Introduction

“Those scars you have,” Emilia says, “that you would hide behind a mask. They are the finest part of you. Now let us earn a few more.”

After the grim confrontation with Queen Katharine, the rebellion lies in tatters. Jules’s 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.

My Thoughts

The week hasn’t gotten off to the best start but I’m glad to say I finished the Three Dark Crowns series. I regret that it’s taken me so long to tackle these books but I’m so glad that I chose to do so this month! What can I say, the last two books of the series didn’t wow me as much as the first two books did, but I am extremely satisfied with this ending. I said I wanted some major deaths and that’s definitely what I got….in the last 100 pages or so. This series was filled with so many characters, so many different personalities, and so many settings that I’m glad it all boiled down to one major moment in a single city. Let’s get into the specifics:

I think this might be my shortest review of the series. This book was just about war and that was good enough for me, honestly. We got some more of Arsinoe and Billy, some Jules and Emilia (sort of) and that’s….really it.

Katharine finally messed up and her drama with the queens nearly cost Pietyr his life. I’m glad he went to the rebellion’s side in the end. I think my favorite part about him switching up wasn’t about how desire to get revenge on Katharine, but rather because he still loved her enough to want to free her from the burden of the dead queens and her reign.

As for the major deaths, I’m going to avoid spoilers in this review. True to the way of Fennbirn’s queens, only one queen was allowed to live – but Fennbirn’s government will never be the same again. While I wanted a more gruesome and realistic sort of series, I found myself crying at a few of the deaths in this book. But that’s war, and it was bound to happen.

I will give one spoiler though: the concept of the legion curse never sat right with me because it seemed like such a silly thing for people to fear, but I was very pleased when Mirabella uncovered that the very first queen did not have one gift, but ALL the gifts.

The ending of the series wasn’t exactly what I expected, but I’m happy with it! People were going to die regardless, and every death served a purpose.

I think I’ve had enough of fantasy reads for a little while and I’m looking forward to reading different kinds of fiction for the next few weeks.

Rating

I wish I could’ve ended this series on a higher note, but I’m giving the last book a 4 star rating. It doesn’t deserve 3 stars because it wasn’t boring, I was definitely interested, but it didn’t end as strongly as the series began.