Title: Three Dark Crowns

Author: Kendare Blake

Publisher: HarperTeen

Series Status: 1st novel in the Three Dark Crowns trilogy

Page Count: 398

Rating: 5/5 stars 

Synopsis: When kingdom come, there will be one.



The last queen standing gets the crown.

Review: Beautiful. This was a work of art. There was not a single aspect I did not enjoy about this. Everything about this was simply wonderful.

This was dark and gritty and compelling. It tells a tale of three sisters, triplets, who must kill each other and fight for the throne. It was amazing. Let's start with the world.

I really liked the world that the author created, and the history. The Goddess was what made up the island, and she decided everything apparently. There were past queens and murals dedicated to them, and history behind all the generations of queens. I really liked the magic aspect of this. I'm not even going to lie, it was pretty wicked. Poisoners, who can ingest poison with no effect (mostly) and only ate poisoned food. Warriors who have tactical skill and are apparently telepathic if they are powerful enough. Elementals who can control all the elements with a single thought, and my personal favourite, Naturalists. Naturalists, who have a familiar, an animal that is connected with them, and they can bloom the most beautiful flowers and control the most fiercest of animals. Apparently Naturalists are the weak ones who got the bad end of the deal, but I would have that over any of those.

The characters. Arsinoe was my absolute favourite. I loved her and all her friends, and she seemed to have the most interesting story and point of view. I loved everything about her, especially that she was tall. I feel like there is not enough of taller girls in young adult fiction, and she was described to be about at least 5'9". Her and Jules were my favourites, along with Joseph and Madrigal. I never cared much for Billy but I found interest in Madrigal.

I didn't like Katharine all that much. I didn't really like Mirabella either, but she was at least more interesting than Kat. Kat was a bit of a sob story, what with Natalia and Genevieve raising her so cruelly, but she just seemed to naive and meek that I couldn't really find any interest in her. I hated Pietyr from the very beginning, he seemed like a slimy little snake, only helping Kat for his own purposes, although it did seem that he truly cared for her at some parts.

Mirabella was described to be the most powerful elemental there ever was, and the most powerful out of all three sisters. Her story was a bit more interesting than Katharine's, but she was just too much for me. I couldn't really come to care for her all that much. I hated the temple a lot so maybe that is why I didn't really like her all that much.

This had a great plot, and an even better plot twist that I never, ever saw coming.

Overall, this was a great book and I really enjoyed reading it.

I give this novel 5/5 stars and would highly recommend it to fans of fantasy and dark fantasy.

For more reviews from readers of Three Dark Crownsclick here.

Published by Emily Jewell