Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Series: Three Dark Crowns #1
Publication Date: September 20th 2016
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: YA, Fantasy
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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. 

My Rating

5/5 stars

My Review 

“Three dark queens

Are born in a glen,

Sweet little triplets

Will never be friends

Three dark sisters

All fair to be seen,

Two to devour

And one to be Queen” 

Three sisters must fight to the death. The winner, becomes queen until her own triplets are born. Three Dark Crowns is a story about Katherine the poisoner, Mirabella the elemental, and Arsinoe the naturalist. 

Honestly, I loved this book with all my heart. I was so scared because I read the synopsis, loved the book and bought it online, while it was shipping I read some bad reviews for it and was very scared that I bought this book and it would suck. I'm very happy to say that I'm so glad I bought a copy because the book was everything I love, I cannot wait for the next one to be released.

Usually when there are three main characters, you pick your favourite and kind of skip over the other main character's parts. At least that is what I usually do. For Three Dark Crowns I could not pick my favourite character (well I'm kind of leaning towards Arsinoe atm but they're still really close). Every Queen is so very different, yet they're all loveable in their own way. 
Katherine starts off as the anorexic little weakling, not having her poisoner powers come in yet she is basically tortured every day. Once she meets and falls in love with Pietyr she instantly starts growing as a character. Her character development throughout the book is absolutely amazing, I loved watching her develop into such a strong woman.
Mirabella is the sweetheart. Even though she's the most powerful of the three sisters, she feels great remorse knowing that she has to kill her siblings. Mira is the only one of the three sisters that has memories of their past, back to when they were 6 years old and lived together. While some view her emotion as a weakness, I think it makes her incredibly strong emotionally. Also I believe she is the smartest of the three sisters and I definitely admire her for it.
Arsinoe is the wild one. She is outdoorsy and doesn't give af about her looks. Arsinoe is extremely likeable, she just has that aura around her that makes everyone like her. While she has no powers yet, she keeps working towards them on her own and never ceases to try. I loved her work ethic and her realism in this book. She knows she is weak, but she never stops trying to get better.

The romance in this book was very fascinating. It was basically the only part of the book that really managed to surprise me (especially in the end). Having said that, there were parts of the book that I kind of predicted, and then told myself "nah that's not gonna happen" and then it happened. So I wasn't too shocked, I thought the author kind of made the twists obvious. I have a feeling what will happen in the books to come, so I hope the author can throw in some curve balls.

The world building was really great as well. We get to see the three town the queens are staying in, as well as a few places here and there. The author was very descriptive and did a fantastic job creating a new world.

Overall, I loved this book from beginning to end and I absolutely cannot wait for the next one. I highly recommend it to other people who love fantasy. Take my word for it, just because a book has a few bad reviews doesn't mean you won't love it.

Happy Reading,
Aneta