One Dark Throne (Three Dark Crowns, 2)

I'm not one-hundred percent certain that my rating of this book reflects my feelings wholly. I've been wrestling with how I want to rate it, but it's a difficult one for me to pin down.While I really enjoyed how it maintained the entertainment value, fast pace, and plot twists through from Three Dark Crowns, fundamentally, there were some issues. Comparing to my feelings for Three Dark Crowns, which I gave a whopping 4.5 stars, I don't feeling that the stakes are as evenly weighed between the three queens, taking the thrill of the competition out of it. I daresay this was one of my least favorite parts of this book.Characters:Queen Katherine:"Once, I was a mouse," she says, and strips off her glove. She reaches into the cage to stroke the rodent's tiny bald haunches. "But I am not anymore."If you've read Three Dark Crowns, you know Katherine's position as that portion of the story concluded. If you want to see a character who changes a lot throughout a series, keep your eyes on this gal. I have a feeling that things are only going to get more crazy with her.Despite my overall feelings of dislike towards her now (I believe I was backing her in the first book), I felt that she was finally on a fair level to compete with her sisters and not be annihilated. Those "undead" qualities are powerful ones, indeed.Speaking of my dislike for her--I don't know if I love, or heavily dislike the strategy that Blake is playing with. SPOILER: Making Katherine the main antagonist puts her in an interesting position with the rest of the plot, not to mention her sisters as well. I'm not forgetting, Ms. Blake, that there's a lot more going on under the radar, so I'm not going to give up on her, yet!Queen Arsinoe:"Arsinoe grew up believing that she would die. She just didn't count on having so much to live for. Jules and Joseph and the Milones." He smiles slightly. "Me. But what good is knowing any of this? This is the way of the island, isn't it? The natural order. So what does it change?"Oh, Arsinoe. Throughout Three Dark Crowns, I felt that the main spotlight had mainly been on her. The underdog in almost every area when compared to her sisters, she's naturally the character to take pity on. Her character follows suite in One Dark Throne. Even though her "secret" was discovered, she still doesn't really do much with it.Queen Mirabella:"Mirabella's throat tightens. Her eyes sting. But she is a queen. A broken heart must not show."In all honesty, Mirabella disappointed me. While I appreciate her sentimentality towards her sisters, her lack of gusto just makes her character depressingly underwhelming. She has the strongest abilities out of all three of her sisters, yet...we rarely witness her using those powers. Perhaps she's a character with gobs of depth and purpose that haven't been uncovered yet, but I'm hoping she'll have more to bring to the table as this series goes on. However, I believe that she also receives less page-time than Katharine and Arsinoe, so perhaps she's been underwhelming because her overall presence is lacking.Because her presence has become almost equal to the three queens' characters, I need to mention Jules. In my opinion, she almost takes center stage in this book. While she's always been a "sidekick" character to Arsinoe, we all know that she is the one who pulls the weight on the naturalists side. The character twists with her were so interesting, and I'm curious to see what will happen with her.Just a quick little tidbit on this guy: Joseph is the flattest, dumbest character I have come across yet. I'd still like to kick him in the shin. I am so glad that...well, I will just leave it at that....This book has left me with a lot of unanswered questions. I know I cannot be overly critical here, as there are still two more books set to be released in this series. I'm hoping that I will get some sort of closure with some of those questions in the end. However, I feel that some of them, I will not due to the sequence in which they took place.For example:#1 How did Arsinoe suddenly have the ability to control the bear, when the previous time, it was Jules controlling him? Not to mention, the last time Jules couldn't even control him and he went haywire. It didn't make any sense how this manifested.#2 I don't believe that Pietyr's reasoning for what he did to Katharine is believable. Maybe he's sincere. But I think using love as an excuse is, well, CRAZY.#3 I feel like there is a lot of unnecessary killing to tie up loose ends, rather than finding creative ways of having those characters exit stage left. An example was with Arsinoe's poisoned dagger that just so happened to be on the ground, that someone picked up and cut the food with, leading to two suitors' deaths. First of all, HYGIENE, peeps! If you are picking up knifes off the ground and immediately cutting your food with it...we need to have a chat. Second, I've never used a dagger to cut my PB&J sandwiches (they definitely weren't eating that). To each his own, right?I was very glad to see that the writing style was constant, and the story still switched between the three queens' perspectives. It makes for an interesting take on the plot, and allows it to be more circumstantially-driven, as well as character-driven.I am really looking forward to how this series will continue on. Sometimes when you read a series, not all of the books maintain their "awesome," because they are bridging over to the next main event. While I still liked One Dark Throne, I'm looking forward for more in the books to come.Vulgarity: None that I recall.Sexual content: Kissing. There is one scene that happens between two charactersViolence: Quite a bit. Again, these queen sisters are trying to kill each other for the throne, so...3.5 stars.A big thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

