Three Dark Crowns No Spoiler Book Review
So going into this, I heard some pretty mixed reviews. Some people
loved it, others hated it and I hadn’t really heard of an in-between.
However, I hoped to be one of the ones that did love it as the
premise sounded so exciting and I couldn’t wait till it arrived in the mail! And
boy was I disappointed.
About the book.
Series: Three Dark Crowns
Author: Kendare Blake
Pages: 398
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
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. (source)
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. (source)
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Recommended for: Anyone 13+.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me a review copy of this title however all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me a review copy of this title however all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.
My thoughts.
{ COVER }
I don’t usually do a cover segment anymore but I thought
this was worth mentioning. I adore the covers of this book and it’s actually
super cool because it has three different paperback editions, one for each of
the queens. An elemental one for Mirabella, a poisonous one for Katherine and a
naturalist one for Arsinoe.
I thought this was such a cool idea and I wish more books
had this! (Publishers, take note!)
{ WRITING }
The writing of this didn’t really do much for me. I wasn’t able
to establish a connection with the story including the plot or the characters. It
felt really dull and lifeless for me. There wasn’t a spark for me and it felt
quite dry and dull.
On that note, the writing wasn’t able to evoke emotions in
me – especially in such an emotion filled story where you are told from the
beginning that two of the main characters are going to die. I didn’t feel for the
queens or any of the side characters.
In saying that, I liked how balanced the writing was. The story
exchanges point of views between the three queens and the author didn’t favour
any of the queens, which I was surprised to find. There wasn’t necessarily a ‘good’
queen but there wasn’t a ‘bad’ one either. They all did good and bad things,
they all had their friends and enemies and their own struggles.
{ IDEA + PLOT }
I thought the idea was incredibly unique and completely
unheard of. I was really intrigued by this book at the beginning and it was a
mix of fantasy and the real world and monarchy and it sounded completely up my
alley.
Except the execution was incredibly poor.
The plot was very dry and I was so ready to DNF it but I pushed
through because it was a review copy and I didn’t want to leave it unfinished
because I had heard the last 50 pages were epic. There was nothing much happening
throughout the novel it took me a good 2 -3 days to get through it.
The last 50 pages were epic though, as promised, and they
were good enough that I might even want to pick up the second book when it
comes out.
{ CHARACTERS }
As mentioned before, the characters didn’t do much for me.
There wasn’t anything interesting about them and honestly, I couldn’t care less
even if they did die at the end.
The person I liked best was Mirabella, just because she seemed
more peaceful compared to the other two. But even then, Mirabella did a few
things in the novel that made me dislike her. I couldn’t stand Katherine at all
because of how venomous she was (ha ha, get it? Cause she’s a poisoner?). And Arsinoe
was just too reckless and bold and not the kind of character I love.
Don’t even get me started on the side characters.
{ FINALLY… }
So…I didn’t like this book. The ending was quite good and I might
(maybe, very huge maybe) pick up the next book, we shall see. I was
disappointed as I had expected it to be way better but the reviews are quite
mixed so some people did quite enjoy this!
I suggest still giving this book a try if you like and if
you don’t like it, DNF it.
OVERALL RATING:
★★
11 happy thoughts
I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy it, the premise did sound really cool though! And I never noticed the 3 different paperbacks because all I've ever seen was the red one. It sounds like a really underwhelming book for such an amazing premise, and I don't think I'm willing to go reading 398 pages for the last 50 pages only... Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteTasya // The Literary Huntress
Very true! And I only heard about the different covers after I heard a booktuber talking about it! It was underwhelming unfortunately, which makes me sad because I was so looking forward to it!
DeleteFirst off: your blog is gorgeous. I love all of the photos you include in your post.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sad to hear that you didn't enjoy TDC, it was one of my favorites. The last 50 pages were definitely epic and I can't wait to see what happens. I hope that if you do decide to pick it up, you enjoy it more.
And as for those covers...yeah, I had friends in London hunt them down for me because I needed them all.
Thanks for sharing!!
Oh my gosh thank you so much Stacee, that makes me so happy to hear you like my aesthetic!
DeleteI'm glad to hear you enjoyed it, because I really wanted to, but it just wasn't for me I think!
And that's so awesome that you found all the covers! I don't think the other ones are out in Australia because I haven't seen them around, sadly :(
Oh, sad. I loved Anna Dressed in Blood. I tried the first couple chapters of this and wasn't really feeling it. But I'm not the biggest fantasy reader. Glad the last 50 pages were great, but I don't think I could wait that long!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics
No problem!
DeleteI thought exactly the same you did! I actually gave it two stars too haha.
ReplyDeleteIt could have been so great, the idea was brilliant... The marketing was so well done... But the book failed to deliver :( I'm still intrigued to read One Dark Throne for some reason? I liked the ending quite a lot!
Very true! The ending was pretty great and meant I was super intrigued to read the next book!
DeleteOh no!! I've read some pretty polarizing reviews for this book. Most seem to be saying it was average or underwhelming, while others are passionately in love with it! I'm not sure where I'll fall, tbh. I do like slow, methodical, and contemplative fantasy with a lot of intrigue. But I'm definitely going to wait until the whole series is out (or at least the second book) before I decide to go into it.
ReplyDeleteThat's actually pretty smart Naz because the ending for three dark crowns will make you want to pick up the next book ASAP because C L I F F H A N G E R
DeleteOh, yikes. In a weird, botched gift-giving session, my co-blogger and I both wound up with a copy of this book. The difference being that she'd always wanted to read it and me, not so much. (And since she's a contemporary reader and I'm a fantasy fiend, everything about this situation was weird - AND SO, APPARENTLY, IS THE BOOK.)
ReplyDeleteMy problem with Three Dark Crowns is that I'd already heard THIS EXACT THING before - excellent idea, messy execution. And I... wholeheartedly... believe you all? Because I've read Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed In Blood a few Halloweens ago, and the ONLY thing I remember is that nagging feeling of "This could have been handled a lot better". It's never good when your sharpest memory of a book (duology) is WHERE you read it, especially if that place is as generic as your college hallway. Events from the book, on the other hand? Pretty vague. Not to mention that persistent notion of "If these characters all end up bloody and dead, I wouldn't mind so much".
^ In other words, exactly what you felt about these sisters. And while it's kind of clever to make them a personification of their 'skills' (the one with the poisons actually being somewhat toxic in her dynamics), that's also a gimmick I'd prefer the author to have subverted instead of embraced. THE UNEXPECTED, PEOPLE. GO THERE.
But, hey. I have yet to read this, so we'll see how I feel. I'm just sad I'll apparently be waiting until the very end to commit to a sequel. CURSEEEEEES! (Maybe literally. :))
- Lexie
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