SATA

• Mortal Gods Tor Teen (New York, NY), 2014
• Ungodly Tor Teen (New York, NY), 2015
• Three Dark Crowns HarperTeen (New York, NY), 2016
• One Dark Throne HarperTeen (New York, NY), 2017

1.  One dark throne LCCN 2017943441 Type of material Book Personal name Blake, Kendare. Main title One dark throne / Kendare Blake ; [edited by] Alexandra Cooper. Edition 1st edition. Published/Produced New York, NY : HarperTeen, 2017. Projected pub date 1709 Description pages cm ISBN 9780062385468 (hardcover) Library of Congress Holdings Information not available. 2.  Three dark crowns LCCN 2016938986 Type of material Book Personal name Blake, Kendare, author. Main title Three dark crowns / Kendare Blake. Edition First edition. Published/Produced New York, NY : HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2016] Description 398 pages ; map ; 22 cm ISBN 9780062385437 (hardcover) CALL NUMBER PZ7.B5566 Th 2016 Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms 3.  Ungodly LCCN 2015019188 Type of material Book Personal name Blake, Kendare, author. Main title Ungodly / Kendare Blake. Edition First Edition. Published/Produced New York : Tor Teen, 2015. Description 367 pages ; 22 cm. ISBN 9780765334459 (hardback) Links Cover image http://www.netread.com/jcusers2/bk1388/459/9780765334459/image/lgcover.9780765334459.jpg CALL NUMBER PZ7.B5566 Un 2015 LANDOVR Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms - STORED OFFSITE 4.  Mortal gods LCCN 2014033726 Type of material Book Personal name Blake, Kendare, author. Main title Mortal gods / Kendare Blake. Edition First Edition. Published/Produced New York : Tor Teen, 2014. Description 348 pages ; 22 cm. ISBN 9780765334442 (hardback) Links Cover image http://www.netread.com/jcusers2/bk1388/442/9780765334442/image/lgcover.9780765334442.jpg CALL NUMBER PZ7.B5566 Mor 2014 LANDOVR Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms - STORED OFFSITE

• Fantastic Fiction -

  Series
  Anna
  1. Anna Dressed in Blood (2011)
  2. Girl of Nightmares (2012)

   
  Goddess War
  1. Antigoddess (2013)
  2. Mortal Gods (2014)
  3. Ungodly (2015)

   
  Three Dark Crowns
  1. Three Dark Crowns (2016)
  2. One Dark Throne (2017)

   
  Novels
  Sleep Walk Society (2010)
  The Dogs of Athens (2015)
  Violent Ends (2015) (with Derek Blyth, Steve Brezenoff, Delilah S Dawson, Margie Gelbwasser, Shaun David Hutchinson, Tom Leveen, Hannah Moskowitz, Beth Revis, Brendan Shusterman, Neal Shüsterman, Cynthia Leitich Smith and Courtney Summers)
  The Young Queens (2017)

   
  Novellas
  When Gods and Vampires Roamed Miami (2014)

• Kendare Blake - http://kendareblake.com/

  Kendare Blake is the author of several novels and short stories, most of which you can find information about via the links above. Her work is sort of dark, always violent, and features passages describing food from when she writes while hungry. She was born in July (for those of you doing book reports) in Seoul, South Korea, but doesn’t speak a lick of Korean, as she was packed off at a very early age to her adoptive parents in the United States. That might be just an excuse, though, as she is pretty bad at learning foreign languages. She enjoys the work of Milan Kundera, Caitlin R Kiernan, Bret Easton Ellis, Richard Linklater, and the late, great Michael Jackson, I mean, come on, he gave us Thriller.
  She lives and writes in Kent, Washington, with her husband, their cat son Tyrion Cattister, red Doberman dog son Obi-Dog Kenobi, rottie mix dog daughter Agent Scully, and naked sphynx cat son Armpit McGee.

