Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Three Dark Crowns
Kendare Blake
5/5 stars

On the island of Fennbrin, queens are always born as triplets.  These queens are endowed with magical gifts and are trained from children to use them.  Only one can be made THE queen, though, and at the age of 16 they begin a ritual that will end with only one survivor.

Three Dark Crowns is a fantastic book. Blake skillfully goes from the perspective of one queen to another, with each queen having a distinctive personality.  The world-building is excellent, with customs and religion being explained as the story goes along.  The prose is engaging and Blake writes well.  The plot is exciting; I was left guessing through the entire novel, never able to know for certain where the story would go.  This is the first of a series, and Blake ended on a cliffhanger that took my breath away.  I highly recommend this for all fantasy lovers.