One Dark Throne (Three Dark Crowns Series #2)

by Kendare Blake

Overview

The sequel to the New York Times bestselling YA fantasy novel Three Dark Crown

The battle for the crown has begun, and the unforgettable events of the Quickening have left a mark on each of the three sisters. Katharine, once the weak and feeble queen, is curiously stronger than ever before. Arsinoe has discovered a secret about her gift which could be her salvation or her undoing. And powerful Mirabella, believing that Arsinoe has betrayed her, is finally ready to fight.

As time runs out on the Ascension Year, the triplets face attacks that will make them question their destinies and their paths to the throne. Friends and foes alike are forcing their hands, pushing them toward a shocking outcome that forever changes everyone involved.

Picking up where the New York Times bestselling Three Dark Crowns left off, One Dark Throne continues with higher stakes, jaw-dropping twists, and an ending readers will never see coming. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062385475
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/02/2019
Series:	Three Dark Crowns Series , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	13,019
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Kendare Blake is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Three Dark Crowns series. She holds an MA in creative writing from Middlesex University in northern London. She is also the author of Anna Dressed in Blood, a Cybils Awards finalist; Girl of Nightmares; Antigoddess; Mortal Gods; and Ungodly. Her books have been translated into eighteen languages, have been featured on multiple best-of-year lists, and have received many regional and librarian awards. Kendare lives and writes in Kent, Washington. Visit her online at www.kendareblake.com.

Editorial Reviews

Blake is a sure hand with complicated and intricate plots, and if that’s not enough to make readers stick around for the next installment, the cliffhanger ending certainly will.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

I loved this book. Blake’s THREE DARK CROWNS is hypnotic, twisting, and beautiful...as satisfying as a drop of poison in an enemy’s cup.

April Genevieve Tucholke

With exquisite world building and luminous detail, this is high fantasy at its best. The magic is fierce and the plot intensely twisted, but at this novel’s dark heart beats a story about sisterhood, the unbreakable bonds of family, and ties that bind enough to kill.

Booklist (starred review)

Full of mystery, intrigue, and deadly girls I wouldn’t dare cross, Fennbirn is a darkly magical world I’m both drawn to and frightened by. In short, this is a book I could linger in for months, with three girls I am rooting for with all my heart.

Megan Shepherd

PRAISE FOR THREE DARK CROWNS: “Three Dark Crowns is a brutal and inventive fantasy that is as addictive as it is horrifying. I can’t begin to guess the fates of these three remarkable sister-queens, but I’m salivating like poisoners at a feast to find out what will happen next.

Marissa Meyer

Riveting. This book hits the ground running and keeps you guessing with each unpredictable twist.

Brightly

This sequel to Three Dark Crowns loses none of that book’s momentum, powering toward a conclusion that leaves several doors open. With wonderfully drawn characters and a lethal, unpredictable plot, this follow-up will leave readers breathless as the queens’ fates unfold.

ALA Booklist

Blake is a sure hand with complicated and intricate plots, and if that’s not enough to make readers stick around for the next installment, the cliffhanger ending certainly will.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (on THREE DARK CROWNS)

Blake is a sure hand with complicated and intricate plots, and if that’s not enough to make readers stick around for the next installment, the cliffhanger ending certainly will.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Riveting. This book hits the ground running and keeps you guessing with each unpredictable twist.

Brightly.com

With exquisite world building and luminous detail, this is high fantasy at its best. The magic is fierce and the plot intensely twisted, but at this novel’s dark heart beats a story about sisterhood, the unbreakable bonds of family, and ties that bind enough to kill.

Booklist (starred review) (on THREE DARK CROWNS)

08/01/2017
Gr 8 Up—Following up on the events of Three Dark Crowns, Blake brings the queen triplets to their fates as they fight for their lives. While the teen queens deal with suitors and advisors, they must also grapple with the reality of their tasks in killing one another for the ultimate throne. When Katharine seems to gather strength, Mirabella and Arisonoe must determine whether they can work together or if they even should. The author takes the cursed sisters to new exciting heights with a driving plot. A continued detailed development of characters carves out unexpected alliances with Blake's careful manipulation. Readers will appreciate the epic payoff of the first novel in this second installment. The present-tense style throughout underlines the drama of the plot. The large cast of characters may seem overwhelming at times, but each is characterized skillfully. Though Blake describes some violence, the gore is minimal, making this appropriate for a broad range of ages. VERDICT Dark indeed, and exploring themes of loyalty, this is a thrilling sequel with everything from action to romance to entice readers. A strong purchase for YA fantasy shelves.—Abby Hargreaves, D.C. Public Library

School Library Journal

★ 2017-06-27
Three sisters intensify their deadly struggle for the crown in the second of a horror-tinged fantasy series. After the spectacular catastrophe of the Quickening (Three Dark Crowns, 2016), the balance of power among the queens has shifted. With the rampage by Arsinoe's bear, the naturalist candidate has demonstrated unexpected strength, and now elemental Mirabella is no longer treated as the foreordained victor. Meanwhile, poisoner Katharine has returned from her rumored death with a vengeance…and a mission. Alliances shift as the various factions play Temple against Council, and potential suitors become both rivals and pawns—but not even the Goddess can prevent the queens from deciding to take their fates into their own hands. Blake's already pitch-black tale shades even darker, as the queens' cruel contest piles up an escalating (and grisly) body count. Yet more excruciating is the curse upon their experience of love, whether with siblings, parents, or friends; in romance, passion, even religious devotion—all relationships are twisted, broken, abandoned, and betrayed. With numerous alternating viewpoints, the exquisitely restrained prose limns a nuanced, subtly realized matriarchal society: all-white, normatively heterosexual (but with exceptions), in which even the most complex male characters function only in relationship to women. The deliberate pacing at the outset serves to re-establish the labyrinthine web of characterization and plot, paying off in a tumultuous climax that piles one shocking twist upon another. Achingly gorgeous and gruesomely fascinating. (Fantasy. 14-adult)

Kirkus Reviews

Read More