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One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake 4/5 Stars

I enjoyed One Dark Throne just as much as Three Dark Crowns! It was a perfect sequel. If you haven't read my review for the first book yet you can find it Here

The ending of Three Dark Crowns was superbly written, leaving a lot of questions unanswered. 
The book picks up where Three Dark Crowns left off, with the three queens rather bitter at each other and ready to fight for the throne. The pace here is a lot better than in the first book but I must confess I got so anxious while reading it I struggled to read it at a fast pace. Isn't that just odd?
Let me put this way: we readers often complain that authors could have made their series shorter. Red Queen for example- I am yet to meet someone who does not agree the second book could have been avoided. It was slow and terrible. In One Dark Throne we have the exact opposite. SO MUCH happens. I was panicking! At the end of every chapter there would be this desperation within me 'but...but...what?' LOL
So here I am... for the first time EVER saying a book was so fast paced I struggled to read it similarly as I often struggle to read slow paced books. It is really beyond my own comprehension. 

Arsinoe remains my favorite of the three queens. Except that now that she knows her true gift she is no longer the weakest queen. Her secret makes her one of the strongest and she only survives because of it. Strong or not though, she still expects to be the one who will die, she still wants her sister Mirabella to to take the throne and her friends to live. She is a warrior!
Once again there is very little romance, but Billy oh Billy... he was my favorite character in the first book and is again here. What a strong minded and loyal young lad 😃 Absolutely loved him! And although the romance was very low key, it was absolutely perfect. What you see with him is what you get and I loved that about him. 
Arsinoe and Billy may have feelings for each other, but that at no point stands in the way of them doing what needs to be done. She even refuses his kiss... I laughed  and laughed when another reviewer said there was tons of romance in this book. Girl... you clearly do not read romance! LOL
"No matter how far I go, I'm still your person. We stand together now."  **the feels**😍

Mirabella was freaking adorable on the first book. Loyal, caring, loving, and hell bent on not touching her sisters. All that changed after Arsinoe's bear attacked her. At the very beginning of One Dark Throne Mirabella is already plotting Arsinoe's death. Her love for her sisters surprised me in the first book and it did here again. 
There is much I still don't know about the priestess surrounding her though, it's a tad confusing and I don't trust them one bit.

Katherine is the biggest change and surprise. Gone is the weak poisoner. When she was thrown in that whole to die something happened to her that allowed her to live (we only learn what 2/3 in). I cannot bring myself to dislike her, but she does become rather evil. Because she changes, so does all her relationships, it is rather eerie. 

I said on my review for One Dark Throne that I felt like the book at times was more about Arsinoe's friends than about her, and in part, the same is true here. Jules gets a lot of attention. I had the feeling something would happen with her in this book to explain her strong abilities and I was correct. The third book promises to be even more about her. The ending although not anywhere near as good as the ending on the first book was also well written and it left me rather curious about Jules future. She is not a character I care for much, so I am not as excited for the next book as I was for this one, but I am a tad curious. We shall see...

The book was good. Really good. But there were a few things I didn't care for. Like I just said for example, Jules is not a character I cared that much for, so I could have done with less of her. Joseph was annoying, he could have died in the beginning of the book for all I care, he was a lot more interesting in Three Dark Crowns, I actually liked him there. And the pace as well... I was so anxious the whole way! I am very surprised this was meant to be a duology. No way that would have been possible. There are still soooo many things that need explaining. 




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