• Amazon -

  Kendare Blake grew up in the small city of Cambridge, Minnesota. She is a graduate of Ithaca College, in Ithaca, New York and received a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Middlesex University in London, England. She loves to travel, is an advocate for animals, and cheats a lot when she plays Final Fantasy. Adopted from South Korea at the age of seven months, she arrived with the following instruction: "Feed her chocolate." Though not medically advisable, she and her parents are eternally grateful for this advice.

  Kendare is the author of six novels: the contemporary SLEEPWALK SOCIETY, YA horror duo ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD (2011 NPR Top 5, Kirkus Top Ten), and GIRL OF NIGHTMARES (2012 Kirkus Reviews Top Ten), and the Goddess War trilogy (ANTIGODDESS, MORTAL GODS, UNGODLY).

  Coming in September 2016: THREE DARK CROWNS, the first book in a fantasy series about warring triplet queens.

• Writers and Artists - https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/writers/advice/731/a-writers-toolkit/interviews-with-authors/

  Interview with Kendare Blake

  We interview young adult fiction author Kendare Blake - on her advice to writers, dealing with rejection and the benefits of creative writing courses.

  Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about your books?  
  I can! Sleepwalk Society is a contemporary tale about figuring out your future, Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares are horror novels about the strange life of ghost hunter Cas Lowood, Antigoddess and Mortal Gods are Greek mythology quest adventures about dying gods and the havoc they wreak in the lives of reincarnated Trojan heroes.
  What inspired you to write Three Dark Crowns, the first book in your new fantasy series? 
  Actually, it was a conversation I had with friends at a book event. One of them is a beekeeper, and there was a hive swarming in a tree behind the bookstore.  She told me all about queens and how they operate, how they decide to lay three or four queen eggs and then the first queen who hatches murders her sisters and takes over the hive. I thought, wow, good thing people aren’t like that, and then I thought, hang on, we totally could be.
  Your characters, despite being in horrible situations, often lighten the situation with dark humour. Do you think this is important in horror fiction? 
  I don’t necessarily think it’s important but I sure find it enjoyable. One or another of my characters always winds up being a smartass. 
  YA novels are often told from the perspective of teenage heroine. However, one of your protagonist is Cas, a young man. Was this a conscious decision? 
  Not really a conscious decision.  I didn’t know that most YA novels are told from heroine POVs. I only knew that if I let Anna tell the story, it would have been a much smaller, more claustrophobic story because for most of it she couldn’t leave her house.  And I also knew that it wasn’t really her story. I mean it was, but the journey in it was always going to belong to Cas.
  Your more recent books lean more towards the fantasy genre than horror. Do you feel there is any crossover between the two genres? 
  Yes. At least there is in mine. I can’t get away from violence and gore. Every fantasy I write will be dark, and disturbing in places. That’s what I like in my fantasy. 
  The fantasy market is so saturated now. Do you have any advice for authors looking to stand out from the crowd? 
  I don’t. Just, write quality. Write something you enjoy. The market is unpredictable. 
  For your ANTIGODDESSES series, you drew on Greek mythology. How did you approach taking centuries-old myths and telling them in a fresh way?  
  I was nervous about it. It felt ballsy in a way, like bad idea ballsy. The gods aren’t mine, and readers have ideas about who they are already, so taking them and trying to interpret them myself was intimidating. 
  You have a Master’s degree in Creative Writing. How useful do you feel this has been to you? Would you advise other writers to consider taking creative writing courses? 
  Completely useful! It helped me understand the business side, honestly, and the process of publishing. The steps and the path. And it makes you look at writing from a different perspective, and can really jumpstart the creative juices. I’ve never been more productive than I was during the course, and many of those stories went on to be published. So I would advise it, definitely. It’s not mandatory by any means, but it is a ton of fun. I’d like to do more.
  Writers often have to face rejection before getting published. Did you? If so, how did you cope with it? 
  Oh yes. I did. Many and varied kinds. And there were times, long stretches, where I thought I ought to just pack it in and do something else. I did other things, for what feels like a long time. But, the quitting never stuck. And if the quitting doesn’t stick, chances are, you’re probably a writer.
  Finally, what’s the one piece of advice you would like to share with other writers? 
  I usually say read, and write. Those are the obvious two, and you can’t survive in this biz without doing both. But lately, talking to aspiring writers, it seems like learning to finish things is important. So, that. Finish your story. Finish your poem. Finish, finish, finish. And then do it all over again.

