“One Dark Throne”
By Kendare Blake
Book 2 of Three Dark Crowns Series
The cliffhanger from the initial novel of this series did it’s job: I was eager to get to the second book of the “Three Dark Crowns” series. While this read was not short of conflicts and resolutions that kept me engaged enough to finish the book, this novel did not live up to my expectations. The things that I enjoyed the most about the first book—well written “easter eggs” spread throughout the novel, proper character development that wasn’t too fantastical or unrealistic, and a unique story line that I had not read before—were not present in this sequel. I also felt like the YA writing and dialogue was too different from the quite mature moments Blake always includes. It was difficult to read passages depicting some gruesome murders, sisterly-harm, or barbaric community practices and then read conversations and thought processes with these teenage main characters that were indeed aptly written for their ages—but therefore contrasting to the overall material. Because the characters actions and experiences were not matching up well with their perceived adolescent intelligence, it was hard for me to stay engaged and “believing” in the world Blake originally created. For example, Katherine’s storyline takes a drastic turn that had me rolling my eyes far too much at the end, Arsinoe almost died far too many times with either no reasonable explanation as to why OR a the same reason was used too many times, and the romances were a tad too predictable for me (which are usually endearing to me, but for whatever reason they were not this time).
With that being said, I’m sure that if I was in fact the age of the targeted audience—which I was estimate to be between 14-16 years old—I would have enjoyed this book a lot more. I also have to take into consideration that I was reading a very mature, intellectually stimulating novel at the same time as this one which may have influenced my enjoyment of “One Dark Throne”. I still loved finding out more about this unique, female-dominated world of magical and powerful women, and I still really enjoyed seeing how these three sisters might find their way back to each other with the help of some very compelling secondary characters.
With that, here are my character line-ups from “One Dark Throne”:
Favorite Character(s): Billy! He stole the show and my heart. What a guy.
Favorite Character(s) Growth: Nothing of note, unfortunately.
Constantly Mad At but it was PROBABLY the Authors intent: Still Joseph, although I do NOT think that was the author’s intent this time. (I hold grudges). I also did not enjoy Katherine in this book.
Who Surprised Me the Most: Caragh—finally getting to meet her and see her interactions with her family was super fun to read.
Silver Lining: While this novel was not nearly as captivating as its predecessor, the storyline is so unique and the world Kendare Blake created is so well developed that it is definitely worth exploring if you can handle some gore or gruesome events!
Rating: 3 of 5 stars.
