Three Dark Crowns - Review

Evie Sheldon
Nov 30, 2020
3 min read

Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake

‘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.’

Three Dark Crowns is a unique take on a fantasy/dystopian universe with a Hunger Games esque twist. Three triplets are born each generation, each of them able to conjure one of three abilities. When the sisters reach the age of sixteen, they must prepare for the ascension year where they will fight to the death until only one remains, who will take the crown and continue the cycle.

Throughout the first book of this series, we get to see each Queens perspective as they approach their sixteenth birthdays. We meet their “families” and closest friends and learn of their backstories, upbringings and their anxieties/opinions towards the ascension year. Upon meeting each of the three main characters, Katherine, Arsinoe and Maribella, we also learn that two of the queens (Katherine and Arsinoe) have not yet inherited the gifts that they were born to have. This has clearly caused anxiety throughout each of the communities that the queens reign over and later transpired into how each queen will try to better themselves in time for the ascension year.

The way in which the perspectives are written made it easy for the reader to dislike the other sisters whilst reading from one's perspective. Whilst I definitely felt that there was a lot more to like and connect with regarding Arsinoe’s character, I always found myself easily compelled by the emotions of which sister's perspective I was reading from. Each sister had an interesting backstory and I never found myself bored despite the fact that each chapter switched perspectives. There was always something gripping that kept me invested, even though the timeline of the plot was a lot more dragged out than I initially anticipated.

I have very few complaints about this book. I thought the plot was well constructed and each perspective was gripping in different ways. I thought the way in which the characters were written gave them fantastic characteristics and whilst their stories and backgrounds were completely different, they were all working towards the same thing with similar anxieties. My only complaint would be that I took a break about halfway through the book due to starting college again and just not being able to find the time to read. Whilst I was easily drawn back into the story again, I found that I was easily confused by the vast amount of characters and the side plots that were weaved around them. I don’t think this would have been a problem if I had carried on with the book without an extended break, but would definitely lead me to class it as a denser read as there are quite a lot of characters, locations and events to remember.

Overall, I really loved this book. I thought the plotline was amazingly constructed, albeit a little dense. I thought the characters were well crafted. They had their flaws and their downfalls, I wouldn't even say some of the characters were necessarily likeable, however I still loved reading from their perspectives and seeing the progression of the story through each of their eyes. I’ve already started the second book of this series, which is something I rarely do as I like to spread series out over time, but I’m already intrigued to see where the plot will take these characters next and how they will be developed within the sequel.