  To find out more about Kendare Blake and her books, take a look at her website. 

• Houston Public Library Website - http://houstonlibrary.org/learn-explore/blog/five-fast-facts-about-kendare-blake

  Five fast facts about Kendare Blake
  5/12/2015
  Categories:  
  TeensAuthors
  Tags:  
  author of the monthteensfive fast facts

   
   
   
   
   
  She is from South Korea but was raised in the United States.
  She has a Master's in Writing from Middlesex University.
  She likes Greek mythology, rare red meat and veganism.
  She brakes for animals--the largest of which was a deer, which sadly didn’t make it, and the smallest of which was a mouse, which did.
  She was born in July (for those of you doing book reports) in Seoul, South Korea, but doesn’t speak a lick of Korean, as she was packed off at a very early age to her adoptive parents in the United States. 

• Bookriot - http://bookriot.com/2016/09/08/on-characters-taking-the-wheel-an-interview-with-kendare-blake/

  On Characters Taking the Wheel: An Interview with Kendare Blake

  Sharanya Sharma
  09-08-16
  Critically acclaimed Young Adult writer Kendare Blake’s newest book Three Dark Crowns, hit shelves just in time to get your fall creepy on this September. The novel follows three sisters, each with their own dangerous power, who must fight to the death to earn the crown and rule their isolated island people. For years, the Poisoners have ruled the island. But the three princesses of the island are ready to be crowned, and this battle has many more twists and turns than any of them could have realized.
  Like many of Blake’s previous efforts, Three Dark Crowns shows you the mesmerizingly dark side of magic and politics. It’s a wicked, sexy tale of twisted political factions in search of power and women who cross boundaries of loyalty and tradition to fulfill their darkest desires. I had the chance to talk with Kendare Blake about her fantastic new book, writing, female friendships and feminine power, and more!

   

  Sharanya Sharma: I loved the book! I saw so many interesting themes in there about power and politics that I really enjoyed. I’d love to hear from you — what are some things you hope readers will see in this story?
  Kendare Blake: Well, first and foremost I hope they get an enjoyable read. I was surprised at how much fun it was to write — all the scheming! And the different kind of  city-societies. I got to immerse myself in their different cultures along with their shared culture, and all their different aims.
  Yeah, totally! I was also fascinated by the three different settings you created within this one island. How did you go about developing those three different factions and those three different settings for this story?

