“Three Dark Crowns” by Kendare Blake

 I was doing my regular walk through the stacks at the library when my eye snagged on the spine of this book. Now, full disclosure, I am absolutely a “judge a book by its cover” kind of gal. I think we all are if we are being honest with ourselves. The font and vague title was enough for me to pull it off the shelf and begin my process of figuring out if it was book one of the series (the books surrounding it had that same alluring font). Once I deemed that I was safe from any spoilers—and indeed was holding book one of the “Three Dark Crowns” series—I then began my process of deciding if it was going to be the fifth book I added to my “check-out” pile that morning. The wonderful cover art, the wry rhyme at the bottom that read “When Kingdom Come, There Will Be One”, and the promise of a fantastical story of 3 fated triplets destined to kill each other was intriguing enough for me to add it to my stack.

I promptly started reading, as I knew that since it was a young adult novel, it would not take me long to make my way through it. I was excited to read a new author as well. I haven’t read any of Kendare Blake’s books—author of other complete series like “Anne” and “Goddess War”—but her bio promised writing that was “sort of dark, always violent, and features passages describing food”. What more could you need in today’s world? Blake publishes through HarperCollins—another win—and Barnes & Noble categorized this series for young adults ages 14-17, which I found to be accurate.

Unsurprisingly I fell into the world of three black-haired, black-eyed triplet queens quite easily and it wasn’t until I ran out of pages to read that I realized how much I enjoyed this book. What I was expecting to be a replica of many current young adult novels with little to no substance and far too much drama ended up being a novel full of character development, suspense, and a well thought-out plot structure—and zero “young adult” moments or references that would induce eye rolling. That’s huge. Every “main” character, and even many of the supporting characters, had some type of conflict at some point in the book, which in turn kept you turning the page to find out what happened next, only to be met with a new chapter and someone else’s perspective. The conflict was never pointless or seemed like a “page/chapter filler” and would later serve a greater purpose for the last few pages of the book. I am sucker for well placed easter eggs, and there were quite a few. The “cliffhangers” at the end of chapters were not so dramatic that they left you angry, but they certainly served their purpose in getting you to KEEP READING. Now, the cliffhanger at the end of the book is a completely different story. Here is your warning: There is(are) a major cliffhanger(s) at the end of this book.

Things to be aware of in this novel/fun facts: as promised, there are many dark themes, and violence present in this novel, but it’s not gory. There are sexual moments, although there isn’t any explicit material—just moments of subtext and “alluding to”. This is a primarily a female-dominated realm—which is cool and unique. It takes place in a world much older than our current one and has the language and behaviors that go along with it. It is a young adult novel--so it is important to read this book with that in mind. If you are an adult reading this book, and looking for the same mental stimulation as a Sarah J Maas ACOTAR book--you will be sorely disappointed. The lens with which you read a book matters. The author uses locations as chapter headings which I found to be quite unique and cool.

Without giving too much away, I’ll leave you with my character awards:

 Favorite Character(s): Jules and Camden, of course. And I genuinely liked Billy, even though he wasn’t as prominent of a character as the others.

Favorite Character(s) Growth: Katherine & Pietyr! They both started and ended as very different people in very different ways. Their growth was subtle throughout until the very end.

Constantly Mad At but it was PROBABLY the Authors Intent: JOSEPH. What a turd.

Who Surprised Me the Most: Natalia…just when I thought I had her figured out, her choices at the end of the book flipped everything around for me.

 Silver Lining: This book was NOT a five-star read for me, but if you enjoy dynamic friendships, real-life depictions of not so perfect families, and running around in a world where being Queen is feared more than revered—give this book a try.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars