That Backstory Hits Different!
If you thought you understood the triplet queens, or even the lore of Fennbirn itself… think again. The Young Queens and The Oracle Queen aren’t just companion novellas in Queens of Fennbirn—they’re emotional detonators that reframe the story. There’s betrayal, rewritten history, and unexpected redemption (looking at you, Madrigal). These stories may be short, but they leave a lasting mark.
Hype Report
Goodreads readers rated this at 4.01 stars. Slightly Over-hyped.
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Aesthetic
The Cover
This cover with illustrations by John Dismukes returns to the spacing of the illustrations between the lines of the title text and looks just as good as the original Three Dark Crowns cover. I have written a bit in the other book reviews that when the text and illustrations are overlaid with this font, there is a bit of a legibility problem. Nice to see the series end how it began – beautifully. This one does return to the HarperTeen imprint, so when these books are all lined up on a bookshelf or in a stack, they all match except for book four, Five Dark Fates, which was published under Quill Tree. The illustration of the top crown, representative of the Oracle Queen, appears to be broken and smoking – a nod to her alleged madness? It also has a cool treatment that makes the crown appear to change color depending on the angle of the light! The second crown, representing Queen Camille, who birthed the triplet queens we know from Three Dark Crowns, is interwoven with fire, a purple flower, and a snake to represent the children.
Interior:
This collection book contains two novellas, The Young Queens and The Oracle Queen, each with its own title page. No map is included in this book, nor is a listing of the characters, as we saw in books 2-4. Everything else is consistent with the previous volumes and is very well executed.
Did the design affect whether I bought the book?
This book was gifted to me along with the rest of the series, so the cover did not impact my ownership of the book.
Summary
In Short
A bit of additional perspective to make you question things you thought you knew about the people of Fennbirn Island.
From the Publisher
#1 New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake delivers two Three Dark Crowns prequel novellas fans won’t want to miss!
Together in print for the first time in this paperback bind-up, the dazzling prequels to the Three Dark Crowns series are finally available for fans to have and to (literally) hold. Uncover the sisters’ origins, dive deep into the catastrophic reign of the Oracle Queen, and reveal layers of Fennbirn’s past, hidden until now.
The Young Queens
Get a glimpse of triplet queens Mirabella, Arsinoe, and Katharine during a short period of time when they protected and loved one another. From birth until their claiming ceremonies, this is the story of the three sisters’ lives…before they were at stake.
The Oracle Queen
Everyone knows the legend of Elsabet, the Oracle Queen. The one who went mad. The one who orchestrated a senseless, horrific slaying of three entire houses. But what really happened? Discover the true story behind the queen who could foresee the future…just not her own downfall.
Don’t miss Five Dark Fates, the thrilling conclusion to the series!
Character Analysis
The Young Queens is all about character development. We know these characters from the main series storyline, but get a deeper view into their back story and how they came to be as we met them. In particular, the queens, as they were initially taught by Willa, what they were like on separation day, and how they reacted when they each found out about the Ascension and that they would be expected to kill their sisters. Key side characters’ experiences are also expanded upon.
The Oracle Queen introduces a bunch of new characters, many with familiar surnames. The story establishes much of the lore around the kinds of people that are associated with various families and factions.
I will do as my queen wishes.
Writing Style
Something I noticed about the writing style while reading The Young Queens is that the author leads the reader to where they can conclude, and perhaps circles around it, but doesn’t spell it out for you. The style leaves room for you to bring your own experiences and thought processes to the story, and, I think, this allows readers to draw from it as much as they are willing.
Themes
The Young Queens dives even deeper into sisterhood as a theme. The story explores the birth and separation of the triplet queens, but also goes into how they adjusted to their foster families. The story also captures sisterhood as it is experienced by Madrigal and Caragh and Natalia, and Genevieve.
The Oracle Queen explores trust and betrayal, how perceptions can be dangerous.
Critical Evaluation
While The Young Queens is technically a story about the triplet queens from the Three Dark Crowns series, it fills in details about the foster families that help round out some of the characters and give more meaning to why they behaved the way that they did.
SPOILERS
It also affirms what I suspected from early in the first book, Three Dark Crowns, that Queen Camille purposely swapped Arsinoe and Katharine’s stated gifts so they would be fostered by the wrong families. I was surprised, though, that the reason for the swap was not to protect the babies but for revenge on the Arrons, who were as horrible to her as they later are to Katharine.
The Oracle Queen gives the backstory on what became the song of the mad queen. The repercussions of a few greedy people led to the unnecessary infanticide of every sight-gifted queen born for 500 years and the general weakening of that gift and the island itself.
Personal Opinion
The Young Queens changed the way I see Madrigal and her behavior throughout the series. See spoilers section for details.
The Oracle Queen story just made me feel sad.
SPOILERS
Perhaps Madrigal was not the selfish person she is made out to be through the entire Three Dark Crowns series. If the Malones were cursed to only have 2 girls in each generation, and one was able to bear children and the other was not. Could Madrigal’s leaving the island and care of Julienne to Caragh be an act of love for both her sister and her bound, legion, cursed daughter? When Caragh volunteers to take Jules’ place at the Black Cottage, she gives up her ability to help raise Jules and to be with Matthew, the love of her life. Then we see Madrigal have an affair with Matthew and hold him in her sway with low magic, becoming pregnant with Fenn, who as a boy breaks the Malone curse. While “stealing” her sister’s boyfriend and getting pregnant by him seems repulsive as you read it, could she has intended to give Caragh this child with Matthew that they never could have born themselves? She had had a vision that she would die, she must have expected that, like Jules, Caragh would raise Fenn – hopefully with Matthew. One might even go so far as to say that by doing this selfless act of sisterhood (even when it wasn’t perceived that way) that Madrigal swayed the Goddess to break the Malone curse by sending them Fenn. Unfortunately, she still speaks and behaves in a way that makes you question this altruistic reading.
Recommendation
If you’ve read the series and enjoyed it, do read this one too. I was hesitant that I would get anything valuable from it, but was proven wrong. It made me rethink my perspectives.
When you read a series, do you automatically read the novellas and side stories too?
Give me your POV in the comments.
May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.
Happy Reading!
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