  I let the settings kind of form around the characters. I had a clearer idea of who the Poisoners were, as a culture, and who the Elementals were. I had a clear view of what their cities would be like. I mean, I’d been thinking about these characters and their societies for…full on I had the idea about two years before I started writing, but then I really started to get into it about 8 months or so before, and I started thinking about the particulars. Wolf Spring, the naturalist city, was the one that showed up first. That to me has a very English Countryside/Irish-inspired feel to it, with the waterfront and the docks, and the farms, whereas the Poisoners live in the capital, which is much fancier, and much more developed and urbanized, so that had almost like a French or Russian feel to it — when I visualize the buildings, that’s the kind of architecture and structure that I see. And the Elementals up in Rolanthe were more free. They’re by the coast. There’s a lot of waterways and lots of things moving. I wanted it to be a very bustling kind of city-center with a lot of art and vendors and artisans and craftspeople working through there.
  And do you often find that your characters are the ones that inform what happens around them, or is it the other way around?
  This time, that is exactly what happened. I knew that Fennbirn was an island and that it was isolated and almost kind of lost to the rest of the world at this point. But in my other books, the setting is kind of forced more on to the characters because they were real places. I have things happen in actual places. This is the first time, I would say, because it was a fantasy and because it was completely created I could allow [my characters to inform the setting]. Kind of fun!
  I can imagine! Would you say one setting is more challenging than the other? Or that they’re both kind of challenging?
  I mean, they both have their own sets of challenges. You might think it’s harder to come up with something from the ground up. And funnily enough, real-life settings seem to have their mystical way of kind of…working out. If you need an alley for something to happen and you’re thinking of a particular place, strangely enough, you usually find it. You usually find something workable that you can do. There’s a little less pressure, I will say, having made up something, versus trying to do justice to the place that actually exists.
  So how will these settings influence the story to come?
  In the first book there’s a lot of positioning and there’s a lot of jockeying for power within the cities themselves and between city to city. And in the second book, you kind of see the sisters kind of break out of that and start to realize like, “This is our fight, so we’d better get in it or figure out what’s going to happen.”
  It was kind of nice in the second book to see them sort of come into their own and see them make some of their own mistakes.
  I was really interested by having three different characters move the story forward. Especially these three very distinct characters that are related and yet almost have no contact with each other at first. Was it challenging to balance three different points of view as you move through the story?
  It was. Because, inevitably, as a writer you know one or two characters better than you know the rest. At least, right away, before you figure out the others. So previous drafts were kind of just figuring stuff out. By the time I got to the more final drafts it had all integrated and I could see where everybody was coming from more clearly. I was worried, because we are dealing with three different settings, essentially three different main characters, three different casts of supporting characters. They each have their individual journey and I wanted to keep each one kind of compelling enough, and also related to the others, without having them cross paths because they don’t cross paths until midway through. So I felt a little pressure, like “I need to get these sisters together!” But really, that’s the way the story went. And they all needed to have that kind of pre-development so you could see the kind of lives they were living and why they would act the way that they would towards each other.
  You mentioned the cast of supporting characters, who were also very enjoyable. I was particularly interested in the female friendships that you see. What role do you think friendships, and female friendships especially, play in a story like this about power and politics?
  Well, since this one is set in a matriarchal society, maybe it’s slightly different. Whereas in a patriarchy the female friendships would especially precious, I think, would be bonded together in oppression. But, in this case, I loved writing the female friendships and it was very, very important to me that especially two of the characters would have this crazy unbreakable bond. One would do almost anything for the other, and the latter feels almost guilty about that. Their relationship is one that came out right away.
  The female friendships that Mirabella has surprised me! In the beginning she was a little bit more isolated, just the priestesses and her, you know, being groomed to take over. And then Bree showed up, her foster-sister, and then Elizabeth showed up. In the first couple of drafts Elizabeth was very minor, but she kept on kind of horning her way in, and before I knew it Mirabella had this set of very good best friends. It’s tough, when you have side characters like that, because you really like them, you really want to give them more page time, but it’s non-essential, so you have to do what you can with just a few lines between them.
  Do you find that characters often end up taking over in terms of where the story ends up going and things like that?
  Absolutely. I think that more often than not character motivation will dictate where the story ends up going. For example, in Anna Dressed in Blood I have a character named Carmel, and she’s a Queen Bee and she’s very popular, and I thought she was going to die in chapter seven, and instead she lives and becomes a main character through the entire two-book series, and that was certainly unexpected. I like it when things like that happen. It feels more like an adventure for me as a writer. It feels like I’m not so much creating as I’m turning these people loose and following them around where they go.
  Have you ever encountered any challenges with that, though? Where you’ve thought, oh, no, that’s not where this should be going! Have you tried to turn it around, and what does that look like?
  I did. In my second series, Cassandra of Troy was one of the main characters, and if you’re familiar with Cassandra of Troy’s backstory, she was a Princess of Troy. Everybody thought she was crazy because she was cursed by the gods and she ends up getting murdered on foreign shores by the wife of the man who had turned into a concubine and a slave. So not a great story for her. And then I come along and I put her in this other story, and I don’t know if it was because of my knowledge of her and what she would be like, but she was very hard to work with. She didn’t want to be in this book at all.  But she’s the other protagonist, she’s half the book, and I had to write it over and over again because she just didn’t feel like she wanted to be there, which…also sounds weird. It means that the characters are very real, and there’s more going on with the characters than what’s just in your head that doesn’t fit on the page. So Cassandra was my big problem child. I really like her, but at the same time I hope I don’t have to work with her again because she’s just too tough.
