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Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1)

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3.85  ·  Rating Details ·  20,091 Ratings  ·  4,503 Reviews
Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a natu ...more
Kindle Edition, 416 pages
Published September 20th 2016 by HarperTeen
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Popular Answered Questions

Kendare Blake Yes! Book Two is almost a wrap. Should be out next year. I'm so glad you liked Three Dark Crowns! Thank you for reading ;)
Kendare Blake Depends on the reader? If it were a movie, I'd go PG-13 for adult themes/violence. Of course, I wrote it, so I'm probably not the best judge.
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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30)
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Emily May
Three Dark Crowns has an interesting premise, but it manages to be insufferably boring for the first 75%. I foresee many DNFs on the horizon for this book.

It's about three sisters, three queens, essentially competing for the throne. They - Katharine, Arsinoe and Mirabella - each live in different parts of the land, each have a different power, and each have a different group of supporters aiding them. This is an "in every generation, there are three chosen ones..." kind of thing. However, throug
...more
Cait • A Page with a View
I AM SHRIEKING INTERNALLY RIGHT NOW at how genius that ending was. I almost called this a DNF towards the beginning because there were so many characters and I didn't know what was happening, but I'm so glad I stuck with it because this story became absolutely awesome. I NEED the sequel now!

Three Black Witches are born in a glen,
sweet little triplets
will never be friends.

Three Black Witches, all fair to be seen
two to devour
and one to be queen


The whole story is just so delightfully creepy, intens
...more
Riley
Jan 07, 2017 Riley rated it liked it
Shelves: new-releases
Do you like fantasy?
Do you like badass morally-grey women?
Do you want to burn the patriarchy?
If so, this is the book for you.
Laura
Jul 30, 2015 Laura rated it really liked it
Three dark queens
are born in a glen,
sweet little triplets
will never be friends.

Three dark sisters
all fair to be seen,
two to devour
and one to be Queen.


This was SO much darker than I originally expected and it is GOOD. The world-building, the twists, the characters, the premise itself. It's hard not to be pulled deep into the story. Consider me invested! For a first book where clearly the concept had to be set up, as well as the world..I still found there was a lot going on. This just gives me m
...more
Natalie Monroe
2.5 stars

"Three dark sisters
All fair to be seen,
Two to devour
And one to be queen"




Three Dark Crowns offends me. It promised me scheming sisters and political intrigue and power plays. Instead I get this:



And this:



And a whole lot of this:



80% of the book is the sisters (Katharine, Mirabella, and Arinsoe) waffling around, training, and getting acquainted with their love interests. What's each island's culture? How did the tradition of Triplets Hunger Games begin? No fucking idea, but look, dreamy
...more
Hailey (HaileyInBookland)
3.5*
This was incredibly hard for me to get into. I found the first half to be quite boring but I just found the whole concept to be so interesting that I had to stick with it. I'm glad that I did because it did get better, but half of a book is a long time to not really be enjoying it.
Brittney ~ Her Bookish Things
4.5 stars. Wow this was bloody fantastic.

BUT.

The first 35% or so was ROUGH. I honestly would have DNF'ed this had it not been for friends telling me to keep going. I'M SO GLAD I DID. So if you're reading this and you get bored/overwhelmed with all the names/generally disinterested... it WILL pick up! (And don't worry about memorizing all the character names/who is who.)

Basically we have three triplets. They are separated at a young age and each raised in separate parts of the kingdom/island thi
...more
sreeja

Three dark sisters
All fair to be seen,
Two to devour
And one to be Queen”

giphy0b1d9.gif

well that was misleading and disappointing

finally im done typing out this longass rant& im conflicted because IDK if i should give this 2 stars?

LOOK I’M SORRY I REALLY WANTED TO LOVE THIS, I REALLY DID (but it was really bad)
I am so surprised I didn’t like this book because this kind of books are my kind of books. I am so pissed and honestly this review will just be messy paragraphs of me talking about how disappoint
...more
Ben Alderson
Jun 29, 2016 Ben Alderson rated it really liked it
Firstly, I have to say that I really did not jell with this book. It took me a moment to get used to the POV it was written in and also, didn't really understand what was happening in the first three chapters, then when I realised that it was written from different perspectives every chapters i GOT IT!
-
P.s that is not the books fault, completely my fault!
I really did enjoy this novel, the ending was brilliant.
My only issues was it could be slow at times, and not much happened in the middle of
...more
Melissa ♥ Dog Lover ♥ Martin
My September Owlcrate Box! I wasn't sure I was going to read this book, but I am now of course :-)

 :

I didn't like much of anything about this book but the ending.



