When you have the characters but they have their own voice

It just makes a difference, especially cuz like Harlan Riker is like super scary

So, like [laughter] he I wanted him to have like a deep, like menacing voice

Oh my gosh

Okay, so Spotify is clearly such like a destination for people to consume their audiobooks on

How do you hope that people have a different experience with listening versus reading? I honestly hope that someone who reads it like with a physical copy will go back and listen to it and find something new because at least with me I I got sent some clips of the audiobook and I was listening to them and even though I wrote every single word, it does sound different

Like they almost make it their own because when I'm reading it in my head or out loud when I'm editing, I put a different intonation on words

So, like even if they're saying the same sentence, the way they say it um really makes a difference and I actually there was a section I was listening to and I started crying

Like the uh voice actor is so talented and the way it wasn't just reading it

Like she you could tell she was putting her entire emotion into it

It was like almost like watching a movie um just like listening to it

And so, I think that if you've read it in a physical copy, you should maybe try listening to it as well because it did feel like a totally different experience

Like very immersive experience because you feel like you're there with the characters

How does it feel that you're reaching a new audience through I mean clearly I'm young

I'm 23

I'm sure there's other [laughter] like young readers who are also kind of discovering your book through this

I'm really excited because it only takes one good book to make a lifelong reader

And so, I know that there's so many people have come up to me like at book events and they're like, "Oh, I I hadn't read for 10 years and I picked up Lightlark and now I've read like a hundred books." And like if Spotify is recommending a book and someone's like, "I haven't read a book for fun in like 5 years." If that's their like gateway into it, it's so cool because you're you're reaching just a new um consumer that is not the person who would go buy it, you know, at a store

And so, I'm just really excited because I know how much books have done for my life

Like, it it really is life-changing

It really adds so much like experience and like richness and just emotion to a life

And it it helps you learn about yourself

It's just so magical

And in my life, truly, just as a reader, has been so transformed by reading all of these amazing books have come out in the last few years

So, to have someone discover that, I'm just so excited for them

Like, welcome to like I'm sure you like have friends that you're like, "There's nothing more satisfying than having someone that's like, 'I don't like to read.'" And then you give them a book you love and they're like, "Oh my gosh." And they're like, "I bought the whole series

I'm like 10 books in." And so, I just I just know that honestly anyone who's there listening to music, try try a book

Like, you're going to be obsessed. >> [laughter] >> Even when you're like walking on the treadmill or you're going on a run or like those kind of mindless things like I feel like I was listening to your audiobook Late Lark through What was I doing? I was like cleaning my apartment or like taking a shower or whatever it may be, laying on the beach

And it's like using that as a substitute to music for me is way less overstimulating

Actually, Spotify came out with this new feature called, I think it's called page match, I'm pretty sure

And what you can do is the audiobook will be on Spotify like a playlist

And then you like scan where you're at with the book and then it will go to that moment in the audiobook

If that makes any Is that making sense? For me, personally, as someone who like I'll want to listen to the book while I'm cooking dinner

But then after dinner, I want to read this book back

That has been a personal game changer for me because normally I have to be like scrolling through the thing being like, "No, I think I I think I'm past this chapter this that." How do you think that's also going to help with like the immersive aspect of reading? I just think it's great

What's your thoughts? No, I think like I love reading really long books because they truly like swallow your entire life

Like, you live in that world

It's really hard to like travel with it sometimes

So, the idea that you could kind of like go back to where you are and in the fact that even if you're like in a waiting room, you could like just, you know, get some reading done

Um, it's it's so special and audiobooks have really opened up like an entire new world of someone who might be like intimidated by like, oh, I could never like read a 500-page book, but then you do and and I think it's it's amazing

So, I'm really grateful that um all of these new readers are coming to this space because [laughter] there's so many like cool stories waiting

My sister's not a reader, she's 26

I don't think she's touched a book in 7 years and obviously I never shut up about books [laughter] literally ever and especially at family events I'm like trying to get my cousins and my uncles and everyone to like pick up this book and it's kind of like a running bit in my family that they're like, "Oh my god, don't talk [laughter] to her so start talking about books." And my sister finally picked up Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and she was reading and she was like, "Oh my god, I get it now." And then so I sent her a list of books I put Lightlark on it

I was like, "These are kind of like in the same realm but will change the way that you view yourself and I feel like she could really use a main character to look up to that's strong and that's getting pushed down and you know, similarly to what you're saying in Lightlark like you just constantly get knocked down but you have to like have that moment where you're like, "I'm going to come back and come strong from this." >> Reading is like transformative and like you've seen cuz you are part of BookTok like it's not just like, "Oh, a casual." Like we all get so invested in these worlds like people get tattoos

