Two Dark Reigns – Kendare Blake

Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two Dark Reigns is the third book in what is now a quartet by Kendare Blake. When I originally began this series, I ended up enjoying the idea of the plot more than its execution. There were so many characters, many with similar names that it just became unwieldy. It was hard to keep characters and plots organized in your mind and ended up affecting my enjoyment of the first book. That being said, once I got to the second book where the plot was a little more focused and you knew the characters a little better I felt more engaged. I think that the series has definitely improved as the author has continued to write and I really enjoyed the third book in the series.

Even I’m still not a fan of Katharine, I like how much more nuanced and developed her character is in this book. She used to be a doormat with very little will of her own and now she actually feels like a dimensional character. I still prefer Mirabella and Arsinoe as characters, but I was partial to them from the beginning because I preferred their gifts. That being said, this story revolves very little around their powers and readers have to focus on the characters and plot.

I loved being able to see more of the world that Blake created for this series, especially the main land. It was this almost mythical place to the island, just like Fennbirn was to it so I found it fascinating to see how the people and culture have progressed (or not) in comparison to one another. I felt that we received more backstory and support for the story itself, which really engaged me in the plot and made the book engrossing. I would definitely recommend this series more so now that I would have when I first began my journey with these characters.

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