Title: Three Dark Crowns
Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher/Year:  HarperCollings 9/20/16
Length:   307 Pages
Series:  Three Dark Crowns #1

Overview

Fans of acclaimed author Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood will devour Three Dark Crowns, a dark and inventive fantasy about three sisters who must fight to the death to become queen. And don’t miss the highly anticipated sequel, One Dark Throne!

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.

My Thoughts

I needed something new to read and this was a series that i’ve seen pop up in my feed a bunch but i’ve never gotten around to it.  glad that i did.  what we have here is the introduction to an interesting story about a world where those who live on an island have powers or ‘gifts’ and those who are on the mainland do not.  each generation of Queens born is a generation of triplets, each of whom is supposed to have a gift, and only the strongest will survive to become the reigning queen of their generation.  She must kill her sisters.

So this is the story that we go through on a journey with the triplets, Arsinoe, Katherine and Mirabella.  It’s an interesting world that they live in.  the girls are separated from one another when they are very young, taken to the town where their gift reigns so that they can grown and hone their powers.  The way that this story is written is in alternating chapters between the sisters so that we can both get to know them a bit more and see what struggles they are going through since it’s clear that they are much more similar than they knew.

Katherine is supposed to have the gift of poisoning, and what that means, i’m not entirely sure.  She’s quite skilled at creating and crafting poisons, but she’s supposed to be able to withstand all forms of poison and that doesn’t seem to be the case with her.  she’s training her body to cope with it but everyone around her wonders if she’s truly giftless.

Arsinoe is supposed to have the gift of being a naturalist- which means that she’s connected to all living things, plants and animals.  The thing here is that she’s supposed to have a familiar – an animal that is linked to her soul and she doesn’t – she’s not even able to make a simple bud bloom to life.  So there’s yet another question on whether she’s truly gotten a gift or not.

Then there’s Mirabella – the one that throws a wrench in everything.  She’s the most beautiful and enchanting by far, and she demonstrated her skills at being an elemental from day one – she’s one of the most powerful that they’ve seen and this makes everyone nervous and afraid since the triplets know that she will be the one to reign.

If that were the core to the story – then there’s so much more that’s going to come out.  What we see throughout is how others play a role in their lives.  There are priestesses who have their own agendas, families who want power, and girls who just want friends and romance.  While we think the story line is simple, really just a fight to prove gifts and stay alive, what we see in the last third is a total change in what the point and direction of the story will be.  I think that it’s no surprise to see what happens, but i also think that we’re setting up for a really great book 2 since the world as we knew it has turned upside down.  I can’t wait to see what comes next and i’m going to track down that next book ASAP.  Enjoy!