  So which characters do you relate to most in Three Dark Crowns, and why?
  I think I relate to them all on a certain level. I can certainly understand where they’re all coming from. It would be easy to kind of paint the Poisoners as the villains just because they’ve been in power so long. But really they’re not…well, some of them are wicked, but as a culture and I don’t think Natalia in particular, is necessarily wicked. I just think that she thinks that things are going very well for the island under their rule, and why change it. Nobody else can do it as well as they can. Everybody else is going to mess it up, and they need to stay where they are.
  I think of the three queens I can understand Arsinoe’s position the most. I tend to relate more to the underdogs. Katerina’s also an underdog but she’s still victimized. While I can see her position, luckily I can’t relate to it. But Arsinoe, she’s got all those defense mechanisms. She’s pretty sure she’s going to die but she still doesn’t want to. Even though she’s going to fight it off, she doesn’t really want to get her hopes up too high.  I relate to that a lot. She was the one who wasn’t raised with her eye on the prize. The naturalists kind of…gave her a happy childhood.
  You mentioned too how there isn’t one villain in this story, it’s really just about these three different factions living within the system. How did that idea come about?
  Exactly. If there’s a villain, it’s the situation. It’s not any particular person, although the way that they deal with the situation does bring out villainous qualities in some way.
  The whole idea kind of sparked from one thing. I was at a book event in Oregon, and it was indoor/outdoor, so we had a hot-dog truck out back, and there were kids playing music, and there was this bee-ball in a tree, this swarm of bees.
  And everybody was scared like, “Oh, the kids are going to get stung, everybody’s going to get stung, it’s gonna be chaos.”
  But a beekeeper was there, and she was like, “Don’t worry, that’s a swarm, they’re actively swarming, and they’re only concerned about protecting the queen, and she’s like, right in the middle of the ball. So as long as you don’t like, poke the ball, they won’t even get out of that tree. They’re just going to stay there.”
  So I got to chatting with the beekeeper, like, “Okay so what are they doing? Why are they all moving the queen right now?”
  And she said, “Well, the queen must have wanted to leave the hive for whatever reason — either she’s about to die or she just wants a new hive. So at her old hive she laid three or four queen eggs, and when those daughters hatch out, they fight or one kills the other ones before they can hatch and takes over the hive.”
  And I thought, “Neat!”
  As I was driving home I kept thinking about those bees. And I’ve always loved that story about Queen Elizabeth and the poisoned dress, and the very royal tradition of poisoning in that insidious manner, so I had this idea that I wanted to work with poison, poisoned clothes and this and that. And slowly the two ideas came together, and that’s where it came from.
  Wow!! That’s a fantastic way to start a story. So as we know, Three Dark Crowns is a Young Adult book, as were many of your previous books. Is there anything in particular that draws you to that genre?
  I don’t know! You know, before Anna Dressed in Blood I never really thought of it as a category. Mostly I think it’s just the age of the protagonists, I guess? My first first novel was contemporary, and it’s published with a small press out of Georgia, and I never thought of it as being Young Adult, but when they published it they were like, “This is kind of Young Adult.” And that’s when I perked up and was like, “What’s Young Adult?” So I guess I’ve kind of always been writing it and not known it. So I don’t know, I don’t know what in particular…I never know what in particular draws me to write a story over the years that I’ve been writing. You know, it’s just…worked out that way so far!
  You mentioned earlier that this story in your mind was set in a matriarchal society. Can you tell me more about about how that happened, and why?
  I don’t know, in my mind it was always a matriarchal society. Maybe because of the beehive, beehives being a very matriarchal society, you know, with the female workers and every once in awhile they let a drone in, then they boot him back out again. That’s probably why it came to be that way. But I really enjoyed it! I really enjoyed crafting a situation in a society where women are empowered and have always been in power, not only in the government but in religion. So it was interesting to me, to have the counterpoint from the boys who come to port from the mainland, and that patriarchal sense of “This is all really weird!” and “This could never fly back at home,” and have it kind of juxtaposed and come up against the girls that they’re there to hopefully court.
  Right, to see that realization of “Oh, I have to take a backseat, here!” As opposed to being the one to act, the boys have to sit back and watch. Did you find that, because we live in a mostly patriarchal society, that switching into that way of thinking was kind of hard? Did you find yourself challenged at times writing that?
  I did find myself slipping into some things. Like, I had Peter, who’s an Arron, I gave him the wrong last name, because he’s Natalia’s brother’s son, but he would have his mother’s name, so that’s why he’s not called Peter Arron. But for the first several drafts he was Peter Arron, and I didn’t catch it until much later on. I called fishers “fishermen” for a really long time, before I realized, you know, half these fishers are women out on the boats and they wouldn’t have that. And I had to be careful to trace estates through the female line, and things like that.
  I’d like to think I caught myself, mostly, but then I almost, like, went too far, because I got a letter from my editor, where she said, “So…can you give the boys some hopes and dreams? Because they’re kind of just…arm candy at this point.”
  And I was like, “OH, yeah, the boys, I did want to do something for them.”
  Peter and Billy and Joseph are the three main boys and I appreciate them as well. They are, you know, people! And in this situation they’re mostly supporting of the females but that’s because I think they should take a backseat to this kind of conflict. They’re not the ones that are going to have to be in it.
  So what did you find most challenging about writing this book?
  The actual writing of it! I’d been writing contemporary stories set in our world for a really long time. I was really used to peppering things with pop-culture references and a lot of slang and sarcasm and I couldn’t do that on an island. So it took me a really long time to get the voice and the tone down. Lots and lots of drafts. Even up to the very last minute, I looked at it one more time and was like, “This is not right,” so I completely rewrote it from top to tail, completely rewrote it in the voice that it is now.
  Wow.

