Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns, #1)

by Kendare Blake

[Artemis]

Reviews at The Artemis Reader

Three Dark Crowns has an interesting premise, but managed to completely underwhelm me. Three Dark Crowns tells the story of three sisters – three queens – competing for the throne. Katharine, Arsinoe, and Mirabella each gifted with a different power and forced to live apart with their supporters. Only one sister can claim the throne and must do so by murdering her sisters.

Sounds exciting and thrilling and makes you want to quickly devour its pages, right? The last quarter or so of this book fills that promise, but first you must make it through a slow pace and lackluster storytelling. Blake writes well, but fails to actually engage in any kind of character or plot development until the last few pages. Most of the book consists of the girls mastering their skills (or lack there of) and flirting with boys.

No action, no drama, no excitement – nothing until the last section of the book. I considered dropping it but with so few chapters left I pushed on through.

I am not exaggerating. So little happens – there is no action, no drama, no excitement until near the end. And, by that point, how much do we really care? I don’t know about you, but if I’ve spent most of a book being bored out of my mind, I’m not going to suddenly become invested when the pacing picks up. The background was quite interesting – all the political entanglements of each different faction supporting a different queen. But Blake spends relatively no time on those, and instead chooses to focus on the romance of the three sisters and their friends. I had no interested in the Mirabella/Joseph/Jules (I think that’s her name!) relationship dynamic – it was poorly executed and did nothing to enhance the story.

I wouldn’t recommend this book for people who are looking for a complicated, plot. If you want some mindless romance for about 400 pages – this is for you.