One Dark Throne

This was a brutal read. A beautiful read, a well-plotted read, a powerful read ... but absolutely brutal. Do not read if you aren’t ready to have your heart smashed and turned into heart wine.

Knocked off a star because the only explicitly queer character is an unsympathetic petty abuser. Which would be totally fine if she weren’t 100% of the queer representation. (Also, the more I think about it, the more I feel like the story would have been even more interesting if one of the queens was trans. The world-building of this island hinges on the gender binary, so there is so much dramatic potential in pushing against it.)

Disappointing lack of representation aside, if you are in the market for a book about flawed characters fighting a show more fucked up system that is hundreds of years old and embedded into every part of their culture, this is the series for you. show less

Kendare Blake‘s sequel in her Three Dark Crowns series was the one book I most wanted to read this year. To say I had high expectations is an understatement. Of course, anticipating a book and actually reading said book are two very different experiences, and I opened the pages of One Dark Throne with some trepidation and concern that it could not possibly be as good as the first book. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded, and I tore through the novel with all the fervor of someone stumbling upon an oasis after days wandering a desert.

In many ways, One Dark Throne feels like a different book. Sure, the characters are the same, as is the plot. The three queens are still fighting for one crown after all with the same allies and enemies show more as before. Yet, it is so much darker than the first book. This is in part due to what the girls experienced in the first book. No one could go through what they did and come out the same. This darkness is also due to the continuation of their story. No longer are they displaying their powers and wooing suitors. Now, they are bent upon killing each other, and this duty permeates the entire tone of the story.

The fact that there can be only one true queen and that the price of the crown is the death of two of the sisters is not new. Ms. Blake makes sure readers understand this point from the very beginning. However, understanding what is to happen and believing it will happen are two different things. Readers finish the first novel convinced that the sisters will find a way to beat the traditions and expectations and rule together. Readers are quickly disabused of this notion at the beginning of One Dark Throne. The plot takes on a macabre aspect as the girls do battle for the first time. All you can do is you wonder just how Ms. Blake is going to make her selection and how she is going to pacify the readers who are rooting for all three girls.

Admittedly, the ending is a bit disappointing. Rather than closure, you get an open-ended conclusion that will satisfy no one. The shining light of all this is the fact that somewhere along the way Ms. Blake decided to turn this duology into a longer series. This means more action, politics, romance, and bloodshed. It means the chance to visit at least one more time with characters who evoke numerous emotional responses. It gives us one more opportunity to hope that right will win as well as figure out what right looks like when it comes to this particular island and its politics. In other words, it means another year of waiting to see how the story ends. It is going to be a long wait! show less

Once I'd finished the dense and challenging [b:Seven Surrenders|28220647|Seven Surrenders (Terra Ignota, #2)|Ada Palmer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517514624s/28220647.jpg|48249332], I decided to read some YA as light relief. What I didn’t anticipate was that after Ada Palmer’s complex allusiveness, ‘One Dark Throne’ would seem rather slight by comparison. To be fair, Blake’s world of battling queens does include interesting commentary on the social construction of magic. Poisoner magic is essentially physical resilience and enhanced healing; it must have become focused on resisting poisons for some historical reason. I also liked the elements of nature versus nurture, magical gifts against training, and the portrayal show more of an idiosyncratically matriarchal political system. The world-building was thus worthwhile and original, albeit not as hyper-intellectual as Palmer’s.

Unfortunately, ‘One Dark Throne’ does suffer from the challenge of middle books in trilogies, which rarely manage to sustain the same pace as the beginning and end of the story. Here, the action only really gets underway nearly halfway through. The first two hundred pages included more romance that I cared for and could have been edited a fair bit. Around the halfway mark, though, things picked up and I was once again hooked. As I’d hoped, two queens teamed up and escaped their weird tradition-bound island. Their mum didn’t appear, although I’m holding out hope that she will in the third book. It also wasn't made explicit that Katherine has naturalist magic, although I assume that she does somewhere underneath the angry-ghost-queen possession. There were also some exciting twists that I didn’t predict: Natalia’s murder was genuinely shocking, as was Katherine’s accidental killing of her new husband. How to put this delicately… It seems her quim is deadly poisonous. The action set pieces were well done as well, especially the duel and prison break. I didn't really care that Joseph died, though, as the female characters are so much more vibrant and interesting. He was just the boring corner of a love triangle. The slower start meant that I didn’t enjoy ‘One Dark Throne’ quite as much as [b:Three Dark Crowns|28374007|Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns, #1)|Kendare Blake|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469265712s/28374007.jpg|42750582], but Blake has created an appealingly odd fantasy world and I definitely want to know what happens next. show less

