Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake's World of Monsters, Murder & Matriarchy

[bookgazing]

At first glance, Kendare Blake's Three Dark Crowns series appears firmly anchored in storytelling traditions of brutal, female competition. Three magical queenly sisters, Arsinoe, Mirabella, and Katharine, battle each other for dominance on the island of Fennbirn. These girls from the opposing magical camps of naturalists, elementals and poisoners are competing for the crown, their suitors' hearts, and the right to bear the next set of "blessed" triplets who will, once born, again do battle for the crown. In accordance with age old tradition, only one queen can survive; the other two queens must be despatched by their sister's hand.

So far, so conventional. Fiction is littered with stories about women locked in unhealthy competitions with each other; the fairy tale jealousies of queens, the recurring 'not like other girls' narrative, the one Strong Female Protagonist surrounded by women still bound up in their sexist culture. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Fennbirn is no "ordinary" magical island, and the structure of Fennbirn's society recasts the contest between the queens in an extremely interesting light.

The Island of Fennbirn has a long history of female power. The monarchy follows a matriarchal line, Fennbirn is always ruled by a queen, and the queens are officially children of 'the Goddess'. While each winning queen choses a king-consort, he doesn't have anything like her power (magical or political). And the power behind the throne is largely female too; all the camps of supporters are run by groups of powerful women. Managing the queenly contest is largely women's work and, while there are men involved in managing at least one of the queens' campaigns, it's clear that female advisers, politicians, and priestesses lead the way. Female control is the norm on Fennbirn, and it's only when men from the mainland interact with the women of Fennbirn that the reader learns that Fennbirn is something of an oddity in this world.

While Blake's decision to base her novels around a brutal rulership contest, fought by sisters, doesn't produce a story that is cooperatively feminist, by placing the story of the queens within a society that is overwhelmingly ruled by women, it does produce a satisfying, female-focused story of a struggle for power. And paradoxically for a series about women competing to kill each other, the Three Dark Thrones books are also about female friendship, as well as the bonds between sisters and mothers. Arsinoe and her best friend Jules have been close from the very start of the series. And then in the second book, One Dark Throne, Mirabella and Arsinoe develop a close relationship as well. Jules, her mother Madrigal, and her aunt Caragh contribute an important family strand. Elisabeth and Bree continue to be staunch friends to Mirabella. And Katharine's honestly pretty toxic, but strong, bond with her mentor Natalia Arron remains important to her. It's wonderful to read a young adult book where so many of the significant relationships are between women. And even when those relationships aren't positive, it is fascinating to spend so much of a book focused on important moments between women.

It's also fantastic to see that the way Blake constructs her world ensures that the contest between the queens is framed as an important struggle between women rather than as a struggle between women and the male world. Many stories about female rulers inevitably end up focused on their opposition to male rule. On Fennbirn, the idea of male rule is largely a dream, a joke, an impossibility, and this gives Blake's story the freedom to avoid having to address male concerns about female leadership at every turn.

By setting the queenly struggle for power in a world run by women, Blake provides her female characters with several other important freedoms. Not only are they free from the male, patriarchal control on the mainland, but they're also free from the textual pressures placed upon lone female characters. Female characters ruling alone in worlds and stories largely populated by men can find themselves cast as idyllic rulers in a bid to validate female rule, "ruined" by stepping outside the bounds of acceptable female rule, or just critically assessed as yet another example of any number of troublesome stereotypes linked with female rulers. Blake's female characters are free to hold power without their actions becoming linked to sexist stereotypes about female power precisely because there are just so many women, holding power in so many ways, and because these women are all such distinct individuals. Despite the fact that many of her powerful female characters are hard, violent, and even at times monstrous, it's difficult to say that these books portray female rule as monstrous in itself. And this is especially true as the mainland, where men rule, hardly sounds like an idyllic land of justice in comparison.

