Three Dark Crowns was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On one hand you have a great premise that kept me reading even when it was slow, 3 queen sisters separated when they were young to live and be raised in completely different environments. On the other hand there were to many secondary characters I just wasn't that interested in and fantasy should be lush and full of epic world building and instead I felt like there were only the bare bones of a world to learn about. 
 All in all I really enjoyed this book even though I had some issues with the characters and world. 
 Mirabella: 
 Raised by the saints to be powerful, graceful, strong, and god fearing she lived a cushy life if not a bit to contained. She was subject to any great abuse other than over baring priestests and had a soft nature that I wasn't expecting. When I learnt Mirabella was the strongest I figured she'd be the cut throat that was all set to win, instead I got a "nice" girl who didn't want to kill her sisters as she has been raised to do. This was a little disappointing and had me looking at Mirabella as a princess instead of a bad ass elemental witch queen. 
 Katherine: The Poisoner queen, I think I liked Katherine's descriptions the best, a Gothic home, full of black dressing royals that turn their nose up at food that's not poisoned? I was done for that. Also I was picturing Katherine as Wednesday Adams and I love Wednesday so the image in my head was perfect. Katherine has been abused most of her life, sometimes for her own good. Like being poisoned constantly to try make her more tolerant and other times being un fairly beaten and poked at because she is weak and not the Poisoner queen everyone was hoping for. 
 Arisnoe: Ari was a favourite for me, ugly, dirty, shawn off hair, there are no pretty dresses for Ari who lives with the other naturalists, growing their own fruit and food and controlling animals. Ari is a tomboy that was never treated with the respect that is usually shown to queens. The town has always known her to be weak with her gift and treated her as a mere peer or bullying her for not being what they hoped for. 
 This book is split into Mirabella, Katherine, and Arisnoes life and all those around them. Having multiple casts of secondary characters made them all start to blur in my mind and I was having a hard time in the beginning trying to remember who everyone was and what they're doing. 
 The thing that really got to me during this book was the lack of word building, yes it's there but I want more from my fantasy. While some scenes were well done I felt there were more that was a bit lacking. 
 While I do like the queens I don't love any of them, I do really like them more at the end of the book and think I will grow to love more than one in the next as they come into their own and start taking action in their lives. All the queens lacked the determination to win, not one of them was outwardly pure evil and I just wanted someone to stir the pot and kill someone or at least not try to run away. 
 The ending of the book really saved this for me, I finally got the imagery I wanted, the character development and a great set up for book two. 
 I will definitely be continuing this series and can see the next book hopefully becoming a favourite and not having such a slow start and beginning. 
 Okay now the ending and crack pot theories 
 (view spoiler)[ Ari finding out she's actually the poisoner? YES YES YES. Although she has no training and doesn't know how to make poisons she does have an iron stomach and we don't know how strong but it should be awesome. I can see her family being okay with the switch in power, they weren't that hung up on being the rulers because they never believed in Ari anyhow so I can't see them really caring if Ari was to win and the Poisoners staying in their position as the council. 
 Kath being pushed! Oh boy are you in for it when she comes for you. I hope Ari has a snake come and bite him in that handsome face of his. I truly believed he loved her and can't wait to find out why he betrayed her trust or pretending to fall for her so seamlessly. Also how did she get out of that canyon? drop? I needed some more description of what this thing actually was. Did she have vines grow and save her? Did animals carry her home? Did she hit water and use the fish to swim her to the surface? Who knows but she's out for revenge and I can't wait to see her get her confidence up and make people stop messing with her. 
 I hope the snake wasn't her familiar as she's dead right? Hopefully she has a wolf or something equally as strong as Cams mountain cat. 
 The poisoners are not going to be happy about her being a naturalist and I can't help but wonder if Natalia will run with her to the island to learn her craft with her sister Ari and if she turns on her sister? Giselle who will without a doubt try to kill her. 
 Also will we see some sister love? I mean Mirabella did get with Joseph but that is also part Ari's fault for ruining the love spell and not Mirabella's fault the first time, the second time she should have said no but this is Josephs fault more so. 
 Will all three band together? Will Kat and Ari work together to teach each other their talents? Will Ari and Kat be as powerful as Mirabella? Are the Priestess going to switch sides or still try to kill the other queens? (hide spoiler)] 
 Dear ending of Three Dark Crowns, 
 AHSJSDJEUNSKLDNCTWOAMSSEOIHXNAKSJDBEHDGUEWYATWIEPDMVNFHDGTWUIAPMCNBDSFGTWIJSNJDUEAHSJSDJEUNSKLDNCTWOAMSSEOIHXNAKSJDBEHDGUEWYATWIEPDMVNFHDGTW 
 Love from, 
 A reader in need of a time machine.