Starside
by Alex Aster
Contents
Overview
Starside follows Aris, a blacksmith’s apprentice from ruined Silverside, as she enters the Questral: a brutal contest whose survivors may cross into Starside and seek magic from the gods. Armed with an impossible blade and driven by memories of divine destruction, Aris is not chasing wealth or immortality. She wants vengeance.
The quest throws Aris among rivals and uneasy allies, including sharp-eyed Kira, pragmatic Zane Sterling, ruthless noble Cadoc Bolter, and the terrifying king’s guard Harlan Raker. As the candidates pass from mortal politics into a realm of immortals, monsters, enchanted weapons, and god-haunted terrain, Aris must decide whom to trust and what price she is willing to pay.
The novel centers on survival, grief, power, revenge, and the danger of becoming what one hates. Its central conflict grows from a deadly competition into a larger confrontation with divine authority, as Aris discovers that her weapon, her markings, and her past matter far more than she was ever told.
Plot Summary ⚠️ Spoilers
Aris, a blacksmith’s apprentice from ruined Silverside, enters the Questral in Nightfell, where hopefuls must fight through a slaughter to reach a platform before the Watchman’s hawk finishes its cries. Her hidden Starside-steel dagger proves stronger than silver, drawing attention when she saves a starving child and defeats attackers. Among the survivors are Kira, Zane Sterling, Cadoc Bolter, Pagnus Ender, and the dreaded masked commander Harlan Raker. Aris accepts the Culling despite her mentor Stellan’s pleas, secretly intending not to win favor from the gods but to cross Starside and kill them.
Before the journey begins, Stellan is murdered for the dagger. Dying, he tells Aris to find Vander Evren. Grieving, Aris leaves with the challengers. The Culling immediately becomes a series of massacres: candidates fight for too few horses, race through the king’s castle grounds, survive a shifting thorn maze, and claim ancient weapons. Aris loses Stellan’s lesser blade but summons a buried paladian godsword later named Stellaris. She, Kira, and Zane reach the Starside gates among the Fifty after Aris kills a scent-hunting beast and uses its blood to disguise herself and Kira.
Inside Starside, Aris, Kira, and Zane form a pact and seek a route to the gods. At the Tower of Knowledge, immortal scholars offer shelter but plan to dissect them. Aris manipulates Pelas, steals a complete map, and escapes after destroying magical books; Ellis, the senior scholar, sees hints of her hidden silver markings and lets her go. The trio chooses the dangerous Beast Tree route to claim flying mounts. After help from Xara, an immortal innkeeper and former knight, they travel by enchanted boat, but a storm badly injures Kira. Kira reveals she entered the Questral to save her dying sister Anise, then returns to Xara while Aris vows to bring magic for Anise if she can.
Aris and Zane climb the Beast Tree, where Cadoc’s group murders bonded riders to steal their creatures. Aris leaps from the crown and is saved by a silver dragon, who bonds with her. Cadoc later wounds the dragon and hunts Aris, forcing her to separate from her mount and hide in a cave, where she encounters Raker. Aris burns the map after memorizing it, compelling Raker into a hostile alliance. They survive demons, drowning, poisoned lands, the Bone Woods, saberwolves, and illusion-feeding monsters. Raker repeatedly saves Aris but insists he wants her sword, not her. Their relationship shifts through brutal training, resentment, attraction, and mutual dependence.
As they cross Starside, Aris learns more about her blade and herself. The Astral Queen, an ancient silver figure older than the gods, saves Aris and Raker from poison and leads them to the Traveling City of the faelings. There Aris names Stellaris and learns from the faeling blacksmith that it is a godsword forged of paladian. The Eldress warns her against the Great Houses but gives her starlight protection. After another tragedy, when demons slaughter peaceful immortals traveling with Aris and Raker, Aris attacks Raker in grief; he turns it into training, and their bond deepens even as neither fully trusts the other.
