Kendare Blake: Three Dark Crowns - Three Dark Crowns book 1

This one was really popular in YA several years ago. I know... I'm always reading older books. But I was fascinated by the dark cover and spooky vibes. I picked this up as an audiobook and started it a couple of months ago. Lately, I've been really good and listening to books on my way home from work and while cleaning.

Three sisters, divided as children. Each with a different power. Kat is a poisoner, capable of mixing power potions designed to bring death upon any enemy. Arsinoe is a naturalist, who can make plants bloom and summon an animal familiar. Mirabella is an elemental with the power to control the weather and fire. Two of the sisters are incredibly weak, and one very strong. After Beltane, comes the Year of Ascension, where two sisters must die, and one will become queen. Who will prove strong enough to survive?

I had no expectations going into this book. I had no idea what it was about, or anything. I just knew that it was popular. I was hooked pretty much from the start. The first chapter did a really good job of setting the scene, and describing the sisters and what would happen after their birthday without feeling like a huge info dump. Blake cleverly gave all of the background as tidbits with each character, but also by making conversations give background or details. It was really well written that way in my opinion.

I enjoyed the different characters. They were each unique, and once I realized that it was a character rotation book, I was fascinated by the idea that two of these characters were supposed to die. I was rooting for all of them, and was really curious about how Blake was going to handle the perspectives.

The plot of this was a little slow in my opinion. I liked it, and I thought the writing was good, but the character rotation does bog down the pacing a little bit. I felt that not much happened until I was halfway in. I could tell there was a lot of set up for what was eventually going to happen, and so it didn't lose my interest, but it dragged just a little.

This book ended on a crazy cliff hanger. I'm going to have to get book two now...

I rated this ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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