Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake Book review by Miranda Fraser ISBN: 978-0-06-238543-7 "Three dark queens are born in a glen, sweet little triples will never be friends - Three dark sisters all fair to be seen, two to devour and one to be Queen". This poem sits on the back cover of Three Dark Crowns. From the moment I read it my interest was peaked. It was dark and mysterious and gave me chills. And now that I'm through with it, I can say that this was one of the best novels I have ever read! It has been a while since a novel has given me such delight that I found myself crying and screaming by the end of the novel. And spoiler alert there will be a sequel!
What I found interesting about this novel was right on the back cover you know that only one sister can survive but you don't know why. This novel takes place in a land with a magical island where people are born with gifts of magic. So far we have learned that there is the gift of war, the gift of sight, the gift of elemental, the naturalists, and those of the poisoners. The island is always ruled by a queen, the most powerful of the triples. She will lead until the time that she gives birth to triplets herself and then her reign is over. The sisters are raised together by a midwife, tucked away from the world, then they are taken by their specific gifted clan at age 6. In this generation a poisoner queen is born, Katherine, an elemental queen Mirabella, and a naturalist queen Arsinoe. By the time they are sixteen they will have re-met, begun courting suitors, and then be sent to kill the other two. Only one can be queen, it is the way of the island. When Blake starts her story we first meet and fall for young Katherine, a pale, thin queen in blossom, who doesn't seem to have much of a gift for poisons. At least not in consuming them. See, Poisoners only eat tainted foods, drink poisoned wine, and they can hold poisons on their body with skill. Katherine is only gifted in mixing them. Poisoners are harsh people, jagged with looks and attitude, they have managed to rule the island for over a hundred years by rearing strong Poisoner queens. The lack of strength is infuriating and they stop at nothing to pull it out of her. She is not the only queen with little talent. Arsinoe is a naturalist with no powers. She cannot make a single plant bloom or even conjure up a familiar. Every naturalist has a familiar, an animal which you call to and they become an extension of your very being in the world. The stronger the naturalist the stronger the familiar. I think I loved Arsinoe on a special level, she was hard headed and strong willed, she cared about everyone around her, but she never lost sight of the truth that her life was going to be very short. Then there is queen Mirabella, the island whispers only of her insane abilities and her future rule. She is stronger than any elemental they have seen in a long time, though fire is her strength and joy. The problem is, it is impossible to hate any of them. I loved them each and felt for each one of them and their stories, and I even grew to love the families that housed them. Their life is a race against time and while they have accepted their duties they take no delight in them. Each one of them had their own fears and concerns and strengths. The problem they truly face is each of their clans want them to win so that they may rule. Which means each clan is raising their queen with specific rules and training. It also means that the girls are being raised to believe they are enemies, that each sister is ugly and cruel, or selfish and talent-less. They never get to know how much alike, they may be or how deeply they could love the other. It is painful as Mirabella has vivid childhood memories of her sisters and deep down does not believe she could ever kill them. Her people fear that too. Since you get to read a chapter from each girls world as the story progresses, you know everything that's happening and like an overseer with no power you cannot do anything but grip the book tighter and pray for an outcome you can live with. It's amazing how fast I become emotionally invested in their stories, love lives, etc. How I found myself thinking over different outcomes when I wasn't even reading the book. Or how MAD I got at one of the love interests in the story, it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. With sixty pages left in the novel I kept thinking,"Either I'm going to hate the ending or there's a sequel. There's just too much that hasn't been tied up". As I stated earlier, there is a sequel in the works, though I do not know when it will be published. But Blake was not about to leave us hanging without TWO massive plot twists that just left me with goosebumps, tears, and a satisfaction of screaming, "I KNEW IT!!!!!!" throughout my house. I was going to put in this book review what my guess was during the book, but when it actually came true, I was like OH MAN EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS NOW!!!!! So, as you can clearly tell, I am in love with the novel and this world, there are so many plot twists yet to come and I cannot wait to see what Blake has planned for these triple queens! I truly hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. 10/10 recommend! Links to the author
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