Raker eventually discovers Aris’s silver lightning scars, which she has hidden since childhood. After a silver serpent bites her, he saves her by drawing the venom into himself. To save the poisoned Raker when hunters and cavalry close in, Aris blood-summons Vander Evren. Vander spares them because Stellan once saved his life and used quest magic to help Vander’s people. At Vander’s estate, Aris learns that sword oaths from Great House heirs can create portals. During Heartfall, she reveals her markings, gains Magnus of House Harlow’s invitation, receives Lord Rodin’s oath, and draws interest from other heirs. Raker exposes Vander as a bloodbane, but Vander still equips Aris with a protective scabbard and sends her onward.
House Rodin betrays Aris. Bound by guest-oath magic, she cannot fight when Rodin tries to deliver her to the God of Death, but Raker slaughters Rodin and his immortal knights. Fleeing into the desert, Aris and Raker face an illusion creature that weaponizes guilt and self-hatred. Aris survives by embracing her vengeance for her dead sister, then pulls Raker out of his own nightmare. Their emotional bond becomes undeniable. Soon after, Cadoc attacks at an oasis, wielding Kira’s stolen sword and claiming he killed her. He forces Aris into an aerial duel over the City on Fire and kicks her into the flames. Aris survives unburned, revealing her heat immunity, and Raker summons Este, who heals her at the cost of leaving the Traveling City forever.
On the eve of the final confrontation, Aris and Raker spend the night together, but he leaves before dawn with Stellaris and its scabbard. Ambushed unarmed by Questral challengers sent to deliver her to a god, Aris kills them and calls for help. The Astral Queen appears and reveals that Aris’s and Raker’s blades are two halves of one ancient sword; reuniting them would unleash ruin. She gives Aris a starlight blade and reunites her with her dragon, explaining that Raker’s bond can guide her to the gods.
At the well of magic, Aris meets Zane, who has bonded a Helmhawk and obtained a chalice to save his mountain. He tells her Cadoc also drank from the well and survived. Aris takes her own chalice, intending it for Anise, then summons the God of Travels, the silver-eyed goddess who burned Aris’s village because of a prophecy. The goddess offers a bargain: if Aris swears not to kill her, she will reveal how to restore Aris’s family. Aris swears, learns she must kill the God of Death, and exploits the oath’s wording by having her dragon devour the goddess.
Aris then summons the God of Death and finds Raker on the death throne. He reveals he is the restored God of Death, having killed the God of War and drunk magic to reclaim his divinity after years in mortal form. He knows Aris as Aris Agron and urges her to unite their twin swords to topple the gods. Torn between love, rage, and the Astral Queen’s warning, Aris kisses him, says she thinks she loves him, and stabs him through the heart. He survives. Realizing their bond lets her wield his sword, she steals it, flees with both blades and the goblet, and races to the closing gates. Raker catches her, but her dragon distracts him long enough for Aris to escape to Stormside as the gates seal. With Raker trapped beyond them for fifty years, Aris turns home, determined to guard the twin swords and find a way to end Death.
Characters
- Aris AgronThe protagonist, a blacksmith’s apprentice from Silverside who enters the Questral to reach Starside and avenge her family. Her silver markings, heat immunity, dragon bond, and paladian godsword Stellaris make her central to prophecies and divine conflict.
- Harlan RakerThe masked head of the king’s guard and Aris’s most dangerous rival, reluctant trainer, protector, and enemy. He is later revealed as the restored God of Death, whose sword is the twin half of Aris’s blade.
- StellanAris’s mentor, former Questral survivor, and blacksmith who trains her and tries to keep her from the contest. His murder for the Starside-steel dagger and his dying command to find Vander Evren shape Aris’s path.
- KiraA red-haired challenger who becomes Aris’s early ally and pact-mate. She enters the Questral to win magic for her dying sister Anise, and her fate becomes a major source of grief and fury for Aris.
- Zane SterlingA pragmatic challenger from House Sterling who allies with Aris and Kira. He later bonds a Helmhawk and obtains a chalice of magic to save his mountain homeland.