  Yeah, that was hard. It was hard to get into it. And now that I’m in it, and working on the sequel, I’m like, God don’t lose it! It’s really hard to hold that voice when it’s not your natural voice.
  Do you feel like the tone shifts between the different settings, and that made it challenging too?
  I do! That smoothed out a little bit as I got to know them. For example, the Wolf Spring characters are a little bit more loosy-goosy. They’ll use contractions, and their mannerisms are a lot less formal. They’re country folk, they’re not city folk. Whereas in Indrid Down and in Rolanthe, at least among the Priestess class, they are very, very proper.
  Elizabeth the Priestess comes from Kenora, which is closer to Wolf Spring, and you will notice that her speech patterns and her mannerisms are kind of…shushed upon by the rest of the Priestess class. She’s not like them. But that kind of helps with keeping the characterizations, those differences, when we move from city to city. It helps to ground me, as a writer, as I make those shifts.
  That definitely makes sense! So one thing I really enjoy about your writing is that it’s dark, but it’s a darkness that reveals a lot about people. Can you talk about what influences your writing?
  You know, I don’t know if I have an excuse for the darkness! I mean, my parents are lovely people and I had a lovely childhood. But I’ve always been drawn to dark things, as far as my reading taste. I prefer dark things over fluffy things. I do like fluffy things though, I will not lie about that. But…for instance, the first things that I read were Stephen King, Anne Rice…just dark, creepy, and sometimes really brutal things. So maybe that just stuck with me? I don’t know! I like what you said though, that darkness does illuminate things about the human condition in a way that maybe light doesn’t, always, and maybe I’m just drawn to that!
  Yeah, I definitely saw a lot of that in your novel. Each faction was so ruthless in what they wanted that they brought out a lot of themselves onto the page.
  Yeah, it was fun, especially with the Priestesses! I was expecting the Poisoners to play dirty, that’s what I thought. So I was actually quite pleasantly thrilled when the priestesses were like, “Yeah we have all these high-minded ideals but screw that!” I really like that. They’re fun to write.

