Book Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Title: Three Dark Crowns
Series: Three Dark Crowns #1
Author: Kendare Blake
Publishing info: September 20th, 2016
Genre's: Young Adult, Fantasy
My rating: 4/5
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Provided by: Bought hardback copy from Barnes & Noble
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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.  

“No one really wishes to be a queen.”    

My Thought's

★★★★

In Three Dark Crowns Kendare Blake brings us a dark twisted tale of 3 magical sisters, all queens, but only one will live to rule when they come of age. When I saw the catching cover and gripping synopsis for this book I just had to get my hands on it. 

Three Dark Crowns has three main characters, our Queens Katharine the poisoner, Mirabella the elemental, and Arsinoe the naturalist. Raised apart these three sisters don't grown with a family love for each other but a building hate knowing one day they will have to kill each other for survival. Out of the three sister's Mirabella was my favorite. She isn't so quick to hate, and there is a strong part of her that yearns to have that family bond sisters should have and not this atrocity they have been born into.

The story features many other characters though, including a love interest for each girl. I love me some multiple characters but with this one it almost felt overwhelming! I got confused alot in the beginning, which wasn't a plus because things seemed to drag. Found myself skimming what I already read to refresh what was going on and skip over the drawn out buildup. I think the book should have been more fast paced a bit and stuck to the pov's of just the three queens. The others is what got confusing, trying to remember who went where and with what queen.

The romance in the book wasn't what I had hoped for either. I am a sucker for shipping couple in stories! I found myself intrigued by Katharine and Pietyr but what he does at the end really has me questioning them. Now I really found myself shipping Mirabella and her beau but it also felt so wrong! I don't know how to feel about that one! Secretly though I am so hoping the hook up officially in book 2 and that makes me feel so dirty!

The ending with Arisnoe really took me by surprise. I loved that twist and it really makes me wonder about Katharine now. I really don't know which sister is gonna win or whom I want to really. Honestly I hope they can figure out a way for one to be queen without the others dying. That would be greatly appreciated :)

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. It took me over half the book to really get into it, but then I was INTO it! I was for a long time gonna rate it 3 stars but the ending really won me out. The last quarter of the book was really great.  I wish the whole book was like that but I'm just glad  pushing myself through the beginning was worth it! Hopefully now that I got all the characters straight and the build up is done, book two will be all kickass! 

Three Dark Crowns might start with a slow build up, and have lots of characters to situate but it's totally worth the read! 

-Amanda Margaret