I thought this was a very good follow up novel to the first (Three Dark Crowns) and it left me absolutely ravenous for the next installment! This is a fun and inventive young adult fantasy series and while it has the usual tropes; love triangles, teenage melodrama, sibling rivalry, fantastic settings, etc., it still stood out. The three queens (triplets separated at a young age to live within communities that shared their same powers) must battle during their sixteenth year and only one will be victorious and become the new de-facto queen of the whole island. The other two will be lost to history. Things get interesting though in this book and the one everyone thought would be the victor isn't looking too hot. Suddenly it's anyone's show more game. More excitement, more romance, more drama. I'm eating this series up! show less

This book was an amazingly quick and engrossing read (I read it in a day and a half). Took a couple of turns that I couldn't have predicted, but that's par the course for Kendare Blake, if the ending of the first book in this series is anything to judge by. She still manages to take a huge case of characters and make you root for all of them, whether they're likable or pitiable. She doesn't hold back from hurting and maiming her characters either; the world of Fennbirn is a real, cruel and savage place, and there are consequences for everything. Of course, being cruel to your characters is part of what makes a good, engrossing story, so this is all to the good. I would recommend this book (though start with the first, obviously) who show more wants a quick, dark, savage read. show less

I thought the first book in this series was dark, but somehow this one got darker. Our three triplet queens are now in their Ascension year, and are actively trying to kill each other to be the one remaining Queen to rule them all.

Well, mostly Katharine is trying to kill everyone. Mirabella and Arsinoe are very much in “can’t we all get along and not do this whole killing thing?” territory. And after the events at the end of the first book, Katharine is certifiably off her rocker in this book. Not even her family really understands what she is doing. Mirabella is just keep on keepin’ on, and Arsinoe is wondering what the heck her powers actually are.

After the sometimes slow buildup of the first book, this one is non-stop action. show more Katharine’s murderous rampage is probably the most entertaining part, but I did enjoy some of the political machinations that are happening behind the scenes. By the end, you think things are going one way, and then everything gets turned on its head. And everyone important is still alive!

I really enjoyed this book, and I will definitely be continuing this series!

Side note: I listened to the audiobook (it’s been SO LONG since I listened to an audiobook), and apparently “Arsinoe” is not at all pronounced like I expected. I eventually got used to it, but it threw me the first several times I heard it. show less

"He does not love you like I do. He cannot."
"And how do you know, Pietyr?" Katharine asks, leaning so close that he must feel her breath against his ear. "What must he do to prove he does? Must he throw me down into the Breccia Domain?"

This book has this strange effect on me where it can be so frustrating, I don't trust the author at all, I can feel it meandering, and yet somehow, SOMEHOW, I'm enjoying it regardless. It's that thing about aesthetic and atmosphere and - okay, and Katharine. I picked up this book solely for Katharine and she got better and better.

This was a ton better than the first one, and now I kinda see how the first one had made its mission to bother me. The two easily could have fit into one book. All the show more brick-by-brick worldbuilding and characterization didn't add up to anything all that important in the first book, but I could see some pieces - not many, but some - falling into place in this one, finally. The premise actually plays a part! The suitors aren't just fodder for lazy love triangles! Katharine CRUSHES EVERYTHING AND I LOVE HER. When it isn't dragging its feet - those handful of moments where it's genuinely the coolest - I'm totally in love again and I remember why I'm here. I'm here for more crazy undead bear bullshit.

(ps all those events were about Katharine) (ily)

We got more cool bits to work with this time (tattooed crown YES PLEASE) and finally some action that puts the girls' alliances and goals into perspective. I feel like I finally know them a little better and not like I'm just watching a bunch of cardboard cut-outs wander around as Blake realizes with every scene that there's no way this premise can go on so long without some super artificial non-obstacles and non-problems.
Every other character however...?

It's just...it's so frustrating? I don't understand anyone and I don't know why. It's not like we don't spend a ton of time with them. But short of the sisters, Jules, Madrigal, Billy, and Natalia, I can't predict, relate to, or understand anybody. So it feels so hack and so confusing when they're changing/acting rashly because I don't know what they were like before. I can't find the baseline for the cast, on everything from appearance to how they speak. It's tiring...I want to love so many characters but they feel so incredibly unreal.

So, well, that's me, I guess. I'll stew until the next book comes out and then decide if I should again go for the story of Katharine, how she's actually doing her job, and her sidekicks. Pietyr. show less