Official Synopsis from Goodreads: The battle for the Crown has begun, but which of the three sisters will prevail?
With the unforgettable events of the Quickening behind them and the Ascension Year underway, all bets are off. Katharine, once the weak and feeble sister, is stronger than ever before. Arsinoe, after discovering the truth about her powers, must figure out how to make her secret talent work in her favor without anyone finding out. And Mirabella, once thought to be the strongest sister of all and the certain Queen Crowned, faces attacks like never before—ones that put those around her in danger she can’t seem to prevent.
In this enthralling sequel to Kendare Blake’s New York Times bestselling Three Dark Crowns, Fennbirn’s deadliest queens must face the one thing standing in their way of the crown: each other.
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
My Copy Came From: I borrowed One Dark Throne from my local library.
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My thoughts:
Meh. Which is a shame! I really wanted to love this book, as the premise of this series is different enough to be intriguing, but there is a distinct lack of world building in this series. Or perhaps I should say that the world is built, but as a reader I’m not grasping what exactly the world is all about. About halfway through this entry I found myself begging for some descriptive paragraphs detailing the world, and the beliefs, and the terminology used. I don’t know why the queens are fighting – is it just to be the last standing? No one has ever dared to dispute this fight to the death between sisters before? I feel like I don’t know what anything is or why it matters. The character of Katherine has changed drastically from book one, now she is so bloodthirsty, she was almost painful to read. I really wasn’t a fan of this entry in the series, which is too bad. I’ll definitely be reading the next book, as I’m invested in the story and characters enough to want to continue on, but I was disappointed in this entry.
LINKS ***the Amazon link is an affiliate link which means I receive a small commission if you click the link and make a purchase***
Link to my review of Three Dark Crowns (Book One)
I wrote this spotlight instead of a full review due to my blog still being on somewhat of a hiatus right now. I’m back, looking at reviews and commenting on other posts, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I am unable to write full reviews at this time. I hope to be back to writing full reviews shortly!
Are you a fan of this series? Which sister is your favorite? What are you hoping happens in book three?
luvtoread 
I thought they were all fighting to be named queen? I haven’t read the books, but I’ve read several reviews! It sounds to me like a sort of Hunger Games: young people fighting to the death in a competition.
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Yeah, they are fighting to be queen, but there is no description of what “being queen” actually means. There really isn’t an acting queen now, it is just like the “power” resides in the winning queens people (ie, the poisoners rule if the poison queen wins, the elementals rule if their queen wins, etc). I’m very confused as to why ruling matters – it isn’t like the world has been built up with one group trying to destroy all the other groups, and they all seem to live in relative comfort (ie, no poverty), so I don’t really get it. I want more info! Whereas in The Hunger Games, I bought into the fact that they had to fight – the dynamics of that world made sense to me, while things in this series strike me as being thrown in just to move the plot in different directions. Maybe all will be explained in book three, but I don’t have high hopes.
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Ach shame about this- but I totally hear where you’re coming from- I think a lot of the ideas in this story seem underdeveloped. I’m invested enough to read this too, but yeah, there’s a lot lacking from this series. Great review though!
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Thanks! Yeah, it’s like the book is *almost* there – I really want some long chapters detailing what the world is all about. I like the fast pace of the book, but at the same time I miss that world-building that is necessary in a fantasy book!
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You’re welcome! Ah that’s a shame, but I get what you mean about that, cos I felt that with the first one
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Maybe we’ll get that detail in book three, although I’m not too optimistic ! But I’ll still read it 🙂
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hehehe I know I’ll probably read all of them to be honest 😉
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