One Dark Throne (#2) - Kendare Blake

"The battle for the Crown has begun, but which of the three sisters will prevail?

With the unforgettable events of the Quickening behind them and the Ascension Year underway, all bets are off. Katharine, once the weak and feeble sister, is stronger than ever before. Arsinoe, after discovering the truth about her powers, must figure out how to make her secret talent work in her favor without anyone finding out. And Mirabella, once thought to be the strongest sister of all and the certain Queen Crowned, faces attacks like never before—ones that put those around her in danger she can’t seem to prevent."

After the bloody events of the Quickening last book, one would be forgiven for expecting, nay, anticipating murder, mayhem, and violent mind games this round. One would expect the queens to focus tunnel vision-like on the prospect of winning and continued existence.

...Right?

Katharine, my reborn poisoner, my best hope for some slaughter, has reverted back to a blushing milkmaid in the presence of a new hot suitor. You'd think she'd show some suspicion or caution towards handsome, unusually nice strangers after what happened with Pietyr, but either she's the most confident idiot in the world or the most hormonal. Take your pick.

On that note, there's just so much goddamn romance. The first 30% of One Dark Throne is occupied with the queens' various romantic storylines, with Katharine occasionally sending out poisoned clothes as a transparent attempt to create tension. I don't mind romance. Honestly, I don't, but when the blurb promises high stakes and war, I expect blood to flow all the way up to my knees.

Arinsoe and Mirabelle. I had little to no expectations for these two, so I wasn't that disappointed when they sat back like the vanilla bread rolls they are. I found Arsinoe's suddenly brilliant low magic awfully convenient compared to the absolutely disastrous effects it had last time. This series tries so hard to sell me that it's morally grey! These characters are dark! When actually they are as pure as fresh stream water. Katharine's newfound darkness, as it turns out, is the result of weird malevolent magic, which was such a let down as I though her become more "evil" was a perfectly natural reaction to her awful upbringing and the events of the Quickening.

Jules frustrated the hell out of me. This revelation came out of nowhere. Legion cursed? What the eff is this new term? It was never once mentioned in Book 1 and all of a sudden in Book 2, every time the term was mentioned, every character that mentioned it knew exactly what it was. Now all of a sudden, Jules' great power is revealed to be because she also has the war gift on top of her naturalist gift? And we never saw sparks of it before because it had been "bound"?

It just seemed like the author pulled it out of nowhere because she didn't want to use any of the foreshadowed terms previously thrown in Book 1 (e.g. Blue Queen) just to throw us all off and make the reveal a "surprise". Unfortunately, I wasn't "shook", as they say nowadays. More like mildly annoyed.

Joseph is honestly so boring. I wasn't sad when he died. I was more shocked that Jules took him back after very obviously cheating on her. 

The writing and world-building are still frustratingly sparse. On the former, the narrative gives off a traditional "fairy tale" vibe where we have action and dialogue, but we never have a solid handle on its characters. One Dark Throne largely foregoes stream-of-consciousness narrative (inner thoughts/monologue), so it's hard for me, personally, to relate to these characters. It lacks intimacy. They're plot pieces, not people.

As for world-building, two full-length books have gone by and I still don't have a good idea what Fennbirn looks like nor the three clans' culture and surroundings. (Truthfully, I don't have a clue what the sisters look like either) There are poisoners and naturalists and elementals... and then what? There's nothing to expand on. All I get from Wolf Spring (naturalist Arinsoe's home) is they're big on fried clams. But it's been two books! I should know more than fried clams.

Towards the end, we are led to believe that we'll receive world expansion in the form of the mainland, though I stand by my point. It's been two books. Nearly 800 pages. We should know more. I should feel more.

Age Rating 13+. Nothing untoward really. A few un-grotesque deaths and implied sex that could easily be read as snuggling by a younger audience.