Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake
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.
My Thoughts
Overall I enjoyed this book; I like the series so far! I can’t believe I have one more book to read then I’ll be done. It’s sort of a bittersweet moment to me. I’m excited to read the last book in this series! This wasn’t my favourite book, I finished it last month and I’m still a bit foggy in what happened in certain areas but I enjoyed it overall. I enjoyed seeing the character development of the characters, and the world-building still adds a lot to it.
So remember when I said I liked Mirabella? Right, well I 10098798798% like Katharine more now. Such a badass, and I love her and all the dead queens. Urgh. I’m also a sucker for dark and twisted plots and characters, so maybe that’s why I liked Katharine so much and don’t care for Arisone? Though Emilia has now taken the spot for my least favourite character. The manipulation of Jules got on my nerves that I got so fed up with her for a while.
It made me happy that Arisone seemed to have a purpose! I still don’t think she’s a great character, maybe not as fully developed as Mirabella, but she seemed to have a purpose in this book. Seeing Braddock was a plus as well, I was fond of that bear and wanted to see more of him!
Blake had me asking so many questions in this book, the plot was well-thought out and I enjoyed it immensely. There are a lot of spoilers coming from the plot so I won’t’ say much other than I loved the mysterious aspect of the island.
Seeing the world from the other side of mist was super interesting to me! I liked seeing how they viewed the island, or didn’t view it in some instances. The expansion of the world that Blake built blew me away as well as expanding on with the Blue Queen that added a whole new depth to the world she built and made me question who was really in control. Clearly not the Queens at this point but who actually knows!
I wanted more world-building! That’s my complaint, there wasn’t enough of it in the previous books and there’s still not enough in it in this book. I think Blake had a wonderfully opportunity to explore more about what it’s like on the mainland and how they view Fennbrin but it fell flat for me. And once again, too many characters! Just, tone it down with them. I kept losing track of who was who, where they came from, and how they were related… I almost needed a list of the characters beside me to reference.
Despite the world-building and too many characters I still really enjoyed this book! I can’t wait to read the last installment in this series.
Cups of Tea: ☕☕☕☕
Let me know if you’ve read this book/series!
Kaitlyn’s Cup of Tea 