And NOT because it was the ending, I mean the ending was really good. I will get the next book from the library just to see what happens because some things that I thought might be happening did but in a different way <--- which only makes sense to me. AND there is the note of revenge! I love revenge and this person deserves revenge!!
...more
Kimi
Dec 08, 2016 Kimi rated it really liked it

“Three dark queens
Are born in a glen,
Sweet little triplets
Will never be friends

Three dark sisters
All fair to be seen,
Two to devour
And one to be Queen”

When I first heard about the premise of this book, I instantly knew I was going to enjoy it because it sounded right up my alley. Basically, there are three dark sisters who have to try to kill each other after their sixteenth birthday because only one of them can be queen. DUN DUN DUUUUN. Tell me this doesn’t sound like the coolest story ever.

 
K
...more
Trina (Between Chapters)
While I was reading this I had several people tell me they were hesitant to read it because of the mixed reviews and wanted to know what my thoughts were, so I will try to address whether or not I think you will enjoy this book.

It has a slow start, and I think that's why a lot of people struggle getting into it. There are 3 POVs, set in different locations, with different politics, side characters, and types magic to learn. You essentially get 3x the introduction. It did feel slow at first to me
...more
Kiki
How could a book with such a promising premise fall so flat? (This is a stupid question and by now, having been a Goodreads member for seven years, I ought to know better.)

The thing is, right, that the first chapter was absolutely mesmerizing. In fact, Katharine remained the only character I was even mildly interested in for the rest of the book. But sometimes I like to look at it this way: if I were a literary agent, and this book came into my query inbox, and the author had attached the first
...more
emma
3.25/5. but a FUN 3.25!!

This book was far from perfect, but hell if it wasn’t a good time. And after two not so fun reads, I needed it!


https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...

Did I like any of the characters? Uh, not totally. In fact, I hated a bunch of them. (I would physically fight Mirabella and Joseph if I was ever given the chance, and I would like roughly 50% of the characters to line up so I can efficiently slap each of them across the face.) Most of them were super flat--I’d say all of t
...more
Stacee
Dec 10, 2014 Stacee rated it it was amazing
Having loved Kendare's other series, I was beyond excited to get my hands on this one.

First off, love love loved that we got POV from all three of the sisters. It made it so easy to relate to their turmoil and the situation as a whole. Because we got to see and know everything, it definitely made for some delicious tension and screaming while reading.

I don't want to say too much and ruin the reading experience for anyone else, so I'll just say that this is one of the best roller coasters I've ev
...more
✨    jamieson   ✨
“Three dark queens
Are born in a glen,
Sweet little triplets
Will never be friends

Three dark sisters
All fair to be seen,
Two to devour
And one to be Queen”


haha this book ? I AM ETERNALLY CONFLICTED


A thorough guide of what I was thinking while reading this book

start: "Oh, actually this is super interesting. love the set up of the world and the queens"

100 pages in: "Okay. This is a bit boring, and there are so many characters I am a little confused. I'll keep reading"

200 pages in: No. This is not g
...more
Jenna Major
Dec 05, 2016 Jenna Major rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: fantasy fans!
QUICK REVIEW: I gave Three Dark Crown's 4.5/5 stars! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is my personal ranking of the queen's:
Katherine>Arisnoe>Mirabella
Even though I did rank the queen's, I did like all of them,
I think the world is super interesting. I enjoyed all of the little story arcs, characters and writing. I found the writing style different then what I am used to, but not in a bad way. I quite enjoyed it. THE ENDING WAS SUCH A GOOD ENDING BUT I WISH IT WAS LONGER! WE HAVE TO WAI
...more
Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ Rabid Reads
This one is unsurprisingly darrrrrk.

Three sisters, only one can be queen, and only after she kills the other two.

O______O

Sounds like a good time, right? A good and CREEPTASTIC time. Like when the first of the three queens we meet, Katharine, gets asked to dance at her poison ball (more on that later):

Katharine lets him lead her to the floor and pull her close. A beautiful blue-and-green Deathstalker scorpion is pinned to his right lapel. It is still slightly alive. Its legs writhe sluggishly,
...more
Korrina  (OwlCrate)
Jan 24, 2016 Korrina (OwlCrate) rated it it was amazing
This book was so unique! It took me a little while to settle into the new world and familiarize myself with the characters, but once I did the story took off. It took so many twists I wasn't expecting and by the end of the book my heart was pounding. I think this book is going to be big!
maybelline ⚓

Buddy read with my girl, Bianca

One word: A N T I C L I M A C T I C

What was even the purpose of this book, omg.

Three dark queens
are born in a glen,
sweet little triplets
will never be friends

Three dark sisters
all fair to be seen,
two to devour
and one to be Queen


^^That’s probably the best part of the book.

Let’s do a quick introduction to our characters, shall we? I saw these on EpicReads and was likes yasssss. #accurate

description

description

description

So these are our main characters, the three queens who must prove to t
...more
Cindy ✩☽ Savage Queen ♔
Three dark queens are born in a glen, sweet little triplets will never be friends. There dark sisters all fair to be seen, two to devour and one to be Queen.

