Queens of Fennbirn

By: Kendare Blake

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Number one New York Times best-selling author Kendare Blake delivers two Three Dark Crowns prequel novellas fans won’t want to miss!

Together in one package for the first time, the dazzling prequels to the Three Dark Crowns series are finally available for fans in audio format. Uncover the sisters’ origins, dive deep into the catastrophic reign of the Oracle Queen, and reveal layers of Fennbirn’s past, hidden until now. 

The Young Queens

Get a glimpse of triplet queens Mirabella, Arsinoe, and Katharine during a short period of time when they protected and loved one another. From birth until their claiming ceremonies, this is the story of the three sisters’ lives…before they were at stake. 

The Oracle Queen

Everyone knows the legend of Elsabet, the Oracle Queen. The one who went mad. The one who orchestrated a senseless, horrific slaying of three entire houses. But what really happened? Discover the true story behind the queen who could foresee the future...just not her own downfall.

Don't miss Five Dark Fates, the thrilling conclusion to the series!

©2019 Kendare Blake (P)2019 HarperAudio

Two novellas - Three Dark Crowns series by Kendare

**Review contains spoilers!**

Queens of Fennbirn by Kendare Blake contains two novellas related to the Three Dark Crowns series. The Young Queens (Three Dark Crowns novella #0.1) is about the birth and early childhood of the triplet queens from the Three Dark Crowns series, naturalist (poisoner) Arsinoe, elemental Mirabella, and poisoner (naturalist) Katharine.

We find out why and how Katharine and Arsinoe ended up with the wrong foster families. The outgoing Queen Crowned and mother of the triplet queens is an Oracle Queen who has the sight gift. She knows Mirabella's gift is the most powerful of the three and believes that she's the next chosen queen. However, Fennbirn Island has had a string of poisoner queens, and the outgoing Queen Crowned wants to sabotage the poisoners so that the next Queen Crowned is not a poisoner. She thinks the poisoners' grip on the island can be weakened or broken if she can prevent the next Queen Crowned from being a poisoner queen. So even though she said Arsinoe is a poisoner and Katharine is a naturalist when they were born, she tells the midwife that she made a mistake and makes the midwife switch the babies when they are given to their foster families to be raised.

The triplet queens live at the Black Cottage and are reared by the midwife until they are six years old. The Queen Crowned who birthed them leaves the island to start a new life w/ her King Consort. When the triplet queens are six years old, their foster families (based on their gifts) come to claim them. The description of their separation is horrible as they are ripped away from each other screaming and taken to their foster families' respective cities to be raised into their gift and fight to become the next Queen Crowned. Apparently, the triplet queens always forget their sisters and the bond they had at the Black Cottage following this separation. They must forget in order to be able to kill their sisters later and win the crown.

But this novella explains why Katharine struggles so much to learn poisoner ways. She's really a naturalist and is switched w/ Arsinoe to sabotage the poisoners. This sabotage also explains why Arsinoe, who is taken to be raised by the naturalists, never gets her familiar animal. She's actually a poisoner. Very interesting. It seems a "mix up" literally cannot happen and that the Queen Crowned knew what she was doing when she switched the babies. It also gives us insight into why Arsinoe and Katharine struggle so much to learn their gifts because they're not learning the right gift. I've read the entire Three Dark Crowns series, and Arsinoe does eventually accidentally stumble on her poisoner gift and realizes she's not a naturalist. However, I don't remember Katharine ever figuring out that she's not a poisoner. She is raised and hones the poisoner gift to the point where she's incredibly powerful, and this is now especially impressive to me because she shouldn't have been able to do that since she's not a poisoner. She wills herself to become a poisoner. Pretty amazing.

The second novella is The Oracle Queen (Three Dark Crowns novella #0.2). The Oracle Queen tells the story of Queen Elsabet, a sight-gifted Oracle Queen. As the story goes, Elsabet went mad over suspicions of treason among her Black Counsel and ordered the murder of every member of three families/houses on the island. Or did she? The true story is heartbreaking.

Wow

So, I was very excited initially that we got to hear about the childhoods up to when we first met the queens in the first novel. But it took such a turn with Elsbeth and her reign, and the violence against her was far more triggering than I imagined it would be for me. Just wow. Expertly written, very troubling and sad novel.

left me wanting more, for sure!

would love to see more books on the oracle Queen. the Young Queens, as well. so many generations to learn about!! loved this series... and I have a hard time finding books that keep my attention. these kept my attention and had me looking for pieces of time to slip in another chapter. what happens to the oracle queen and will she and her friend find each other again? pls keep the series going!:))

Great Expansion!

Loved hearing the true story of the oracle queen! I always knew there was something odd with that tale and I'm glad I could call it! Definitely a good read for fans of the books

heartbreakingly good

this book just adds to the overall power struggle the queens face. there are no bad queens, just terrible people.

Killer Series!

I went through all five books in two weeks! Very addicting and so fun.

Not As Much Detail or Depth

Less kind of disappointed with the way the story went. In regards to the performance the narrator often uses the same of voices for male and female characters that blend together throughout the story, but not in a good way. The story itself I had a lot of hope for an initially, but as certain points in the story reached the climax This the story did not go in any sort of direction that had me intrested to keep listening.