Skyshade

Published in 2024, Alex Aster’s Skyshade is a fantasy romance novel and the third installment in The Lightlark Saga. The novel continues the journey of Isla Crown as she navigates the aftermath of a brutal battle and uncovers devastating truths about her destiny and the fate of her world. Set against a backdrop of magic, political intrigue, and complex relationships, Skyshade delves deeper into themes of love, fate, and self-acceptance. A film adaptation of the Lightlark Saga is in development at Universal Pictures.

This guide is based on the 2024 Amulet Books e-book edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of sexual content and swearing.

Plot Summary

The magical world of Lightlark is torn by war between Grimshaw “Grim” Malvere, ruler of Nightshade, and Oro Rey, ruler of Sun Isle. Isla Crown, the 20-year-old ruler of the Wildling people, is in love with both men. A prophecy warns Isla that she will kill either Grim or Oro. During a battle, she unleashes her devastating magical powers to save Grim’s life, sacrificing herself in the process. Grim brings her back to life by binding their lives together, but this is only a temporary solution. If Isla dies, Grim and the entire realm of Nightshade will perish as well. Grim can save Isla by using the portal that connects Lightlark to another world, but this would doom Oro and Lightlark itself. Isla resolves to gain Grim’s trust so that she will be able to thwart his plans against Lightlark if necessary. Traumatized by the brutal battle, Isla fears her deadly magic. At her request, a blacksmith forges a pair of bracelets that restrain her powers.

Isla and Grim were secretly married before the Centennial, and he longs for things to return to the way they were. Although part of Isla still loves him, she is torn by her feelings for Oro. The island of Nightshade is plagued by tempests. Hoping to make amends for the blood on her hands, Isla helps Grim search for a solution to the storms. They climb a dangerous mountain where a prophet’s followers preserve secret knowledge. The prophet’s followers tell Isla that she can stop the tempests by closing a portal on Nightshade and that a traitorous Wildling is set on ruining her. During their perilous journey to the mountain, Isla’s feelings for Grim begin to rekindle.

Isla consults an augur who tells her that she will die in a few months unless she takes the portal’s power. When a disgruntled Nightshade soldier tries to assassinate her, she kills him to send a message to the Nightshade court. To quell the lingering suspicion that she is a spy, Grim proposes that they remarry. She agrees, secretly hoping that this will help Oro move on. Isla spends her nights patrolling a town and killing wicked men, becoming a revered vigilante known as the heartripper. One of the women she saves, Sairsha, becomes the lonely heroine’s friend.

Fearing that Isla is in trouble, Oro flies for days to reach Grim’s castle. She tells him that she is marrying Grim again so that the heartbroken king will stop prioritizing her above his people and his own safety. When she teleports him home, one of her former allies shoots her with an arrow, but she manages to teleport back to Nightshade. Grim tends to her injuries and still wants to marry her even though he knows that she saw Oro.

Isla and Grim are married a second time. Their first ceremony was held in secret, but the second is attended by many Nightshades and all of the Wildlings except for Isla’s guardians, Terra and Poppy. A graveyard is desecrated during the celebration, and Isla accuses her guardians of treachery and has them imprisoned. When Isla returns to Sairsha’s village, she discovers that the woman and her friends are prophet-followers who believe that they are meant to die at her hands to help her save the world. They attack, forcing her to kill them all. After this incident, Isla decides to reclaim her powers.

Isla learns that her father discovered an uninhabited island west of Nightshade named Isla. She teleports herself to the lush isle and refamiliarizes herself with her powers. After a week of terrible storms ravage Nightshade, Isla carves a dangerous rune called a skyre into her skin, believing that it will help her control her powers. Although she knows that she will never stop loving Oro, she accepts that she loves Grim unconditionally, and they relive the passion of their original wedding night. Grim shows Isla a labyrinth where Cronan, the first Nightshade ruler, is buried, and she realizes that his coffin is the portal they’re seeking. The augur warns Isla that the traitor is rising, prompting Isla to realize that her guardians are innocent. That night, Isla faints while practicing a new skyre, and a town is destroyed by a Wildling who looks like her.

Lark Crown, Isla’s ancestor and one of Lightlark’s three founders, abducts Isla and reveals that she intends to destroy Nightshade so that she can remake the world. Isla escapes and fights Lark’s undead army with Grim. Their only hope of defeating Lark is to send her to another world and seal the portal after her, so Isla urges Grim and Oro to set aside their enmity so that they can save their world. Together, Isla, Grim, and Oro prepare a plan to stop Lark. Isla and Oro enlist the help of an ancient being named Remlar, who makes a cursed dagger. When Isla suddenly becomes unable to use Grim’s powers, she fears that he is dead, and she unleashes a destructive burst of magic. Her power destroys some of Lark’s undead minions but also wounds Oro. With Grim’s help, Isla saves Oro’s life. Isla, Grim, and Oro lure Lark into a trap and wound her with the cursed dagger, but she injures Oro and captures Isla. Isla frees herself by embracing the full extent of her destructive powers. Isla, Grim, Oro, and their allies contend against Lark and her undead army. Determined to protect both of the men she loves and to redeem herself from the blood on her hands, Isla distracts Grim and Oro and then uses Nightshade’s portal to transport herself and Lark into the otherworld.