Buddy Review| One Dark Throne – Kendare Blake

After both reading Three Dark Crowns and loving it, we knew we both needed to read One Dark Throne. Buddy Reads are a lot of fun and it’s nice to be able to rant about the book you’re reading, haha. To find out what we think about One Dark Throne, keep reading.

One Dark Throne continues right after the events in Three Dark Crowns. 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

Cover

Candyce: I love that this cover doesn’t have much going on. The black background makes the throne pop out. All three of the gifts the Queens have are represented on the throne. Makes me wonder who will win.

Isabelle: I really love this cover. It fits perfectly with the first cover and with the story. This is the type of cover I like, the throne is beautiful and super detailed. I could look at it for quite a while haha.

Plot

Candyce: Before starting this I kind of wondered if it could be just as good as the first book was. I can say it was and with some points maybe even better. Just after the first few pages I was right back in the world and couldn’t put the book down. This book was so good and kept me guessing what would happen. Just when I thought I knew which Queen would be crowned something happened that I totally didn’t expect. Arsinoe, Mirabella and Katherine all went through something during the Quickening. I think Katherine changed the most because of that and in an evil way, haha. The way the Queens and their family/inner circle plotted and planned was one big political game.  And they weren’t afraid to go low to get what they wanted. All of the events leading up to the crowning kept me on the edge of my seat. The fact that we read from different POVs made this book so much more interesting. Up until the end I really didn’t know what would happen and to be honest I’m still not sure how I feel about the ending. To a certain point it ended well, but so many things were still left really open. It wasn’t how I expected this book to end. I need another book to be able to know how this all plays out. There was some romance in this book and it was quite interesting. Even that is a political game at certain points.

Isabelle: I was a bit hesitant about this one after hearing the duology would become a quartet, I really liked the idea of a duology neatly wrapped up with one of the Queens on the throne. However, 4 books might mean a completely different ending, or an insanely long and dragged out fight between the queens. Luckily there was no need to worry, Kendare Blake spun an incredible tale with twists and turns I never saw coming. I was at the edge of my seat for basically the whole novel and I enjoyed it so so much.

Same as Candyce I was sucked into the story right away and I could hardly put it down. The multiple POV’s show you things that the characters don’t know and makes you wish you could get in there and tell them to turn back or to not do something haha. It also makes the story very rich and engaging. It was more action packed as the first novel, I know a lot of people complained about the slow pace in the first novel. However, that never bothered me as I finished Three Dark Crowns in one day haha. But I do think this one was a bit faster past, so if that was a reason for you to put off reading One Dark Throne I would recommend picking it up!

Like I said there were a lot of twists and turns, throughout the novel I thought I knew where the story would go but I was so wrong. The story kept surprising me again and again. Especially the last couple of chapters were quite suspenseful and surprising! I shouted a couple of times I think haha, I never saw the ending coming and I’m still a bit thorn up about it. Before, I mentioned two possible ‘endings’ and I’m still not sure what I would prefer, 2 dead Queens and 1 on the throne or 3 Queens alive and fighting possibly each other or something on the island? During the novel I kept going back and forth between those options and I’m still not sure where I landed 😉 this book made me feel stuff for sure!

Worldbuilding

Candyce: The world created in this story is actually rather unique. The map at the beginning of this book is beautiful and helped me a lot while reading. This is a concept that I haven’t read before. A world where three Queens are born, but only one is meant to survive and rule. I love this concept. The way it’s built that there are three gifts and that families take the Queens in with their gift to raise and train them. It’s got to be a hard idea that you are basically being raised to kill your two sisters. I would love to visit this world, just because the surroundings sound very beautiful!

Isabelle: I enjoyed the worldbuilding a lot. The first novel set up most of the world already and its a pretty brutal one, especially for our Queens. Having ‘just’ 1 island that important to the story makes the worldbuilding a bit easier I think. The world outside of the island is basically our world and doesn’t need any explanation. I love that we got a map in this series, I think any good fantasy series needs one 😉 I agree with Candyce, I would love to visit the island and see how all the people with their different gifts live.

Characters

Candyce: The families are very interesting and the people surrounding the Queens as well. I think that Arsinoe’s family is the most interesting. I love Jules and Camden and the place they grow up in. Arsinoe is kind of insecure seeing how the gift she is supposed to have isn’t necessarily going they way it’s supposed to. To a certain point she is annoying at times because she kind of wants to give up or gets to a point she wants to use magic that can be dangerous. I did really want her to win though, because she is a fun character. Katherine changed from Thee Dark Crowns. Something happened when she was pushed. She isn’t the same anymore and that is very clear. She has gone from a fragile girl to rather evil. If I’m honest she’s my least favorite character. Just don’t like her.

Mirabella has been treated like a Queen since she was young and again another family who would do anything to get her the crown, but not as harsh as Katherine’s family. She has a support system and is very powerful. She has a conscience though. Mirabella remembers her sisters and has memories from when they were little. She doesn’t want to hurt them. This can make things pretty difficult. Out of all the guys I think my favorites are Joseph and Billy. They are really sweet and just want their Queen to survive.

Isabelle: Getting so many POV’s means you start to care for all the different characters and it has never been clear which Queen would win, or who we were ‘supposed’ to be rooting for. Arsinoe has been my favourite Queen from the beginning and I love her family. I feel like we get to see the most of them and they also have the most redeeming qualities. During this novel I kept rooting for her ’till the last possible moment 😉 when you say Arsinoe you also say Jules, another character I love and her storyline was super interesting. Can’t wait to see what’s to come for Jules. I know a lot of people really hate Joseph, I definitely don’t love him but I’m kinda okay with him. I didn’t find him too interesting in this novel, but he did manage to make me cry at some point! Another character that needs to be discussed when talking about this part of the world is Billy, he’s one of my favs for sure!! He’s super loyal and I adore his interactions with Arsinoe.

The family you see the most off after Arsinoe’s is Katharine and the Arrons. I must admit I like Nathalie more than I did last book, she showed more of her human side and her affection for Katharine. I really liked Katharine in the first book and she had quite the development. She was already one of my two favourite Queens and she still my number 2. She completely different from how she was in the first book but I enjoyed this change immensely. She’s less likeable and I never really root d for her but I loved reading about her.

And that gets us to our last Queen, Mirabella. She has always been my least favourite Queen and I feel like you know the least about her family. I do love Elizabeth, she’s really devoted and nothing but good but other than her I couldn’t care less about Mirabella’s family. I mostly detest the priestesses and I guess that kinda rubs off on Mirabella. She’s actually a really sweet and caring person but I never for one second rooted for her haha. I did enjoy her story and loves what transpires between her, Arsinoe, and Billy.

recensie 4,5 kroontjes

Another good book in this series! We can’t wait for the next one. Has anyone read this book? What did you think?

afsluiting samen

5 thoughts on “Buddy Review| One Dark Throne – Kendare Blake

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