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lacey_in_the_library 's review for:
Three Dark Crowns
by Kendare Blake
Royal blood doesn’t just run thicker than water… it’s practically a weapon.
If sibling rivalry were an Olympic sport, Three Dark Crowns would take gold, poison the silver medalist, and set the podium on fire just for fun. This YA fantasy promises a brutal coming-of-age filled with queens, elemental magic, and a whole lot of familial murder. But does it deliver on that promise… or just make you wait for the sequel to do the heavy lifting?
The Cover
First impressions speak to a dark, violent story that is also beautiful and fierce. Three very different crowns speak to three very different main characters; the treatment of the crowns hints at magic. The cover design is simple in a way that appears luxurious. The font choices underscore that aesthetic. The title is more hierarchically important than the author’s name, giving the impression that the book publisher believes the novel will sell better based on the title and graphics than on name recognition alone.
The praise at the top of the back cover gets too close to the top margin and looks like it was an afterthought. I appreciate the addition of the images of the covers of the other books in the series, giving the reader an idea of what kind of commitment the series is to read all the way through.
The spine is so clear and clean. It’s a lovely addition to a bookshelf. No notes.
Interior
The interior is nicely laid out, the text width is large enough to fit a good amount of content per page, and the margins are wide enough to read the entire paperback without breaking the spine. Highly legible fonts with nods to the cover in each chapter’s well-executed drop cap. The chapter titles indicate location. The chapter title treatment, adding a different icon to each location to further the reader’s understanding of place, was a delightful touch.
Not loving the execution of the first title plate with the pattern background. The gradient isn’t the same at the top and bottom of the words, and I am not 100% sure that it adds anything to the reading experience.
The map is nicely executed and really helps to set the tone for the book as well as help curious readers understand the sense of place.
I also enjoyed the rhyme referenced in the book as a stand-alone page after the title plate.
Did the design affect whether I bought the book?
No. This book was given to me by another reader who had purchased it and DNF.
Character Analysis
There are a lot of characters in this book. As with any fantasy story, it takes some time to figure out who everyone is, their relationships with each other, and why they are important. Quite a few characters don’t contribute to the plot, so I wonder if they become more important later in the series. The main cast is well described, and you get a sense of who they are. The triplets being fifteen, I found them to be fairly self-aware for that age group and also pretty in tune with the burden their position places on them. There is an interesting range of emotions, but none of them get overly dramatic about them, except for when Mirabella is angry, which manifests in her power. Overall, the characters are well drawn and their motivations are pretty clear.
Writing Style
The writing style is appropriate for a YA novel and keeps up a decent pace, not too fast, but it doesn’t lag either. There were a couple of passages where the sentence structure was confusing, but I figured it out with context clues. The style was consistent throughout. The third-person telling leaves us a little outside of the emotional turmoil that the characters must be experiencing, but given how traumatic the subject matter is, and the age range it is meant for, this is a good thing.
Read the Full Review at Lacey In The Library
If sibling rivalry were an Olympic sport, Three Dark Crowns would take gold, poison the silver medalist, and set the podium on fire just for fun. This YA fantasy promises a brutal coming-of-age filled with queens, elemental magic, and a whole lot of familial murder. But does it deliver on that promise… or just make you wait for the sequel to do the heavy lifting?
The Cover
First impressions speak to a dark, violent story that is also beautiful and fierce. Three very different crowns speak to three very different main characters; the treatment of the crowns hints at magic. The cover design is simple in a way that appears luxurious. The font choices underscore that aesthetic. The title is more hierarchically important than the author’s name, giving the impression that the book publisher believes the novel will sell better based on the title and graphics than on name recognition alone.
The praise at the top of the back cover gets too close to the top margin and looks like it was an afterthought. I appreciate the addition of the images of the covers of the other books in the series, giving the reader an idea of what kind of commitment the series is to read all the way through.
The spine is so clear and clean. It’s a lovely addition to a bookshelf. No notes.
Interior
The interior is nicely laid out, the text width is large enough to fit a good amount of content per page, and the margins are wide enough to read the entire paperback without breaking the spine. Highly legible fonts with nods to the cover in each chapter’s well-executed drop cap. The chapter titles indicate location. The chapter title treatment, adding a different icon to each location to further the reader’s understanding of place, was a delightful touch.
Not loving the execution of the first title plate with the pattern background. The gradient isn’t the same at the top and bottom of the words, and I am not 100% sure that it adds anything to the reading experience.
The map is nicely executed and really helps to set the tone for the book as well as help curious readers understand the sense of place.
I also enjoyed the rhyme referenced in the book as a stand-alone page after the title plate.
Did the design affect whether I bought the book?
No. This book was given to me by another reader who had purchased it and DNF.
Character Analysis
There are a lot of characters in this book. As with any fantasy story, it takes some time to figure out who everyone is, their relationships with each other, and why they are important. Quite a few characters don’t contribute to the plot, so I wonder if they become more important later in the series. The main cast is well described, and you get a sense of who they are. The triplets being fifteen, I found them to be fairly self-aware for that age group and also pretty in tune with the burden their position places on them. There is an interesting range of emotions, but none of them get overly dramatic about them, except for when Mirabella is angry, which manifests in her power. Overall, the characters are well drawn and their motivations are pretty clear.
Writing Style
The writing style is appropriate for a YA novel and keeps up a decent pace, not too fast, but it doesn’t lag either. There were a couple of passages where the sentence structure was confusing, but I figured it out with context clues. The style was consistent throughout. The third-person telling leaves us a little outside of the emotional turmoil that the characters must be experiencing, but given how traumatic the subject matter is, and the age range it is meant for, this is a good thing.
Read the Full Review at Lacey In The Library