Last year, I decided to give myself the best birthday present ever: A subscription to OwlCrate. Each month they send out a recent release book along with other bookish goods. September’s box came with Three Dark Crowns (hereafter TDC) by Kendare Blake.
Look! Look! It’s my photo instead of a stock one!
The premise of the book is interesting: Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born to the current queen and her consort. Each of the triplets is born with one of the gifts of the island – Poisoners who have the ability to resist poisons; Naturalists, who can bloom flowers, heal or destroy the living, and form bonds with animal familiars; and Elementals, who can manipulate the natural world. There are a few other gifts–seers and warriors, but those are less common. The triplets are split up at the age of six to be raised in separate cities and trained in their gifts. Ten years later, they meet again to spend a year killing the others. The survivor becomes the Queen of the island, and the cycle begins again.
In the generation of TDC, all three sisters are keeping secrets. Mirabella, a fierce elemental with gifts so strong that she has become the favorite, doesn’t want to kill her beloved sisters. Katharine, supremely gifted at concocting poisons, is not as immune to them as a poisoner should be. Then there is Arsinoe, who is protected by the most powerful naturalist on the island, but cannot make a flower bloom, let alone call an animal familiar.
I fear I have already spoiled too much, so I will move on to what I didn’t like. The book moves between the homes of the three young queens, and they each have families that protect them. There are so many characters all at once that it’s difficult to keep them straight. Throw in animal familiars with very human names, and I found myself repeatedly flipping back to chapter titles and the map in the beginning of the book to help keep track. I also had trouble keeping the voices of the characters and the three locations separate. They all sounded similar, but once I became more familiar with the characters, the changes in location became easier to recognize.
The good about the book outweighs the negative. The storyline is full of intrigue of both human relationship and political types. The mythology of the island is easy to follow if fairly… conveniently revealed. However, I’d rather have this gradual presentation than a giant info-dump. About halfway through, the storylines tie together in an even deeper way that creates question upon question and leaves room for a few interesting reveals.
Honestly, without the surprises, I would probably give this book a 3 star review. But with the way the story revs up toward the end, I award TDC 4 Stars. I now can’t wait until the sequel, (which is finished but no release date has been revealed). Alas, books with sequels keep me patient.
Book at a Glance:
Title: Three Dark Crowns
Author: Kendare Blake
Rating: 4/5 Stars ; Worth the buy
Publisher: Harper Teen
Other books you might know by the author: Anna Dressed in Blood ; Slasher Girls and Monster Boys (multi-author anthology)
Genre: YA Fantasy
Read the First Three Chapters here: http://www.epicreads.com/blog/read-the-first-3-chapters-of-three-dark-crowns/
Book Trailer: And it’s a pretty decent one, too, although it doesn’t reveal much.
Video Book synopsis: Mostly because I spent the first 1/3 of the book mispronouncing everyone’s name. You’re welcome.
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