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Title: Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns #4)
Author: Kendare Blake
Publication Date: September 3, 2019
Sub-genre: Fantasy
Ooh boy. Lots of thoughts on this series as a whole. First, let me just say one of the reasons I read this series is because I got the first book in an Owl Crate, many, many (three) years ago. There are not a lot of series where I will go out of my way to buy hardbacks when they are first released, but something about this one kept me coming back time and time again. Which is kind of strange because, overall, I don’t love the series. I zipped through Three Dark Crowns, and enjoyed it, but I figured out the “twist” within the first few chapters. And even though I read the other two, I couldn’t really tell you what they were about or what major events happened. I had to go back and read some summaries of the first three books before I could jump into this one, but honestly, there was still a lot here to be confused about.
Since this is the final book in the series, the focus here is which queen is going to end up with the crown. Katharine has been possessed by the dead queens and continues to do horrible things. Mirabella seems like the most logical choice, but she is going to be tasked with ridding the island of the mist. Jules has been overtaken by her war gift. And Arsinoe is being Arsinoe. I don’t really want to say a whole lot more because it will be too spoilery, suffice to say drama abounds until we end up with a queen.
So my main issue with this series has always been a detachment from the main characters. In a series that focuses on three sisters, I should be deeply invested in their fates by the time we get to book four. And I just wasn’t. I kept reading these books because the initial concept–triplet potential queens each have a specific gift and have to fight for the throne–was so compelling. This detachment wasn’t helped with the addition of Jules as a fourth potential queen in whatever book that happened in. I never felt attached to any of them, partly because we spend so much time going back and forth between all of their POVs that it makes it hard to follow, and it doesn’t give the reader a chance to form a bond with a particular character. I would have loved to have seen each sister get her own book, and then we get all POVs in the final book. Something to let me spend more time with each one of them.
The multiple POVs lead to another problem: it is really hard to keep track of the plot in these books. SO MUCH happens in so many different places and through so many different characters’ eyes. It’s a lot to take in, and definitely a lot to remember between books. The whole reading experience of the series would probably be much better reading all four in a row with no breaks in between. But alas, that’s not how it played out for me, and I don’t have the time (or the desire) to go back and reread them all again from the beginning.
One thing I will say, the world-building and magic system in these books, while also confusing at times, were probably the highlight of the reading experience for me. I loved the different aptitudes, and I really liked how their “government” was set up.
At this point, I feel like I can’t even comment on whether or not this book has a satisfying series ending because by the end, I was over it. I still don’t know who’s responsible for the titled fate number five (assuming one through four are Arsinoe, Jules, Mirabella, and Katharine). Billy? Pietyr? The island? Who knows? (If you know, please tell me.) This series started out with so much potential, but I think a lot got lost in translation.
Overall Rating: 3 stars
Please tell me I’m not alone here. Was anyone else as lost as I was?
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