You go to conventions

You meet friends and there's communities out there like like BookTok that um will like tell you like, "Okay, now you have to try this." And so it's just a never-ending like really cool community of readers and I agree with you, it's really special that when you read a book, it's not just like you're going to a portal but you feel changed by the end of it and honestly like a lot of people will like come up to me as an author like I have books like that have done this to me like you feel stronger at the end of it because you almost like go through things with the character

Um, and so yeah, I especially because this book has such an internal journey with Ares and and she really has to be strong and find her strength and also like kind of shed some of the anger that she's had so that she can like be happy

Um I just can't wait for for people to read [laughter] it

If you could give this book like a playlist or a song, I feel like maybe like I love Taylor Swift, but like >> [laughter] >> Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? Like that that's a good one

I I listened to like so much Taylor Swift during the writing this

So like for for Lilac, like The Prophecy is like such a like I was listening to that a lot while I was writing Skyshade

Um and then like for Serpent & Dove, like Welcome to New York

Like yeah, I feel there's just like a song for every everything

Or like The Weathering Heights, like the all the romance like the that like soundtrack is like so moody

Like like that or like the you know on TikTok like there's like all those songs that are kind of related to like fantasy or like knights and like What's the one by Alex Warren? The Ordinary. >> yeah, yeah

Yeah, that like BookTok has like adopted these songs

Like any of those like We're on BookTok

Like that like You know, like as that's how I find my recommendations. >> So if you could describe this book Starside in three words, Do do do

Like enchanted cuz it's it's so magical

Like I love dresses and and magical swords and like fairy tales

Like there's a ball scene, but it's also like the second word like dangerous

Harley Riker is dangerous

Like he's a he's a deadly knight

Like he's scary and she hates him

Like they have a history and they hate each other

And so it's like it's very much like enemies-to-lovers, but true enemies-to-lovers

They actually really hate each other and they want each other dead. [laughter] So that dangerous

And then this isn't like a descriptor, but like phoenix

Like that's like that the the whole book and and Ares as a character and everything you learn about this world, it is like very much like transformative, I guess

Yeah

Wow

Okay, last question that I'm just generally curious about [laughter] and I want to know more about is the sword tattoo that you were talking about in the back there with the main character. >> Can you explain both of those little quirks that you're telling me earlier? >> so it's not the main character, but it's a character she meets along the way cuz the swords are such a huge part of the magic system

And so there's one character, her name is Zara, and she's like a magical inn

And so she has like a silver tattoo down her neck and down her spine

And when she goes like this like grip the hilt, it becomes a real sword

So like she can So it's And it's this beautiful like tattoo

And so the metal is like made into ink

And then she also has like a little blade on her finger that if she goes like this like it kind of like comes off because she's like a dagger sister

And so she has other like friends that are also like dagger sisters

And just little things like that are things that I want like I want a magical tattoo of a sword that like becomes a sword

That would be so [laughter] useful

Yeah, just like come on

Take out the sword

Yes. >> [laughter] >> I got it

I got a magical sword right here

Yeah, we could get the tattoos and be dagger sisters

Yeah

I I love this genre

I'm a reader

Like I put everything that I want to read like inside this book

So there's like the enemy silvers, the magic system

I wanted a book that people could fall into and just lose themselves in

Um and hopefully finish it First of all, wanting the next book completely, but also like feeling like they also took a journey and they they were on their own quest

Wow

Are there any other like weird not weird, but like quirks of like magic that are like we've never really read in a book before? >> Oh, there there's like god swords

So there there's only a few of them and they glow and they have powers

And there's also something called the beast tree, which is one of my favorite parts of the I saw that on the map. >> on the map

Yeah, it's like this massive tree that you climb

Like there's stairs on the outside

And if you reach the top and you have to like jump off, there's a ring of beautiful creatures like a dragons and like helm hawks and like a bunch of other like fancy um creatures with wings

And you have to just like jump off the tree and hope that one gets out of the ring and catches you

And if it doesn't like you get crushed, you're dead. [laughter] Like So it's like a big risk, but that's something that I'm like I want to Yeah, I want a silver dragon

I want to jump off a giant tree

I wrote what I want to live in

I I wrote what I wanted to read

So, I'm so excited. >> Well

Well

Thanks for answering my questions. >> [laughter] >> I'm sorry

I'm excited to read it. >> so good to talk to you

Thank you so much

Yay! Thank you so much for watching

You can listen to the audiobook now on Spotify

I hope you love it. >> [music] [music]