This was archived before I could download the book, however recently I decided to buy the novel for myself as I did quite enjoy the first & heard many people enjoy the rest of this series. I am not one of them. I got halfway through the book when I decided I wanted to DNF (something I very rarely do) as I just could not connect with the characters. Despite having different powers etc, the characters personalities felt interchangeable and I found myself confused with who is who, who is with what, who likes who, and so on. It was just too confusing for me, and I did not find the worldbuilding or political intrigue strong enough to want to continue. I may return to this series at a later date, but for now it is a pass for me.

This is the sequel to Three Dark Crowns – released last year. In this review I’m going to first go-over the first book in this series, covering what it is about in a non-spoiler manner. I’ll then go into this sequel giving away a few spoilers – but don’t worry, I’ll put a “warning” before-hand for those who have not read it.

In Three Dark Crown we follow 3 sister whom were separated at a very young age. The reason for this is because, in this Kingdom/Island, each generation the queen gives birth to triplets – all of which have different powers. The three triplets are separated, therefore, to different parts of the Island to be raised by those with similar powers. The year the triplets turn 16 they battle with each-other to the death; the winner, of course, is then crowned Queen. This is where basically to story in the first novel commences. It’s definitely a darker fantasy and very matriarchal, where the women are most certainly in power. The story also is definitely centred on the 3 sisters lives as they learn to develop their powers and also being raised knowing that one day they’ll have to kill their siblings. The first book is definitely slower at the start, which happens in most fantasy novels as the ground-work needs to be laid and I have uploaded a Review for it, so I won’t go into it much further here.

One Dark Throne picks up right after the events of Three Dark Crowns and it hits the ground running. There is never a dull moment in this book, so many things start to happen at once, especially the last quarter of it where it turns quite intense. Because Three Dark Crowns does such a good job at explaining the characters and land, the sequel never feels overwhelming even though so much is going on.
I can’t say too much else without spoiling it for it. I can say that the sequel was amazing, I gave it a 4★ and definitely enjoyed it.

* Spoiler Warning * If you haven’t read Three Dark Crowns or One Dark Throne do not read any further.

At the end of Three Dark Crowns we learn that Arsinoe is a poisoner – i.e. her and Katherine were switches at birth and placed “assigned” the wrong powers. The questions, therefore, still remains whether Katherine would then be a naturalist – although this still isn’t covered in One Dark Throne, although it would make sense.

If in the first book I would have known that Katherine was going to be crowned queen, I would have been somewhat happy – especially considering what she went through. Her storyline was definitely one of the more interesting ones, with the poising training and ingesting. However, in One Dark Throne Katherine had such a dark turn (which I think we’re definitely going to learn more about in book #3) and her storyline wasn’t as interesting, she most certainly was nothing close to being a nice character. We of course know this has something to do with Peter pushing her into the Breccia Domain and what remains at the bottom of the Domain, but many questions have still been left understand; for example, she kills her husband because she has SO much poison within her (maybe something to do with the Breccia Domain incident?) but yet we know that she isn’t the poison queen, in theory she should be a naturalist. So many interesting things are definitely going to happen with her storyline in books to come, which I most certainly can’t wait for.

Arsinoe also starts to find her place in the sequel and her storyline definitely develops more. However, I was sort of disappointed with Mirabella. She started off being a very strong characters in book #1 and in One Dark Throne we see a more caring side of her; which I enjoyed but I think we lost of bit of who she actually was. Arsinoe and her end-up fleeing to the Mainland in the end and that, to me, just seemed like a very parculiar move on especially Mirabella’s part.

Lastly, as if things couldn’t get crazy enough, we learn that Jules (Arsinoe’s best friend) is legion cursed, and Joseph dies – although I would have been sadder about this if he has chosen Mirabella, plus I think that would have made a more interesting story. Thus, Jules doesn’t end-up going to the Mainland with the sisters and instead returns to the Island. I’m assuming her goal will be to get payback for his death but it’ll definitely be interesting to follow and see what happens.

Therefore, there are plenty of things that are going to go on in Book #3. Also the title of the next book is “Two Dark Rules” – what’s going on with that? I’m so intrigued about what’s going to happen next.
In all, I definitely enjoyed this book and, if you’ve read it, who’s your favourite queen now? I definitely can’t choose now…

Three Dark Crowns was my first read of 2017 and I couldn't stop thinking about it, so when the first few chapters of the sequel One Dark Throne came up for request, I jumped at the chance. This was an incredible sequel which expanded upon the well loved characters and politics. My main fault was the disjustice done to the Queens. In the previous book, each was shown the same amount of love in making them all seem real and have humanity, this was dropped for one sister in particular. Which is incredibly sad to see. But other than that, I can't wait for the next book in the series.

The first of these books is a treasure and I can't wait to get my hands on the full version of this one!!

What a tease! So glad this came in the post this morning so I could finish reading, reviews will be up shortly of the full book :)

What a great start to the second book in the Three Dark Crowns series!!! I have missed Kandare Blake's writing, even though I just finished the first book! This start of the book2 has set the tongue for the sequel and I cannot wait to read the whole thing. It is going to blow my mind again just like book1. I cannot wait to see how this story will end!

I can't wait to read the full book when it comes out!

A short sampler of the second installment in the Three Dark Crowns series. I enjoyed the first book, while it was slow to take off, the world building was excellent and I got a real feel for who the sisters were. Funnily enough I haven't written a review for the first book, and thought I'd have to go back and re-read, but a few pages into this sampler I remembered the events and the sisters clearly. This gets going straight away and I can't wait to see what happens.

One Dark Throne picks up where Three Dark Crowns left off, just after the eventful Quickening and the aftermath that will surely follow.

How will things develop following the revelation with one of the sisters at the end of book one (trying to avoid spoilers here). Will the third sister develop her own gift, the same as someone else, none at all? How will that play out. Will they get found out in their lies?

What will happen when Mirabella meets back up with Joseph and Jules.

What will Katharine do when she sees Pietyr again?

Will Arsinoe go too far dabbling with low magic?

Which sister will get to the others first, who will come out triumphant?

Full of intrigue, politics and feuds that have lasted lifetimes. Magic, power, poison, animal familiars. What more could you want!

OMG! I love this duology so much!
Adored three dark crowns for it's brilliant YA depiction of three sisters stuck in a horrible situation none of them want to be in, but through politics, mind-games, insecurities and hideous circumstances they are all groomed to fight to the death. I think it's an excellent concept and so well done.
The writing is incredibly relatable - I am rooting for all of the sisters, so I don't know what I will do at the end as only one of them can be Queen!
So so excited for this book to come out.
Will recommend to EVERYONE!

I really enjoyed the first book, but this sampler showed me that the story really didn't stick. I'll need to read it again before the second book is released. I forgot so many key characters!

This sampler re-introduces most of the main players, including, of course, the three sisters. The first novel ended on quite a bang, but the second novel seems to be picking a short time after rather than directly after the events, at a calmer time. Obviously that means there will be a build up again to a climax, but after the first novel took so much time with world building and story telling, I hoped that we'd get a bit more action early on. The sampler is only the first 3 chapters though, so I won't complain. For all I know, it could all kick off in chapter 4! I do hope that there is more story regarding the relationships between the sisters though, and less focus on the romance, which in my opinion was the weakest point of the first novel, especially the jarring insta-love on the beach scene. No more of that please. Otherwise, looking forward to reading the rest of this novel, which I pre-ordered as soon as it existed on Amazon!

Can't wait to read the full version of the book! Really excited to see where my favourite queen, Katharine's, story goes.