Review: Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake

Book Blurb:

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 Review:

5 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Another-World, Heart-Wrenching, Mystery, Romance, Royal-Court, Supernatural, Suspense, Teen, Witches--

Every so often, triplets are born to the queen, each with a specific supernatural gift and they must prepare for the Beltane where they will attempt to murder the others to become Queen of the island themselves. It is the eve of the Beltane ceremony for the triplets Mirabella the Elemental, Arsinoe the Naturalist and Katharine the Poisoner. They have prepared their whole lives for this, but they could never have guessed how it would play out.

Let me start off with saying that I love all the images I found on the internet when I googled the book title. There was tons of fan art and awesome quotes from the story that I had a hard time limiting myself to only the 4 images I selected. But it makes perfect sense that there are some epic results on google since the book inspires such strong emotions in it's readers and the imagery Kendare created within the pages can make the imagination run wild. I honestly felt like I was on the island within the world, watching the events unfold instead of just reading. The pages came alive with description as well as magic.

I had received this book in my monthly book box subscription from Owlcrate last year and I had been interested in it, but it went into my to-read pile and unfortunately was promptly forgotten. I recently spoke to a friend who has similar taste in books as I do and she told me I needed to read this so it was bumped up from my pile to be read asap. Well, I went into the book with a vague idea but with no concrete expectations, which was good since I could NEVER have predicted the path the story would take! The beginning was a little slow, but once I was in, I was never going to get out until I finished the book. This was some ride, full of unexpected twists, betrayals, and heaps of heartbreak. I like to predict plots, but I was kept on my toes, completely thrown by the way the story played out. Do not expect a light fluffy read because that is not this book. This was dark, painful, dangerous, depressing but oh so compelling.

The ending was crazy. Seriously, the last like 5 chapters of the book had one surprise after another with so many new developments that I don't know what is up and I need the second book like yesterday (but alas I must wait...). I feel conflicted for one reason or another about who I want to be Queen, it changes with my mood so I can't really say. I think Mirabella is my least favorite but not because she is bad or anything but just because I found her to be the least interesting and surprising of all the characters. (can Jules be Queen??) Arsinoe was cool... The one thing I am positive about is I hate Joseph with a passion and I was so disappointed he didn't die (and based on reviews I read I am not alone in this opinion). This was a great, crazy, snuck up on me read and I am so glad I read it. Highly recommend this unique story.