Devoured this book so easily. Honestly, I've been on such a winning streak with books lately. And this book is no different.

As mentioned in the summary, the book follows the tale of three sisters raised apart with the sole purpose of the killing the others in order to claim the throne. It is a complicated, dark and deadly journey for thes
...more
Bentley ★ Bookbastion.net
Have you ever come across a book where just the blurb on the inside cover can make you feel like this:



And then the premise goes largely unfulfilled by the author and you're left feeling more like this:



Yeah, that's how I felt reading this. Lets be real here. This book promise dark fantasy, magic, and a fight to the death between three sisters, and what we really end up getting is heteronormative romance stories masquerading as fantasy. The plot of the three sisters meeting and having an epic sho
...more
Aj the Ravenous Reader
The concept of the novel is brilliant. Three sisters, triplets for that matter have to kill each other to become the one and only queen. It’s mainly why I persisted till the end, so Ms. Kendare Blake does deserve recognition for coming up with such a twisted idea.

Alas, besides the brilliant concept, I regret to say that I didn’t find anything else about the entire novel brilliant. *pouts*

I picked up the book with extreme levels of excitement that I was literally jumping in my seat as I read the
...more
Caitlin
Jan 10, 2017 Caitlin rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: 4-stars, 2017-read
I finished this last night and I'm honestly still in shock. Wow. I don't even know what to say.

Three dark queens
Are born in a glen,
Sweet little triplets
Will never be friends

Three dark sisters
All fair to be seen,
Two to devour
And one to be Queen


This is one of those books that you really need to stick to. Honestly, I'm not surprised that I've seen so many mixed reviews and dnf's for this book. My physical copy is 406 pages long and it took 293 pages to build up to the 'main point' of this book.
...more
Maureen
Dec 22, 2016 Maureen rated it really liked it
3.5/5 stars

I really enjoyed this overall, especially the plot and especially how female-centric it was!! It was so unique and unlike anything I've read. The writing, however, didn't really draw me in. It moved quickly, but sometimes felt a bit clunky. LOVED the characters and I can't wait to see more of them in the next book!
Dannii Elle
Jun 22, 2017 Dannii Elle rated it liked it
Actual rating 3.5 stars.

I am totally torn on my opinions of this book! On one hand, it is refreshing to see a YA fantasy not completely dominated by an angsty romance, and I also appreciated the interplay between the three sisters this focuses on. The political intrigue was high and the lack of action, promised in the synopsis, did not bother me as I found enough puzzling elements to satiate my desire to be thrilled. The ending was also pleasantly surprising and I found the ulterior twists unpre
...more
Christina
Jan 10, 2017 Christina rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
4 Stars!

Three dark queens
are born in a glen,
sweet little triplets
will never be friends

Three dark sisters
all fair to be seen,
two to devour
and one to be queen


In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born - three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn't solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it's not just a game of win or lose...it's life or death. The night the sisters
...more
Aimee
Dec 23, 2014 Aimee marked it as to-read
Shelves: wishlist-print, 2016
Kendare Blake + triplets trying to kill each other? Sold.
Miranda (MrsLeif's Two Fangs About It)
I went into this book with lower expectations because I have heard mixed things about this book. A majority of people either loved or hated this book! So, I was a bit skeptical of this book. I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up really liking this book!

When I first started Three Dark Crowns , I thought I wasn't going to like it because the first couple chapters of this book were slow and confusing. I felt like I got thrown into the book with little to no explanation as to what was happeni
...more
helen the bookowl
Jan 08, 2017 helen the bookowl rated it it was amazing
This was one of the best YA novels I've read for a long time. It comes with an original idea and it delivers this idea intriguingly and without inhibitions.
This is a bloody and eerie story which you seldom see in books targeted towards YA. I can't decide whether that's disturbing or not, but I personally loved how Kendare Blake provides you with a murderous and uncanny story that leaves nothing out.
"Three Dark Crowns" is the story of three queens and sisters who are born at the same time. Six
...more
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So, I write books. The Anna Dressed in Blood duo is horror, The Goddess War trilogy is mythology, and Sleepwalk Society is contemporary, because the world don't move to the beat of just one drum. What might be right for you, may not be right for some. Love to read, too. Fiction, philosophy, good books, bad books, because you take the good you take the bad you take them both and there you have a st ...more
More about Kendare Blake...

Other Books in the Series

Three Dark Crowns (4 books)
  • One Dark Throne (Three Dark Crowns, #2)
  • Untitled (Three Dark Crowns, #3)
  • Untitled (Three Dark Crowns, #4)

Share This Book



“Three dark queens
Are born in a glen,
Sweet little triplets
Will never be friends

Three dark sisters
All fair to be seen,
Two to devour
And one to be Queen”
71 likes
“I want revenge." She whispers, and her fingers trail bloody streaks down Natalia's arms.
"And then I want my crown.”
31 likes
More quotes…