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eyyitsalex's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Infidelity, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Murder
kenna92005's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This definitely had an interesting storyline, but it took me about 100 pages in to get all of the characters straight in my mind.
Things I enjoyed: I liked the different points of view from all sisters. Even though bouncing between them took some getting used to and some confusion in the beginning. I liked how this is different from other fantasy books (there isn’t a 400+ year old love interest) or some curse to break. It was refreshing in that aspect.
Things I didn’t like: the pace was more slow. It was a lot of build up. Reading the blurb of this book you expect there to be epic battle scenes between the sisters but you never see that. In fact, the triplets barely interact in this book. This book was all world building and setting the scene. I also didn’t understand how these people treated queens. What’s the point in having a Queen if you don’t respect her at all? It’s just backwards in how they treat those girls.
Also, the major twist in the book was predictable.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Violence, and Murder
nitecrtlvr's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
As a first book it’s definitely more focused on world building and giving the reader a grasp of each character and the background/setting of how life is there and the expectations.
Due to that it is a bit of a slow read, it is written well and quite descriptive but definitely more political and not action driven.
Due to that it is a bit of a slow read, it is written well and quite descriptive but definitely more political and not action driven.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Animal death and Body shaming
Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry
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
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
soswiin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
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
2.0
i tried so hard to like this book. you have no idea
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Vomit
Moderate: Body shaming and Eating disorder
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
grayscale08's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Eating disorder, Self harm, Blood, Vomit, and Murder
Minor: Body shaming, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Most of the mental illness/eating disorder content comes from Katharine’s content. Although self harm and eating disorders are never explicitly addressed, Katharine frequently eats things that are toxic and ends up in pain and has many scars from other poisons.
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