Happily, populating the world of Fennbirn with powerful women of all types gives Blake space to create female "monsters" without having to worry that these characters stand as a symbol for all womanly power. Blake has a real skill for creating complex, difficult women who often do monstrous things, and making the reader love them in their monstrosity (see also her Goddess War series). It is very easy for the reader to like Arsinoe, and warm to Mirabella, but even Katharine in her murderous, poison-sated, ghost-possessed state draws the reader to her. The cast of politically active older women that surround all the girls add an extra intriguingly murky layer to the novel. And it is impressive how much Blake manages to make readers care about even Madrigal, Jules' absent, incredibly difficult, witchy mother, by the end of Two Dark Reigns.

So, yes, Fennbirn is a violent dystopia which pits three young women against each other in a bloody contest driven by power hungry adults. And, yes, the Arron poisoner family control the island with deadly force. And, yes, the island is surrounded by a magical mist which now seems to be murdering people… However, it's also a seat of glorious female power which stands apart from the patriarchal mainland. Arsinoe sums up that conflict between violence and power embodied by life on the island, and the dark attraction of Fennbirn when she says 'Good Goddess, I've missed this terrible place.' 'Is it better to be a queen on Fennbirn than a woman on the mainland?' seems like a valid question after Arsinoe and Mirabella spend a spell in a land where girls can't wear trousers, and must obey innumerable, stifling rules. With both her and Mirabella's magic diminished, the girls recall the attraction of Fennbirn even as they contemplate that a return to the island could mean their death. And it's difficult for readers to avoid feeling the same way. Even though Fennbirn is clearly an incredibly toxic environment for the young queens, it's also a wild site where women wield powerful magic, political influence, and military might. In comparison, life on the mainland feels like a poor substitute.

Of course, it's not all 'Run the world?' dance montages on Fennbirn. Heterosexual tyranny runs through the structure of Fennbirn's royal dynasty. While lesbian, bisexual and polyamorous relationships exist on Fennbirn, the queens must all chose a king consort. And they're all fated, if they win the contest, to bear the next generation of triplets. There's no way to escape this, and frankly the book does little to comment on this problem as all of the three queens are written as straight women who fall in love with various men. There is a lot of straight romantic drama going on in these books. Some readers (me) might say completely unnecessary drama considering how many of the female characters could easily be in relationships with each other. It's frustrating to see so many missed opportunities for lesbian romance when it seems like the text so often signals that there are romantic feelings dancing under friendly gestures.

And, as you can probably tell from my constant reference to male and female in this review, there's very little space made for non-binary or gender-fluid individuals in this world. The first comes in Two Dark Reigns when Arsinoe begins to dream she is Daphne, a girl who prefers to dress as a boy but is happy being referred to by female pronouns. It feels like the series is trying to break out of the standard straight, binary YA fantasy template that was established by some of the biggest titles in the genre many moons ago. Unfortunately the series is four books in and it's still tossing crumbs out; a situation I remember from Blake's previous The Goddess War series (which I also love).

It's also frustrating that this story that can't seem to break free from its own structure and starting point. Is it better to be a queen on Fennbirn than a woman on the mainland is not the only question these characters could be posing; they could be radically reshaping Fennbirn politics in a bid for their lives and the happiness of their people. While Two Dark Reigns sees the beginning of a revolution, it's a revolution shaped around a different kind of queen with vague, insubstantial promises that once the revolt is over another form of governance will be created. I'm intrigued to see how the series will end in general, but my biggest hope is that the last book provides a way for the queens to burst out of the fated and directed narrative they've been shoved into without having to sacrifice their power or their freedom.

Blake has created an almost gothic series full of power plays and magic, cloaked in an oppressive, seductive atmosphere of ambition (and sometimes cruelty) and it's all about women! I'll admit it's one of those series that I have to recommend with that caveat every reader hates - 'Once you get through the first book…' I know. I'm sorry to have brought you all this way for that kind of recommendation. But once you're in, you're in like a dead queen trapped in the Breccia Domain. Trust me, you're going to love that reference once you get to the end of that first book.