- Cadoc BolterA privileged and vicious Great House heir who repeatedly hunts Aris, steals weapons, and exploits others’ bonds. His attacks on Kira, Aris’s dragon, and Aris herself make him one of her most persistent mortal enemies.
- Pagnus EnderA brutal Ender warrior who survives the early Culling and repeatedly threatens Aris. His strength and violence mark the ruthless noble competition Aris must survive.
- ValenA deadly archer and Questral competitor who targets Aris more than once. After Aris heals her, Valen reveals that divine-aligned riders are hunting both Aris and Raker.
- The WatchmanThe king’s official overseer of the Questral selection and Culling. He counts survivors, anoints candidates with ash, enforces royal procedure, and begins several deadly trials.
- The King of StormsideThe ancient ruler who hosts the challengers before the gates and offers silver swords in exchange for half of any returned magic. His secret command to Raker suggests larger political stakes behind the Questral.
- Vander EvrenA powerful immortal heir with a violet morphblade and a debt to Stellan. He shelters Aris and Raker, explains Great House oaths, hosts Heartfall, and helps Aris gain portal access while keeping his own dangerous nature concealed until exposed.
- XaraAn immortal innkeeper and former knight in Westwere who shelters Aris, Kira, and Zane. She explains night demons, the Beast Tree rite, and lends the enchanted boat that carries the trio onward.
- PelasAn immortal scholar at the Tower of Knowledge who lures Aris’s group into apparent safety. He smuggles Aris into the Tower and is part of the plan to poison and dissect the mortals.
- EllisThe senior scholar at the Tower of Knowledge who hosts Aris, Kira, and Zane. He ultimately lets them escape after recognizing signs of Aris’s hidden silver nature.
- Aris’s dragonThe silver female dragon who saves Aris after her leap from the Beast Tree and bonds with her. She becomes Aris’s loyal mount and later devours the God of Travels to exploit Aris’s blood oath loophole.
- The Astral QueenAn ancient silver, star-crowned power older than the gods who aids Aris at crucial moments. She reveals the truth about the twin godswords, warns against reuniting them, and arms Aris with starlight when Stellaris is stolen.
- EsteA compassionate faeling from the Traveling City who tends Aris and warns her about revenge. She later answers Raker’s summons and sacrifices her home to heal Aris after the City on Fire.
- GaliceEste’s blunt and mischievous faeling sister who helps care for Aris in the Traveling City. Her presence grounds the faelings as both hospitable and wary of outsiders.
- The EldressA faeling leader of the Traveling City who grants Aris and Raker brief sanctuary. She identifies the Astral Queen’s intervention, warns Aris against the Great Houses, and gives her a starlight necklace.
- Faeling BlacksmithThe starlight-working smith who examines Stellaris in the Traveling City. He reveals that Aris’s blade is a paladian godsword and explains why such weapons draw danger.
- The GardenerAn ancient skeletal being in the Bone Woods who invades Aris’s mind. He mentions Vander Evren, warns her of deeper dangers, and spares her only after taking a cherished memory.
- Immortal HealerAn armed immortal mother who shelters Aris and Raker near the Bone Woods. She gives Aris healing vials and crucial lore about the mists, godswords, and the prison-like forest.
- Immortal hunterA red-haired hunter with a giant crossbow who kills the steelclaw bear pursuing Aris. He explains that the bear was drawn to the magic in her sword and helps secure a skyhorse for faster travel.
- InviraThe immortal hunter’s skyrend dragon. She assists indirectly by carrying supplies and demonstrating the variety and power of bonded creatures in Starside.
- MagnusThe heir of House Harlow, a gentle immortal noble who respects Aris’s resolve. He grants her an open invitation and gives her a diamond necklace that Raker recognizes as a form of claim.
- Lord RodinThe heir of House Rodin, whose oath gives Aris a fast route toward the Land of the Gods. He betrays her to the God of Death and is killed by Raker.
