Synopsis:
Queen Katharine has waited her entire life to wear the crown. But now that she finally has it, the murmurs of dissent grow louder by the day. There’s also the alarming issue of whether or not her sisters are actually dead—or if they’re waiting in the wings to usurp the throne.
Mirabella and Arsinoe are alive, but in hiding on the mainland and dealing with a nightmare of their own: being visited repeatedly by a specter they think might be the fabled Blue Queen. Though she says nothing, her rotting, bony finger pointing out to sea is clear enough: return to Fennbirn.
Jules, too, is in a strange place—in disguise. And her only confidants, a war-gifted girl named Emilia and her oracle friend Mathilde, are urging her to take on a role she can’t imagine filling: a legion-cursed queen who will lead a rebel army to Katharine’s doorstep.
This is an uprising that the mysterious Blue Queen may have more to do with than anyone could have guessed—or expected.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
This is by far the best book of the series thus far. It fixed all of my issues with the previous books, mainly the slow pacing of One Dark Throne and how deeply I disliked Arsinoe and Jules as characters.
In my review of the previous book, I explained that I felt like Arsinoe felt more like a device to make Jules's narrative relevant to the story than an actual character. Together, I just found them insufferable. But in Two Dark Reigns, they spend the majority of the novel separate and HOLY CRAP did it make a difference. Separating Arsinoe and Jules is hands down the best decision Kendare Blake has made for this entire series.
Without Jules as a crutch, Arsinoe became an actual character! Granted, she still didn't quite feel "full" because she's deeply connected to the Blue Queen, but she had a heck of a lot more presence than when she was with Jules. Jules, on the other hand, has always been by far my least favorite main character (though Joseph still takes the cake for least fav character overall). But I daresay I liked her in this novel? Without her dedication to Arsinoe and constant pining after Joseph, she finally had a personality beyond them, and more focus was given to who she actually is as a person. I thought Jules was an interesting deconstruction of the "chosen one" trope, with her uncertainty and outright rejection of being lifted up as the Legion Queen.
The pacing, and thus plot, were also significantly improved in this novel. While I thought the slow pacing of Three Dark Crowns did a fantastic job at building suspense, it made One Dark Throne so boring. In Two Dark Reigns, the pacing picked up to its fastest yet, which meant there was significantly more plot. Gone are the days spent meandering about Wolf Spring, in favor of a rising rebellion with a false queen, killing mist, and the ghost of the Blue Queen of legend.
I'm so glad that Kendare Blake was given the opportunity to add more onto this series. If it had just been the duology, honestly, I would've been disappointed, between the slow pacing and annoying and/or underdeveloped characters Two Dark Reigns was a much-needed addition to this series - almost necessary, I'd argue.
In my review of the previous book, I explained that I felt like Arsinoe felt more like a device to make Jules's narrative relevant to the story than an actual character. Together, I just found them insufferable. But in Two Dark Reigns, they spend the majority of the novel separate and HOLY CRAP did it make a difference. Separating Arsinoe and Jules is hands down the best decision Kendare Blake has made for this entire series.
Without Jules as a crutch, Arsinoe became an actual character! Granted, she still didn't quite feel "full" because she's deeply connected to the Blue Queen, but she had a heck of a lot more presence than when she was with Jules. Jules, on the other hand, has always been by far my least favorite main character (though Joseph still takes the cake for least fav character overall). But I daresay I liked her in this novel? Without her dedication to Arsinoe and constant pining after Joseph, she finally had a personality beyond them, and more focus was given to who she actually is as a person. I thought Jules was an interesting deconstruction of the "chosen one" trope, with her uncertainty and outright rejection of being lifted up as the Legion Queen.
The pacing, and thus plot, were also significantly improved in this novel. While I thought the slow pacing of Three Dark Crowns did a fantastic job at building suspense, it made One Dark Throne so boring. In Two Dark Reigns, the pacing picked up to its fastest yet, which meant there was significantly more plot. Gone are the days spent meandering about Wolf Spring, in favor of a rising rebellion with a false queen, killing mist, and the ghost of the Blue Queen of legend.
I'm so glad that Kendare Blake was given the opportunity to add more onto this series. If it had just been the duology, honestly, I would've been disappointed, between the slow pacing and annoying and/or underdeveloped characters Two Dark Reigns was a much-needed addition to this series - almost necessary, I'd argue.
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