One dark throne: THREE DARK CROWNS

Verry good

This book was really good. It was interessting and intertwined. I really liked the Characters and their Development throughout the story. Very well written 🧐🥳

Ich habe nach dem ersten Buch erwartet, dass es eine Steigerung geben wird und das hat es. Alles ging schneller, wurde härter, gefährlicher und ich habe es geliebt. Eine ausführliche Rezension folgt auf dem Blog: https://liveyourlifewithbooks.wordpress.com/

Meine Meinung: Nach dem spannenden Ende des ersten Bandes, habe ich dem Folgeband absolut entgegengefiebert. Das Cover ist genauso schön wie bereits der erste Band: weiß wie die Unschuld, und doch düster und mysteriös. Passend zum Inhalt! Leider hat mich dieser in diesem zweiten Band der ursprünglich geplanten Dilogie eher enttäuscht. Die Schreibweise war genauso packend wie noch im ersten Band, die Charaktere durchlaufen eine schöne Entwicklung. Alle drei Königinnen ziehen einen in seinen Bann, obwohl sich Arsinoe für mich immer besonders hervortat. Auch ihre Freundin Jules mit ihrer Berglöwin Camden darf sich im zweiten Band etwas mehr Aufmerksamkeit erfreuen. Fast hat man den Eindruck, es nicht mit drei, sondern vier Schwestern zu tun zu haben – was mich nun zu meinen Kritikpunkten bringt: Die Geschichte hatte so viel Potenzial, hätte sich in so viele verschiedene Richtungen entwickeln können, aber Blake hat dieses Potenzial leider nicht ausgeschöpft. Im Laufe der Geschichte kamen viele Fragen auf, die nicht geklärt werden: Was hat es mit Jules wahnsinnig mächtiger Gabe auf sich? Was mit der Insel und warum können die Königinnen sie nicht verlassen? Was hat Katherine’s Sturz in die Brecciaspalte mit ihr angestellt? Warum kam niemand darauf, die Königinnen könnten „vertauscht“ worden sein? Es war ja eigentlich naheliegend… Auch das Ende war für mich eher enttäuschend – passiv und langweilig. Mir fehlte hier die Action, die der Klappentext verspricht…. Als sei die Geschichte noch nicht fertig erzählt. Da die Story zunächst als Dilogie verkauft wurde, hat der zweite Band die hohen Erwartungen nach dem Ersten bei weitem verfehlt. Jetzt ist bekannt, dass die Geschichte erweitert wird, deshalb tue ich mir mit einer Bewertung sehr schwer. Ich hoffe, dass in diesem nächsten Band auf offene Fragen und Handlungsstränge eingegangen wird und es etwas verzwickter, intriganter und actionreicher wird. Nicht, dass ich Gewalt toll fände, aber es wird wirklich langsam Zeit für einen blutigen, dem Leser schlafraubenden Kampf. Nach langer Überlegung gebe ich dem Band 3 von 5 Sternen und hoffe, dass die Geschichte mit dem zusätzlichen Band zu einem authentischen Ende kommen wird.

3,75 / 5 ☆ I liked this one considerably more than the first one. Some things that I felt were missing from the first book were definitely in this one (e.g. actual fighting lol)

I love the mystery of what the hell happened to Katharine and the bond forming between Maribelle and Arsinoe. Everything else though? Eh. Will still read the third book!

What is it with fantasy authors thinking they can't use contractions? It's hard to feel something for characters when they keep talking like robots. Still not my fave, but I like the series more this time around.

It’s getting more and more interesting and I have huge suspicions about where we’re heading. Can’t wait to read the final installation.

This was amazing. I couldn't give it a full 5 stars as the writing isn't out of this world and because the ending felt slightly rushed.

What a game changer this book has been! One Dark Throne had similarities with Three Dark Crowns yet managed to change direction towards the end of the book to lay the base for a probably very interesting third book (Two Dark Reigns). One might think that the plot simply ends with one queen on the throne since a lot of signs are hinted that there has to be one queen to rule. But oh man, there is a lot of new information that changes it all. We get to know the Queens Katharine, Arsinoe and Mirabella better. Which is always a good thing and gives the author a chance to deepen the characters. Not only that, but we also learn more about the side characters, which is another event of its own. Knowing the side characters better that are so close to the main characters rounds the story very well. And gives new plot points. Side character time first, because, why not. First of all, I had to mention Jules and Camden. Of course, there had to be more substance with them, since Jules is a very powerful naturalist, more powerful than Arsinoe, and how can you leave her character simply powerful like that? There had to be more to her AND THERE IS! Billy Chatworth Jr. is (still) the suitor of Arsinoe and rebel at heart since he refused to take part of the traditions of courting all three queens and instead stayed with Arsinoe from beginning to end. That’s what I call a loyal character who stays with his believes. He’s still supporting the heck out of Arsinoe and helps her with her crazy ideas, so she has not to do them all by herself. Pietyr is good old Pietyr, minus the character flaw that he threw his Katharine down the Breccia Domain which is usually the dumpster full of queens that get killed during the Ascension Year progress. Pietyr gets a new competitor and suitor of Katharine, Nicholas Martel, who sounds really nice in the beginning, but we all know who is the OTP there. So yes, Katharine has not killed Pietyr, which is kind of a miracle itself. Maybe Pietyr turns out to be useful later on, who knows (I, for real, do not know). So giving the side characters more depth was very welcomed since I do not know how else to write another two books. Main Character time! We all still want to know who will end up on the throne, right? Who plays by the rules of the old traditions and who doesn‘t. Well, it wouldn‘t be a series if there weren‘t problems with that „tradition“ part of the story. Katharine is now called the Undead Queen and no one really likes her since the reign of the far too powerful line of Poisoners has to end. Not to mention that Katharine doesn‘t really have a gift for withstanding poison and „just“ is possessed by the dead queens that live within her since the events at the Quickening. Because of her weakness, she comes up with various plans to make her sisters' lives as uncomfortable as possible and who can blame her? No one wants to die because there only can be one queen. Survival is key to the human race. Which is a reason why Arsinoe hates Katharine. Not wanting to die (oh wonder), she wants to kill Katharine because her poisoner sister has almost killed a dear friend of her own. Arsinoe just wants to live in peace and never really thought of reigning a kingdom one day. She is probably one of the most relatable ones because she‘s wearing pants although dresses are THE norm when it comes to Queens, she wears a mask to hide the fact that her misguided low magic spell has not worked on a bear (that is one hell of a plot point) and she doesn‘t really care what other people think. Shortly said, Arsinoe is very grounded. Mirabella, in my eyes, is still kind of lame, although she can control the elements, which is cool, but that’s all about her. I found her plot in this book boring, maybe because the focus was more on Arsinoe. For me, she is kind of “just” that third sister that is described as pretty with the strongest element, who doesn’t want to hurt or kill either sister. That, she finally realized within this book, and stands with her point of view. And with Mirabella comes her equally bland friends Bree Westwood and Elizabeth, whose arm got chopped off because she tried helping Mirabella to flee Rolanth. I still haven’t got a hang on those and to be honest, I’m not interested enough in their stories to care. Still… The world of One Dark Throne expands a bit, but mostly stays in its borders and is still not explained in more detail. It still feels like I got thrown into this weird magical world and only know half of the facts that I am supposed to know by now. I mean, I do not like to be killed by too much information thrown at my head, but a little bit more facts about this world filled with poisoners, naturalists and elementals would be nice to get a feeling of this concept. -- Read the full review on my blog Blattzirkus

One dark crown more like one dead joseph. Finally.