- Heir of House DrakeAn archer heir at Heartfall who offers Aris an invitation and suggests a political or romantic match. His support adds to the network of oaths Aris needs for travel.
- Lord AshcroftA predatory Great House heir who objectifies Aris and doubts that she fits the prophecy discussed at Heartfall. His behavior shows the danger and opportunism of the immortal nobility.
- EthelVander Evren’s acerbic attendant who escorts Aris and defends Vander’s sacrifices. She also delivers the Starside-steel scabbard that protects Stellaris from being summoned by others.
- DaphneA young immortal pilgrim traveling with a group seeking the Traveling City. She befriends Aris and saves her during a demon attack before being killed, intensifying Aris’s grief and anger.
- God of TravelsThe silver-eyed goddess who admits burning Aris’s village because of prophecy. She bargains with Aris by revealing that killing the God of Death could restore Aris’s family, but is then devoured by Aris’s dragon.
- God of WarA god found dead in the silver hall after trying to seize the underworld from Death. His death confirms Raker’s restored divine power and changes Aris’s understanding of the conflict.
- Night demonsThe deadly creatures that emerge after dark across Starside and cannot cross certain protections such as water or starlight. Their attacks repeatedly force Aris into shelter, flight, and impossible choices.
- SaberwolvesCunning, venomous beasts of the Bone Woods that poison Aris and nearly kill her. Their blood becomes an antidote she uses to survive.
- SkelmiresBog creatures with gemstone hearts that attack Aris and Raker in the blighted marsh. Aris’s knowledge of their weakness lets the pair survive even when the creatures merge into a larger horde.
- SteelclawA magic-breathing bear drawn to the latent power in Aris’s sword. Its attack leads Aris to the immortal hunter, and its saliva becomes a valuable healing substance.
Themes
Alex Aster’s Starside is driven by spectacle and survival, but its deeper force is the question of what suffering makes of a person. Aris enters the Questral not for glory, but to cross into the divine realm and kill the gods who destroyed her life. Across the Culling, the Beast Tree, the Bone Woods, and the Land of the Gods, the book repeatedly tests whether vengeance is a source of strength, a moral poison, or both.
- Vengeance, grief, and the cost of purpose. Aris’s mission begins in trauma: the fire that killed her family, her sister’s death in her arms, and Stellan’s murder. Her rage sustains her through impossible trials, from Cadoc’s cruelty to the City on Fire, yet characters such as Este warn that revenge can corrupt. The ending sharpens this conflict: Aris loves Raker, but still stabs him, choosing her mission over intimacy.
- Power as both salvation and corruption. Magic is desired by starving villages, dying children, and failing kingdoms, yet it is hoarded by gods, kings, Great Houses, and immortals. The king bargains silver swords for future magic; Vander uses oaths and portals; the gods treat mortals as expendable pieces in prophecy. Even Aris’s godsword, Stellaris, marks her as powerful while attracting predators and binding her to dangerous cosmic forces.
- Identity, shame, and revelation. Aris hides her silver markings for much of the novel, associating them with monstrosity, guilt, and survival when others burned. Her gradual unveiling—before Raker, Vander, and finally the Astral Queen—turns shame into authority. The sky-touched girl once trying to conceal herself becomes a figure of prophecy and resistance.
- Trust amid betrayal. The novel constantly makes alliances unstable: Kira and Zane offer loyalty; Raker saves Aris repeatedly while withholding truth; Vander aids her while manipulating power. Raker’s theft of Stellaris crystallizes the book’s central emotional wound: love may be real, but it does not erase danger.
- Beauty and brutality intertwined. Starside is lush with dragons, skyhorses, faelings, starlight cities, and enchanted forests, yet nearly every wonder is lethal. This contrast makes the world morally complex: beauty is not innocence, and survival requires both awe and suspicion.
By the final gate, Starside has transformed a quest for magic into a struggle over who deserves power, what love can survive, and whether justice can be won without becoming another form of ruin.