Three Dark Crowns Review

Greetings readers!

This is the fourth book I read in May…I’m falling behind on reviews! Life has become busier and while I get reading done, finding time to write is hard! Still I have this done for you all and more coming on the way! Enjoy!

via Goodreads

Goodreads Summary

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.

I should have read this novel a long time ago! I have had it since October and only until this month did I finally pick it up! It has gotten some mixed reviews but overall I enjoyed it! It was the dark fantasy I was expecting but something was missing. Read on for more!

What I Liked:

Characters:

Arsinoe: She was ultimately my favourite queen of the three. She was fierce, funny and gave no Fs. Yes she was “weak” in the sense that she had no power to use and everybody in her Naturalist city hated her for that fact, but I loved that she lived through it anyways. She found a way to strong without magic. She had bite and snark and I just totally loved her!

Katherine: (aka ME) She is my adorable cinnamon role that I need to protect and love! Kat had a suckish life. Like her life sucked! She had it rough. She was also weak but she had been trained anyways, having to consume poison after poison. Constantly getting sick and suffering the effects, in other words…her life sucked! Yet I found her quite charming and as we got to know her she became stronger! I wish that she had been explored further because her story got cut because of other characters that lived in her city. Still I loved her and cannot wait to see her get her vengeance because let me tell you her LIFE SUCKED TO THE END!

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JULES: MY PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL WHO SUFFERED SO MUCH. OH MY GOD! IF I THOUGHT KAT’S LIFE SUCKED, READING HERS WAS THE ULTIMATE TORTURE! This girl could never catch a break. Never. She was not a queen, but as a Beltane Begot (a person born on the same day as the queens) she is special. She is powerful. I loved her relationship with her familiar, Camden. A mountain cat! So cool. I also loved her friendship with Arsinoe, especially when they went through their rough times! Jules was loyal, fierce, caring and brave! She deserves all the happiness in the world!!!!! GOSH KENDARE CAN SHE JUST BE HAPPY FOR ONCE!

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Billy: He is a secondary character but I found him adorable and quirky. He is SO passionate and funny, especially when he is around Arsinoe. His loyalty to Arsinoe was so precious and I loved that they have a friendship……even though I secretly hope it becomes more……

As for Mirabella, I don’t hate her…I was just never particularly too concerned with her or her story line. I found her quite petty actually and there are some things I just might never forgive her for even if she didn’t know certain other things!

Setting: Having the map really helped organize the three different power houses. It was interesting how Fennbirn worked and how each city had different traditions to celebrate the queens and Beltane. It gave off the dark mood perfectly. It was never sunny in this world to me, everything was always dark and gloomy, much like the lives of the characters!

Magic system: I thought it was really cool. The Poisoners were obviously my favourite! Hello, you cannot die after consuming poison! The other two powers, elemental and naturalist were cool. They were almost too similar but as the book went on I understood the differences and the techniques that each power system used.

The Beltane Plot: Okay so I’ll be honest it took me a while to figure out what Beltane was and then I read the summary again and realized that it is the day the Queen is chosen. Am I right? Anyways it was super interesting and super dark. It is literally the day one sister is chosen and two others are put on the chopping block. The Beltane happened rather quickly and soooooooooooooooooo many things happened. So many! It had the action, the magic and the suspense that the beginning of the book lacked.

The Short Chapters: I LOVE SHORT CHAPTERS. THAT IS WHEN THINGS START GETTING INTENSE! IT JUST MAKES THE PAGE FLIPPING EVEN MORE FUN! AND LET ME TELL YOU THESE SHORT CHAPTERS WERE KILLER!

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What I Disliked

Who are these Warrior people, I didn’t get it?: Okay so maybe I understand it now, after careful reflection of the story, but as I was reading it, I just had no clue who they were and what their purpose was! I felt like they were just thrown into the story for fun. Perhaps in the next one they will have a grander reason to be present.

Slow and Confusing Beginning: So many people were introduced, it was all too much to take in at once. There are the three major queens and they each have three or four side characters! I was confusing people many times and since the chapter headers are locations rather than names I had to take the time to figure out where we were and who was there!

Side Character Over-Shadowing: I’m sure you’ll hear more about this from my sisters, but the side characters especially in Katherine’s and Arsinoe’s stories almost take over their voices. Arsinoe gets her spotlight eventually, but I feel like Katherine was pushed back by Natalie so I never really got the chance to see good development from Kat which makes me sad because she is my queen!

It Didn’t Blow Me Away: Don’t get me wrong it was great story..it just didn’t knock off my socks. It was mellow in some areas and I was able to predict the end twist from the beginning of the story which made the ending very anti-climatic! I mean I was happy that I was right *yay theories*….but I also wanted to be wrong. XD There was a lot of information thrown in this novel but not enough time from the queens themselves. 

Doesn’t take away from the story but…:

DEAR KENDARE,
CAN JOSEPH SAUNDRIN PLEASE FALL OF A CLIFF AND INTO A BLACK HOLE IN THE SEQUEL. YOU SEEMED TO HAVE CUT THAT PART OUT OF THIS ONE!
THANK YOU,
~ RENDZ

I hate that guy and Madrigal.

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Overall it was a good book. Not exactly the mind-blowing fantasy with three queens I was hoping it would be but I did enjoy it a lot. It had me raging for quite a while, so that it always a good sign! It was definitely dark, I’ll tell you that. A lot of death. A lot of betrayal. A lot of suffering!

Rating: 4 / 5 stars ( Not a love 4 stars, but a good 4 stars! In other words I need to update my rating system so I don’t confuse myself!)

Recommend: It’s summer! Do you want something dark, cold, and magical? Then try this! 😉

So this is MY review. There will be reviews coming from my sisters in the near future once I wrangle them! If you missed the announcement I’m reading this book with my sisters! Rendz, Kez and Maz Read Three Dark Crowns is going to be three reviews (mine included) and a spoiler-y discussion post in June! If you have read the book, stay tuned for that post!

That’s all for now, let me know what the darkest book you have ever read is! Or the happiest! I’m good with either!

Happy reading!

~ Rendz