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grayscale08's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, and Blood
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Cursing, Child death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Gore
Minor: Grief, Sexism, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Ableism, Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, and Classism
maupi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence and Sexual assault
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
4 ⭐ CW: Violence, self-harm, (traumatic) child birth, infanticide, death of a child, death of a parent, sexual assault, blood
Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake is book three in the Three Dark Crowns quartet. These books have been pretty consistent with keeping me engaged in the story, and keeps developing the characters. Arsinoe is still my favorite.
We pick up from the cliffhanger of the previous book (possible spoilers for the first two books), and we see Arsinoe, Mirabella, and Billy make it to the mainland. This is a struggle for the sisters going from being treated as queens on Fennbirn in a more equal society to now being in a patriarchal one that doesn't give women freedom. Although they survived the journey, the island is calling them back by sending Arsinoe visions and dreams of the Blue Queen (who turns out to be someone totally different than was recorded in history).
We also follow Jules Milone and her mountain cat familiar as she figures out how to use her newly discovered war-gift in conjunction with her naturalist abilities. On top of this, she is now being coerced into leading the rebellion against Queen Katherine, because the people are sick (no pun intended) of having poisoners on the throne. We finally get some explanation for what happened to Katherine in the Breccia domain, and she stopped being needlessly evil. Turns out she doesn't even have an ability! I stead she borrows from the dead queens that possessed her when she fell into the Breccia Domain .
I love seeing a rebellion! I'm also happy to continue following Jules, because she is awesome. We found out some major twists I wasn't expecting! This series certainly keeps you on your toes! And we are left with another doozy of cliffhanger. Just one book left! I can't wait to see how it wraps up and what happens to Fennbirn.
Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake is book three in the Three Dark Crowns quartet. These books have been pretty consistent with keeping me engaged in the story, and keeps developing the characters. Arsinoe is still my favorite.
We pick up from the cliffhanger of the previous book (possible spoilers for the first two books), and we see Arsinoe, Mirabella, and Billy make it to the mainland. This is a struggle for the sisters going from being treated as queens on Fennbirn in a more equal society to now being in a patriarchal one that doesn't give women freedom. Although they survived the journey, the island is calling them back by sending Arsinoe visions and dreams of the Blue Queen (who turns out to be someone totally different than was recorded in history).
We also follow Jules Milone and her mountain cat familiar as she figures out how to use her newly discovered war-gift in conjunction with her naturalist abilities. On top of this, she is now being coerced into leading the rebellion against Queen Katherine, because the people are sick (no pun intended) of having poisoners on the throne. We finally get some explanation for what happened to Katherine in the Breccia domain, and she stopped being needlessly evil. Turns out she doesn't even have an ability! I stead she borrows from the dead queens that possessed her when she fell into the Breccia Domain .
I love seeing a rebellion! I'm also happy to continue following Jules, because she is awesome. We found out some major twists I wasn't expecting! This series certainly keeps you on your toes! And we are left with another doozy of cliffhanger. Just one book left! I can't wait to see how it wraps up and what happens to Fennbirn.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Child death, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Self harm
mia_luvsreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, and Violence
Minor: Confinement, Infertility, and War
eddiroll's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Murder, and Violence
pageafter_paige's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I am liking this series and want to continue. I think this book had a bit of a slower start but it picked up the pace pretty quick. I am very invested in these characters and I can feel the tension rising. This book left off on a big cliff hanger! If you’re new to fantasy and want to start with something easy to follow but still magical and lovable, yet also dark, then this is the book for you
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, Self harm, War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, Kidnapping, and Sexual content
_dear_reader_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Self harm, Murder, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Confinement, Death of parent, Torture, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Grief, Death, and Infertility
rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Two Dark Reigns is the first book of the Three Dark Crowns series that I didn’t enjoy as much but I still gave it three stars because I’ve bound with the characters so much and it has its great moments here and there.
The plot was simply not as great as the one in the books before. The storyline following Mirabella, Arsinoe and Billy, who are now on land, was at first interesting. I loved to see how the queens had to adjust to this new situation, but everything was sadly so slow. The most annoying and boring storyline though was Jules’. The warrior people (I don’t remember what they were called) are planning a rebellion with Jules as the head – that’s it. We also get to know a prophecy about Jules, but this was just not enough to be engaging.
Even though I don’t like Katharine at all, her part of the story was the most interesting since it focusses on the political dimension of things. There’s also some drama happening at Fennbirn because there’s a mist coming from the sea which kills everyone who gets in contact with it. This was a bit weird, just like the fact that the dead queens inside Katharine make her kill people . But towards the end, the story got good and dramatic: The mist, which is apparently Queen Illian, is coming closer and Katharine – or the dead queens inside her – kills Jules’ mom which leads to her losing her mind and unleashing her full abilities .
From all off the queens, Mirabella is now my favorite, I love her so much. It was especially interesting to see the relationship between her, Arsinoe and Billy since they have such a great dynamic. In comparison, there were loads of characters I couldn’t stand, like Emilia who’s just so annoying. Jules and Arsinoe started to annoy me as well towards the end because they force Billy and Mirabella to fight in a war which they never wanted to in the first place. The new Jules also creeps me out so much .
It's obvious that Two Dark Reigns is more a filler book and after reading all books, it would’ve been better if the series would’ve been a trilogy. With this, many of the slow moments that are especially prevalent in this book could’ve been avoided.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Sexual assault
Minor: Infertility, War, and Confinement
kibiiiariii's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, Sexism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Violence, and Pregnancy
taryn_g's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Child death and Violence