Audio Friday

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Read by Amy Landon

Summary from Goodreads:

When kingdom come, there will be one.

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. 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 naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

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 turn sixteen, the battle begins.

Confession:

This book was simply amazing! It was hard to put it down, mostly because I couldn’t predict where it was going and how this first book in the duology was going to end.  I had lots of suspicions about the characters and where the story was going to take them.  Some turned out to be right, others I’m not sure about yet.  All three queens were amazing characters with lots of potential to grow.  Each has their strengths and their weaknesses.  I’m not sure where the character Jules is going to fit into the ending, but I’m sure her role is going to turn out bigger than it we are lead to believe.

At it’s heart this book is really about family loyalty and how others can influence your feelings.  I really think that Mirabella really cares about her sisters and doesn’t want to kill them, and I think deep down the others don’t want to kill either, but everyone around them keeps telling them they have to kill or be killed.  What a way to grow up! Especially Katherine’s childhood just sounded awful.  (Another book with a poisoner, I told you there appears to be a trend happening!) Arsinoe was perhaps my least favorite of the three sisters.  She was a bit weak and whinny and I really hated how she let Jules mother boss her around, telling her that her way was the only way.

I enjoyed all of the boys in the book, although they all had their many flaws.  Joseph, I so like you at the beginning of the book, but then that thing happened and I don’t know you will have a lot to make up for in the next book.  Pietyr was a bit of a puzzle.  I liked him, but he had lots of ulterior motives for hanging out with Katherine, although I hope that at the end he meant well and regretted what he did.  I also like the suitor Junior, sorry I can’t remember the full name, who hangs out with Arsenoe.  I’m not sure what he saw in her, but I admired that he believed in her.

The audio was good.  Amy Landon did a good job.  It was a little hard to listen to one voice this time. I was getting use to listening to multiple narrators from the last couple of books.  There were some times that I thought her voice was a little robotic, but overall she did a nice job.  I do wish that I had held off a little longer listening to it.  I thought the next book was coming out this spring, but I think the release date is in September.  Hopefully I won’t forget some of the finer plot points by then.

Here is a video that explains the story form Epic reads.  If you’ve never been to Epic Reads website I highly recommend them, they have lots of fun stuff like this video and lots of good recommendations.

Have you read Three Dark Crowns?  What did you thinK?