Sep 4, 2026 · 39 min · 10 segments
In this episode of Read Me Next, Carina and Pili dive into Star Side by Alex Aster, a romantasy with a deadly quest, enemies-to-lovers tension, and a big cliffhanger ending that kept us hooked even…
So we have our FMC, who is Eris.
She lives on Stormside, which is the non-magic side of the world.
The world.
They're really poor.
No food.
Everything is very miserable on that side of life.
Yeah.
So every 50 years, they go on what's called a quest roll so they can get to star side, which is the magical part of the world here.
So the quest roll lets them win a cup of magic,
basically.
Right.
Yeah.
If they make it through everything, if they make it through all the obstacles and whatever they have to go through.
So basically, her journey begins as she's like going through the quest roll.
And there's only 50 people that can make it through the gate.
And she's one of them, which is amazing.
Mm hmm.
And she was basically like an apprentice.
I love all of these fucking fantasy books.
Why do they all work in a forge? I have more opinions on this.
Yeah? Yeah, keep going.
Okay.
So basically, she's like an apprentice at a forge for Stellan, who he's done the quest role.
He did the previous quest role.
And he was very against her going in.
So we have our FMC, who is Eris.
She lives on Stormside, which is the non-magic side of the world.
The world.
They're really poor.
No food.
Everything is very miserable on that side of life.
Yeah.
So every 50 years, they go on what's called a quest roll so they can get to star side, which is the magical part of the world here.
So the quest roll lets them win a cup of magic,
basically.
Right.
Yeah.
If they make it through everything, if they make it through all the obstacles and whatever they have to go through.
So basically, her journey begins as she's like going through the quest roll.
And there's only 50 people that can make it through the gate.
And she's one of them, which is amazing.
Mm hmm.
And she was basically like an apprentice.
I love all of these fucking fantasy books.
Why do they all work in a forge? I have more opinions on this.
Yeah? Yeah, keep going.
Okay.
So basically, she's like an apprentice at a forge for Stellan, who he's done the quest role.
He did the previous quest role.
And he was very against her going in.
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