Three Dark Crowns

By: Kendare Blake

Narrated by: Amy Landon

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Fans of acclaimed author Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood will devour her latest novel, a dark and inventive fantasy about three sisters who must fight to the death to become queen.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn't solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it's not just a game of win or lose...it's life or death. The night the sisters turn 16, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.

©2016 Kendare Blake (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Good writing ruined by poor performance

Any additional comments?

I think I would have enjoyed this story much more if I'd read it on paper.

I liked the concept: a nice mix of the macabre and ethereal, like an eerie fairy tale.

The narrator's performance was so wooden, though, that it was almost robotic.

Her voice reminded me of Siri. It made it VERY difficult to keep track of the storyline, especially because it changes perspective between the 3 sisters and the narrator reads all of their characters with EXACTLY THE SAME TONE.

Decent story, though. I'd recommend buying a hard copy over the audiobook any day.

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Good, but hard to follow at first

In the beginning, I had a hard time following what was going on and keeping all the characters straight. I wish the reader gave the characters different voices. I didn't feel the reader was giving enough emotion to the story. I did find myself getting more into the story as it went along, rooting for each of the girls. Looking forward to the next book.

Narrator is flat and exposes writers immaturity.

Ugh...cant finish this. On chapter 9. It's excruciating to listen to the flat monotonous voice of the reader. She makes it nearly impossible to tell the characters apart. The author gives no depth to her character. 100% dialogue with no exploration of time, setting our soul of her characters.

meh.

I had heard good things about this series, however I was disappointed. I am a huge fan of fantasy, horror, and especially historical fiction, so i wanted to give this fantasy/dystopian society a try. The performance by the voice actor was definitely lacking. She had a voice for the elderly, one for men, and one for women. Most of the dramatic lines were read with the same surprised/ startled inflection throughout the story with bo good variation to get the reader really emotionally attached like can happen in a well read story. The writer is on a level with the author of the Twilight novels. The story is a cool idea, but isnt really well executed. There are no good surprises, and the story ends in a cliff hanger (one that the reader is supposed to be shocked by, but we can see coming for three quarters of the book). The sisters' powers are boring and without variation. Probably wouldnt reccomend this book to anyone, unless they're really big on the whole dystopian society thing. Oh, and also this book was definitely written for young readers, and is a little too discreet for adults.

I felt like I was watching a Turtle fall asleep...

This series has the potential to be epic, but Book One was rather slow. It has a great concept but the beginning was rough... The narrator doesn't do anything to help. Her tone is soothing and relaxing.... the bad thing is that is NOT! NOT! NOT! what this book needed. She almost put me to sleep. I can't remember one part of the book that she sounded excited. And its not all her fault. The book very slow so she just wasn't the best choice for this particular series. When you have a story with multiple story lines and hefty bag full of side characters, then the narrator has to be very skilled at giving you different voices for each character. Otherwise, you don't know what the hell is going on. And that is what happens with Three Dark Crowns. The narrator isn't bad. Just not a good choice for this particular series. This series probably needed a Kristine Hvam or Lorelei King.

The concept of the story is excellent. Triplets are born. All three are Queens with special powers. However, by time they turn 17 there can only be one Queen left. So between the ages of 16 and 17 the Queens must do whatever they can to kill the other two. Its sounds like a book I'll finish in one sitting while eating a pack of double stuffed Oreos. But... yes there is a but....The story is like a turtle taking its time.

The first 5 - 6 hours of the book goes back and forth between the sisters and their life styles. Which is good back ground for the first 30 minutes... after that I'm ready for some action. Instead, we get in depth looks into side character romances and boring descriptions of how un-powerful two of sisters are at this point. Two can't even access their power. So really the only one with any hint of action is the Elemental Queen.

As a seasoned fantasy reader, I wonder about the following:
1. Why haven't the Queens of the past rebelled against this method/idea of murdering each other?
2. Did the past Queens set this in motion? (No spoilers but things are amidst with the triplets powers)
3. Wouldn't it be better for the land if all three Queens lived?
4. Is this Goddess they serve the Goddess of this particular land or of the whole world?
5. What happens if one the Queens gets pregnant before she is killed?
6. What happens if there is more than 1 Queen after the accession year is over. (Maybe she covered this while I was dozing off)

I'm hurt by this book. I wanted it to be my next Throne of Glass series. And I know the author has already completed this series, but I would have liked it to go in the direction of the Queens uniting against the Black Counsel. They could have hid and moved around the land secretly taking out counsel members. They could have made a pact to pretend to kill each other while secretly planning to rid themselves of the priestess and the ones controlling them. I haven't started the other books yet, so if any of that happens then I wasn't spoiling only saying what I would get excited about.

I have high hopes for this novel. I'm hoping Book Two will pick up the pace now that all the introductions are complete.

The narration made it difficult to get into

I wasn't loving the narration. It was somewhat dry and that made it difficult to get into. I listened to a couple hours before deciding to give up. Might pick up the book in print.

Loved it!

I was hesitant about this book because so many reviews I saw said it was boring until the end, but I didn't think so at all! I liked the world the story is set in, and the build up to the end had enough scheming and backstabbing to keep me guessing about what was going to happen. The ending was so good. The only thing I didn't like was that the narrator sometimes sounded like a robot. Can't wait for the next one!

Too much masochistic tone for my tastes

Really tried to like this and did until I just couldn’t take the physical “torture “ done by people in a power position over the girls.

Good story but it just draws on

It’s a good story but you have to read all three books. It just stops mid story.

awesome story!

the story was wonderful! I loved how the story progressed. was so disappointed to see it end. the performance was lacking, but good over all.