Three Dark Crowns

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Three Dark Crowns

Three Dark Crowns

by: Kendare Blake
My Rating: Loved it! Bring on book two!



Published by: HarperTeen on September 20th 2016
Genres: Coming of Age, Dystopian, Fantasy & Fairy Tales, Light Romance, Mature Young Adult, Young Adult

ISBN: 0062385437

ASIN: B019WVN4O6
Pages: 398
Series: Three Dark Crowns #1



Synopsis

When kingdom come, there will be one.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown. 






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I’ve wanted to read Anna Dressed in Blood for so long. I don’t know why I haven’t yet. Life, I suppose. So, when I saw Three Dark Crowns one Saturday when I was with my twin daughters at the library, I snatched it up. It’s not Anna Dressed in Blood, but it is by the same author: Kendare Blake. And I’ve heard great things about her writing.

 

Let me start with the cover. It’s awesome. It’s simple, no fluff or flowers or loving gazes. Just three crowns on a dark background. At least that’s the cover of my edition. I’m sure some differ. It fits the story so well. And each crown, if you look closely, is different, tailored to its queen in the story. The first, with the flowers and what looks like ivy, would be Arsinoe’s—the naturalist queen. And by the way, I hate her name. Just saying. And I’m damn sure I’m pronouncing it wrong, just like I did through most of the Harry Potter books with Hermione’s name. The second crown, with the flames, is the elemental queen’s, Mirabella. And finally, the snakes coiling around the third crown marks it as Katharine’s,  the poisoner queen. I think it’s brilliant in the most beautifully simple and elegant way.

 

When I first read the story blurb for Three Dark Crowns (TDC), I was so interested in how Blake would make it work. How would three sisters be expected to kill one another? I was sure there was just no way she could write the story in a way that I would be okay with sisters fighting to the death. And, well, I’m not okay with the idea of murdering anyone. But in this story, the way the author tackles the obstacle works. The characters live in a brutal, unforgiving world. It’s a hard life, in a hard society, and these sisters are raised accordingly. Separated from each other at six (and their mother at birth), they are forced to live with foster families who nurture their gifts, preparing them for the day they must kill the other two and take their seat on the throne.

 

But one thing kept nagging me: I remember things from when I was six-years-old. Why don’t these girls remember each other? Well, they can’t. Magic, spells, hypnosis, I can’t recall if it was ever called out in the book, but I do know that they aren’t supposed to remember anything about each other. The only thing they know—or are supposed to know—is that they have two sisters and that those sisters want them dead. One hitch, though: View Spoiler »

 

So, a plan is hatched. And this is where some politicking came in, which was present in the book in a larger quantity than I thought it would be. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. It fit the story. I think the reader needed to know what was going on behind closed doors… how the queens were manipulated into believing one thing, when the opposite might be true. The author did a nice job of balancing the amount of political parts of the story with the amount of story about the girls’ lives. But the night the big plan is supposed to go down… well, read the book.

 

So, there were a couple things that bothered me. One, the poisoners, the camp queen Katharine belonged with, only ate poisoned food. They shunned food that wasn’t tainted. Weird. I get that they can ingest poison and it doesn’t have any adverse effects on them and that gives them an advantage when someone is trying to kill them, but to only eat poisoned food? That was odd. But, it’s a fantasy story. There’s a lot of odd going on.

 

Second, the miscommunication between the sisters was a little tiresome. So many books use that angle. I could have done without it and I think there were other ways to go about what needed to be accomplished. That being said, it wasn’t a huge issue. And, it did fit the story well.

 

The queens’ characters were well developed, as much as they could be. When an author has three main characters she’s trying to develop it’s hard to fully flesh them all out without writing a thousand-page book. But Blake did a nice job. They each had flaws and insecurities, and they each had good qualities that instantly makes the reader like her… even the one View Spoiler » that everyone was supposed to hate. In fact, it was hard for me to pick a favorite out of the three.

 

I felt bad for Mirabella. She wanted so badly to foster the love the triplets had as small girls, but it was just too late. The others had been taught from such an early age to hate and distrust each other.

 

I also liked Katharine a lot. I enjoyed watching her transformation from a meek, sickly girl into a healthy, “semi” confident young woman with the help of Pietyr (ugh, that name). I was totally shipping Pietyr and Katharine… right up until View Spoiler »

 

In fact, what’s the malfunction with the XYs on that island? First Pietyr and then Joesph and Jules and Mirabella. I mean, Jules—queen Arsinoe’s best friend—is totally in love with him and he’s supposed to be completely devoted to her until he View Spoiler » Billy seems to like Arsinoe and so far, he seems normal and like an okay guy, but with the track record of the other two, I’m reserving judgement on him.

 

Mechanics: pacing was great. Formatting was awesome. I loved the beautiful map included in my edition (hardcover). And it was error-free. Blake’s writing style flows and is easy to follow. I enjoyed it.

 

Bottom line: I’m hooked. TDCs is an Awesome start to a unique YA fantasy series. Book two can’t get here fast enough… because that ending, though! Wow!

 

Note: Although I don’t feel this warrants my content warning for readers 18 years and up, it does have off-page sex and mild violence. So, take that into consideration when deciding if this title is right for you or your teen.

 

About Kendare Blake

Kendare Blake is the author of several novels and short stories. Her work is sort of dark, always violent, and features passages describing food from when she writes while hungry. She was born in July (for those of you doing book reports) in Seoul, South Korea, but doesn’t speak a lick of Korean, as she was packed off at a very early age to her adoptive parents in the United States. That might be just an excuse, though, as she is pretty bad at learning foreign languages. She enjoys the work of Milan Kundera, Caitlin R Kiernan, Bret Easton Ellis, Richard Linklater, and the late, great Michael Jackson, I mean, come on, he gave us Thriller.


She lives and writes in Kent, Washington, with her husband, their cat son Tyrion Cattister, red Doberman dog son Obi-Dog Kenobi, rottie mix dog daughter Agent Scully, and naked sphynx cat son Armpit McGee.

Michelle
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