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bookbrig's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Really, really good. There's fascinating magic, great characters, and a wonderful ending that I hope means this is the start of a series. I loved all of the sisters, and it was so interesting to have the story told from so many characters' perspectives, leaving the reader in the dark about some things while still feeling purposeful and not like it was just a technique for a bunch of McGuffins. If you like weird family dynamics, great world building, and heart-wrenchy uneven romantic entanglements, this would be a perfect choice.
Also, so many reviews I see are like: "too many characters! Who lived where? What's going on?" For what it's worth, I think those people are wrong, and if you've ever read any fantasy you'll be in familiar territory.
Also, so many reviews I see are like: "too many characters! Who lived where? What's going on?" For what it's worth, I think those people are wrong, and if you've ever read any fantasy you'll be in familiar territory.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Minor: Sexual content
bookishgoob's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
this book was a beautiful fantasy that wasn’t incredibly confusing in the world building. the perspectives of each place and how they train up their queens was so interesting to see. i’m so glad i started this series
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail
martereadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
emily_mh's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A sentence that sums up how I feel about this book is: I'm glad I didn't buy it, but I am interested in what happens next. The best part about the book was its premise of three queens vying for the throne, and there was some good world-building surrounding this. Everything else was a bit meh. I didn't like the omniscient narration style, or that it was done in present tense. I think it was the reason behind the poor characterisation of literally every character (but ESPECIALLY Katharine's. Her POVs were... so bland). There was just no internal world for any of them. I was expecting big reactions from the sisters meeting for the first time in ten years, but it was literally "oh there's my sister on her platform" or "oh my sister's talking to me in this forest" which was incredibly disappointing. Flat characters also meant that all the romances fell flat. It was very insta-love. And on top of the characters being meh, the plot had no direction beyond the fact that Beltane was gonna happen in a couple of months. Literally nothing of consequence happened between the beginning and that point. And you'd expect with the whole book leading up to the Quickening, that event would have some impact. But it was over in 10 pages tops. On the whole I was just expecting a lot more from this book. What partially saved it was the unique world-building and the fact that I wasn't dreading picking it back up when I put it down - it was actually somewhat enjoyable and definitely easy to read. That's enough to make me pick up the sequel!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Excrement, and Alcohol
barry_benson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit
bubothereader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I read this during most of my honeymoon—admittedly, a weird choice.
I really liked this first book—it’s atmospheric, has interesting characters, and a magical system that I’d love to see on film. I did find it a tad predictable; however, I still enjoyed it immensely. Definitely one of my best 2021 reads. I plan on picking up the rest of the series at some point, As I’m very interested in how everything will go.
I really liked this first book—it’s atmospheric, has interesting characters, and a magical system that I’d love to see on film. I did find it a tad predictable; however, I still enjoyed it immensely. Definitely one of my best 2021 reads. I plan on picking up the rest of the series at some point, As I’m very interested in how everything will go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
claragweny's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
An interesting, though poorly described, world and a very compelling ending. I'll probably continue reading the series but I hope that Blake builds the world around them some more in the other books.
I can't really recommend reading this without going through all the content warnings. It is very triggering in many, many ways.
I can't really recommend reading this without going through all the content warnings. It is very triggering in many, many ways.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Abandonment, and War
booksthatburn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
So that was dark and stressful.
THREE DARK CROWNS doesn't pull punches and lives up to its name. It's the kind of story where if you ask "does the dog die", the answer is not only "yes", but begs the follow-up "do you want to know the fates of any other animals?" In the canon of books where sisters raised apart must fight to the death for only one can be queen, this stands out for having understandable reasons why. There's a goddess who at least supposedly wants everything to go this way, but more importantly there are large, driven, and complex political factions full of individuals pushing for power and prestige. The triplets have been apart from each other and mistreated by their various handlers for nearly a decade, each one being told that the other two will be just as ready to kill her as she must be. The three sisters are very distinct from one another, and their various clusters of friends, allies, and manipulators were fascinating to read. When things go wrong (and they just keep going wrong) there's a known reason (at least to the reader).
The worldbuilding is detailed and vibrant. The three largest factions each are backing a Queen whose ability matches theirs, but there are two more power-based factions and then the (supposedly neutral) Temple. We learn that sometimes there are four babies instead of three, and other kinds of messiness that the power systems have worked around, redirected, or incorporated to their own ends. I love how these little explanations make it feel like a system that people within it might actually want to perpetuate, which is so vital for a story so full of deadly machinations and impetuous decisions. Arsinoe is my favorite character though I gradually warmed to Katherine and I like her much more by the end. I like how Mirabella is handled, but I didn't warm to her as a person. The Poisoners are my favorite faction, Natalia is a driven and manipulative guardian for Katherine, and Pietyr completes the picture in a way that's good for the plot but doesn't bode well for anyone around him. The nice thing about having the factions and multiple protagonists is it feels like there's room to like and dislike any permutation of characters as people and still enjoy the story.
I love the ending, the last chapter transformed my general interest into needing to get the next book as soon as I feel emotionally recovered from this one.
THREE DARK CROWNS doesn't pull punches and lives up to its name. It's the kind of story where if you ask "does the dog die", the answer is not only "yes", but begs the follow-up "do you want to know the fates of any other animals?" In the canon of books where sisters raised apart must fight to the death for only one can be queen, this stands out for having understandable reasons why. There's a goddess who at least supposedly wants everything to go this way, but more importantly there are large, driven, and complex political factions full of individuals pushing for power and prestige. The triplets have been apart from each other and mistreated by their various handlers for nearly a decade, each one being told that the other two will be just as ready to kill her as she must be. The three sisters are very distinct from one another, and their various clusters of friends, allies, and manipulators were fascinating to read. When things go wrong (and they just keep going wrong) there's a known reason (at least to the reader).
The worldbuilding is detailed and vibrant. The three largest factions each are backing a Queen whose ability matches theirs, but there are two more power-based factions and then the (supposedly neutral) Temple. We learn that sometimes there are four babies instead of three, and other kinds of messiness that the power systems have worked around, redirected, or incorporated to their own ends. I love how these little explanations make it feel like a system that people within it might actually want to perpetuate, which is so vital for a story so full of deadly machinations and impetuous decisions. Arsinoe is my favorite character though I gradually warmed to Katherine and I like her much more by the end. I like how Mirabella is handled, but I didn't warm to her as a person. The Poisoners are my favorite faction, Natalia is a driven and manipulative guardian for Katherine, and Pietyr completes the picture in a way that's good for the plot but doesn't bode well for anyone around him. The nice thing about having the factions and multiple protagonists is it feels like there's room to like and dislike any permutation of characters as people and still enjoy the story.
I love the ending, the last chapter transformed my general interest into needing to get the next book as soon as I feel emotionally recovered from this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent
bussmanbooks3000's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Violence, and Blood
christy_0909's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Violence, and Blood