Five Dark Fates

Three Dark Crowns, Book 4

By: Kendare Blake

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

In the final audiobook in the number one New York Times best-selling Three Dark Crowns series, an all-out war is brewing - one that will pit sister against sister and dead against undead.

After the grim confrontation with Queen Katharine, the rebellion lies in tatters. Jules’ legion curse has been unbound, and it is up to Arsinoe to find a cure, even as the responsibility of stopping the ravaging mist lies heavy on her shoulders and her shoulders alone. Mirabella has disappeared.

Katharine’s reign remains intact - for now. When Mirabella arrives, seemingly under a banner of truce, Katharine begins to yearn for the closeness that Mirabella and Arsinoe share. But as the two circle each other, the dead queens hiss caution - Mirabella is not to be trusted.

In this conclusion to the Three Dark Crowns series, three sisters will rise to fight as the secrets of Fennbirn’s history are laid bare. Allegiances will shift. Bonds will be tested. But the fate of the island lies in the hands of its queens. It always has.

©2019 Kendare Blake (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

best of the series- performance was lackluster

The series was okay, Kenmare Blake has several other series I have enjoyed much more.

Great Series!!

Wonderful Characters and a great story That pulls you in from the 1st book until the last.

Phenomenal

This entire series is utter perfection and this last installment is nothing short of wonderful. Highly recommend!

one of the good YA of 2019

Great story.and as good as previous books in the series.

The negative: honestly there were some gaps in the story and some questions that never got answered, but over all the book concluded decently.

Great Read

I loved this entire series from start to finish. I have book let down now!

One of the best modern gothic/horror novels

This story captivated and drew me in from the very first book. This final book in the story of Mirabella, Arsinoê and Kateriné made me long for the story to never end while wrapping up lose ends rather neatly. Would definitely recommend to any fan of fantasy with strong female leads

The Five Dark Fates

I thought this book did an amazing job of wrapping up the series. The battle and the way the sisters “mend” their relationship was excellently written.

Love this series

I truly enjoy being lost in this series!!!! I hope that they would make movies based from these series, would be great to see it this on film!!!

again, kept me on my toes!

again, kept me on my toes! couldn't wait to see what would happen next. had to come up with reasons to listen to my audio book hahaha so love this series!!

**Review contains spoilers!**

After the battle in the Mist during which Katharine murders Madrigal Milone and Jules Milone's legion curse is unbound, the members of the rebellion retreat to lick their wounds. Jules and her cougar familiar, Camden, are violent and must be chained to keep them from hurting others, including each other. The task of finding a cure falls to Arsinoe, who has the poisoner gift and is therefore also a healer. The solution is for Arsinoe to tether Jules's legion curse to Emilia Vatros, the warrior from Bastian. This tether relieves Jules of her madness and uncontrollable violence. Mirabella has gone to Katharine under a banner of truce to try to discover the meaning of Madrigal's cryptic last words - "She's full of the dead..."

At first, Katharine and Mirabella are suspicious of each other. Mirabella is the most powerful of the three sister queens, and the dead queens inside Katharine want Mirabella as their vessel. Katharine won't allow the dead queens to taint Mirabella the way they have her. Katharine begins to understand the dead queens have turned her into a monster. Katharine is also jealous of the closeness between Mirabella and Arsinoe. Over time, Katharine and Mirabella do get closer and develop a tenuous friendship. Katharine reveals the secret of the dead queens to Mirabella. The two sisters visit the cave where the first temple is located, and the dead queens overpower Katharine and force her to stab Mirabella because they need their vessel to be weakened in order to enter her when the vessel is not willing. Katharine fights the dead queens and tells Mirabella to run, but she is wounded and cannot escape. Mirabella begs Katharine not to let the dead queens have her. Rather than allow the dead queens to take Mirabella, Katharine kills her.

In an attempt to win the war, Katharine gets war-gifted priestess Rho Murtra to agree to take the dead queens. The dead queens make Rho brutal and all but unstoppable. Katharine sends Rho to Sunpool, and she slaughters everyone she finds there. In order to defeat Rho during the final battle, Jules must untether her legion curse and accept her destiny.

Meanwhile, the rebellion decides Mirabella is Katharine's prisoner and they need a prisoner, too. Arsinoe goes to Greavesdrake Manor and abducts an unconscious Pietyr Renard and takes him back to Bastian. Using low magic, she is able to wake him. Pietyr tried and failed to rid Katharine of the dead queens, and he now understands she's beyond saving and travels w/ Arsinoe to Indrid Down for the final battle. During the battle, Katharine, Arsinoe, and Pietyr end up on the roof of a high tower of the Volroy. Arsinoe uses low magic to banish the dead queens from Katharine's body, and they hang in the air as a black cloud. Seeing that the dead queens will try to take Arsinoe, Katharine intervenes and falls over the side of the parapet, and although Pietyr tries to hold on to her, she plunges to her death. Katharine is reunited w/ Mirabella as part of the Mist, and they save Arsinoe from the black cloud of dead queens.

Ultimately, Arsinoe is the only surviving triplet queen from her generation. However, she does not become Fennbirn's ruler. Instead, Jules fulfills her destiny and rules the island as its Legion Queen. The Mist is gone, and the people of Fennbirn can now reconnect w/ the mainland. Billy Chatworth becomes Fennbirn's ambassador to the outside world. Two shrines w/ bonfire-like flames are built to honor Mirabella and Katharine.

I should have taken notes because the events of the four books in the Three Dark Crowns series started to blur together for me somewhere between the second and third books. The ending of the series felt anticlimactic to me. There's a lot going on in the main plot as well as multiple complex subplots and a multitude of important character interactions and relationships.

Again, strong world building and character development. I don't know what the point of the baby Fennbirn Milone plot was. Drama between Madrigal and her sister, Caragh Milone, because they shared a man? I was bummed about Natalia Arron's murder by William Chatworth Sr. Unsure why because she wasn't necessarily one of my favorite characters. It just didn't seem fair for her to go out like that. The Illiann/Daphne plot line didn't end up adding a lot of value to the story and actually kind of muddied things. I think this plot line was meant to lead to the discovery of the first temple and Mirabella's death. I never figured out why the Mist was rising. Seemed random and not triggered by anything specific.

I have lingering questions like:
- Why is Jules not mad now w/ the legion curse untethered from Emilia?
- Why is the Mist gone? Did the Mist really only rise because Arsinoe and Mirabella broke w/ tradition and refused to kill each other for the throne? It seems so because the Mist disappears once there's only one surviving queen, even though she doesn't become the island's ruler.

Overall series rating: 3.67

I may read other books related to this series like Queens of Fennbirn.