I hope you've fastened your seat belt because you're about to be take off on an epic roller-coaster ride from the very first page of this book. Where the first book in this series started out slow, ending with the biggest plot twist I've ever read in a book, this book takes off like a rocket. I was enthralled from the moment I began and the anticipation only built as I kept reading.The battle for the throne continues as Katherine, Mirabella and Arsinoe face their fated destinies to battle each other to the death until one is crowned the true Queen of Fennbirn. With the advantage of her secret poisoner abilities, Arsinoe seems to have a leg up on her sisters, but never underestimate a woman scorned. Katherine comes back from the pit stronger than ever with a sinister secret and a raging heart for revenge.Initially, in Three Dark Crowns, the writing style of the 3 different points of view was hard to follow but I found myself appreciative of that style in this book. Blake's use of this narrative style allows the anticipation and mystery to build slowly and keeps the reader at the edge of their seat, desperately awaiting each turn of the page. I found the pace of this book to be balanced and fitting to the events happening around the three queens. If you struggled to adapt to the first novel or found yourself bored in the beginning, I promise that will not happen here.This book gives us much more insight into the relationship each sister has with one another and their respective "families". We learn that Mirabella's kind and meek nature is not to be underestimated, as she is genuinely loyal and will protect her friends and sister Arsinoe at any cost, when threatened. Mirabella continues to surprise me in her ability to be both gentle and destructive. I enjoyed getting to see more of her relationship with Bree and Elizabeth as well . I hope we will see more of them in the future.Katherine was the queen I was most drawn to in the first book because of her struggle with her poisoner abilities and the cruel training she was forced to endure. The Katherine we knew in book one is long gone and has been replaced by the ruthless and truly vile person who emerged from a pit of betrayal and despair. Consuming poison at every turn, though still not truly immune to it's effects, readers are left to wonder what Katherine's abilities really are and what happened in that pit. Blake does a excellent job keeping Katherine's new personality a mystery. We are given explanations but yet still know very little about what the future holds for Katherine and what she's become. Her moments with Pietyr show us that the tender hearted girl who craves love still lies buried beneath her newfound bloodlust and rage.The most interesting and mysterious characters come from the Naturalists. Now that we know Arsinoe is truly a poisoner, so many questions emerge as to why she was given to a naturalist in the first place. We have some of these questions answered, but we see through Jules' family tree that there is much more unspoken behind the Naturalist line and events at the Black Cottage. Jules' family is riddled with secrets and betrayal, leading me to think that there is yet another major plot twist still to come in future books. Jules alone remains the most interesting character in the series, as we learn of new powers and her mothers secrets. I would be willing to be that our next book will feature Jules at the center of what's to become of Fennbirn and the future of the Goddess' plans for the island.As far as romantic sub-plots, I was so pleased to see the relationship development with Billy and Arsinoe. After everything Arsinoe has to go through to pretend she's a naturalist and having to have someone as strong as Jules by her side, I was glad to see her get the forefront in this romance and have things actually work out (so far). I found myself annoyed with Jules and Joseph, however. I just felt like it was unnecessary and annoying, especially after everything he did in book one. I understand the purpose behind it, particularly the role in plays in the end of the book, but given that this book is supposed to focus on the story of the queens, I could have done without the focus on Jules and Joseph. This is yet another reason I believe we will see a lot more focus on Jules in upcoming books. I would argue she is as much a main player in these stories as the 3 queens are.Overall -- the writing style, the characterization, the mysterious unknown backstories and the open-ended futures make this book a delightfully exciting sequel to the first book. I am anxiously awaiting the next installation to immerse myself back into the magical and deadly world of Fennbirn to see what lies in store for our queens, Jules, and the remaining parts of Fennbirn.

I really enjoyed this book and it kept a similar pacing to the first book. A set of Triplets are pitted against each other to a year of fight-to-the-death events, having each been brought up by a different house that will help to nuture their individual gifts. Arsinoe, the naturalist was scarred in the first book and wears a mask to hide it. Katharine, the sister fondly remembered by the other two to be the smallest and sweetest embraces her gift of poisoning and Mirabella goes through a whirlwind of emotions like her elemental gift.The characters are all engaging and likeable in their own ways but this book sees a lot of changes that throw the reader's loyalty as the sisters struggle to face each other and their gifts. It's a little difficult to keep up at times as there are so many characters included from the 3 houses

In my opinion book two was not quite as good as book one.I rushed to get book two the day I finished book one, and was disappointed to find that (in my opinion) Katherine was acting completely out of character for how she seemed in the first book.I just felt that the characters had a big jump from book to book, and not in a way that matched the timeline of the story.Still a good read. Just not as good as I felt it might have been.

**spoiler alert** I have to say I enjoyed Three Dark Crowns more than I enjoyed this one. I think I was expecting more from it. That's not to say it was not action packed, just not the kind I would have liked.The story progresses in a way that is kind of predictable but still has twists that you might not have seen coming. I feel like it tries to subject you to suspense that one of the Queens has/will die but you just cant buy into it because you know that they won't? I feel like that's where the book is supposed to grip you but it didn't grip me. I am still looking forward to reading the next book though to see what is going to happen next!

I fell in love with the characters during book one and in this one they evolved. The queens of fennbirn were hungrier, deadlier and led you down an adrenaline filled path. It just made choosing your side ten times harder.

I loved the first book despite being a little slow but this was something else! There was always something new cropping up as the story developed and I honestly read it in a day. I love the way each chapter is written from a different sister because it just keeps it so fresh but creates a story with such depth. This series has so much promise in its concept and its execution is stunning. Read. This. Book.