• Lets Runaway to Books - https://letsrunawaytobooks.wordpress.com/2016/11/10/interview-with-kendare-blake/

  Interview with: Kendare Blake
  letsrunawaytobooks10 Noiembrie 2016Authors, Interviews
  Navigare în articol
  PrecedentUrmător
  Hello!
  Today I’m posting a very fun post, my first ever interview with an author.
  Kendare Blake is the author of Three Dark Crowns and the Anna Dressed in Blood series, two well known books.

  1. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
  Well, middles, usually. A novel is a long, long thing, you know? And when I’m sitting in the middle of one, looking back at 45,000 words and then looking ahead and knowing there’s at least another 45,000 waiting, it can feel a little overwhelming. Like, BRING ME A GLASS OF THE GOOD STUFF overwhelming.
  2. Tell us about your writing process and the way you brainstorm story ideas.
  A story comes to me over the course of several years. It’ll pop up as just a smidgen of a thing. A whimzy. A possibility. And I’ll think about it for awhile, a few minutes, basically until I get tired of thinking about it. Then, if it really wants to be a story, or a book, it keeps coming back. Every few months, say, I’ll think about it again. Then more and more often. And it becomes more and more insistent, more fully formed. I learn more things about it. Until one day, it’s ready, and I write it.
  3. What’s a typical working day like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?
  Typical working day: Get up, feed my cat and dogs. Surf the internet, check email, etc. Exercise dogs and cat. Go to office to write. Maybe surf more internet. Feed dogs lunch because the Doberman has acid reflux and has to eat every few hours. Write more, until evening, until my husband gets home, or until I’m done. I won’t set word count goals unless I’m on a deadline, which more often than not I am nowadays.
  4. How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Do you have any name choosing resources you recommend?
  Depends on the name. Arsinoe from Three Dark Crowns has meaning. Cas from Anna Dressed in Blood was because I saw Othello at Shakespeare’s Globe and the guy who played Cassio was hot.
  5. How did you come up with the idea for Three Dark Crowns?
  A swarm of bees. A bee ball, stuck to a tree at a book event. After questioning a beekeeper who happened to be on site, I learned that a queen bee will lay four or five queen eggs before she leaves her hive, and one new daughter queen will kill her sisters, and take over the old hive. And I really, REALLY wanted to do that to people.
  6. What about Anna Dressed in Blood?
  I wanted to play the new Silent Hill but couldn’t find anyone to play with, so I wrote a book with blood and guts instead.
  7. Out of the protagonists you’ve written about so far, which one do you feel you relate to the most? Impossible question to answer! I have to understand all of their motivations, or the character makes no sense to me. But if you’re wondering which one I’m the most like…I’m like them all. And completely unlike them as well.
  8. Besides Three Dark Crowns #2, are you working on anything?
  Nope. Not yet. I’ll start another book as soon as Three Dark Crowns 2 wraps up in a month or so.
  9. Who are your favorite authors?
  Milan Kundera, Caitlin R Kiernan, Joe Hill, April Genevieve Tucholke, Trent Reedy, Bret Easton Ellis, Angela Carter…so, so many.
  10. What are your favorite books?
  Jane Eyre, We Don’t Live Here Anymore, Midwinterblood, The Vampire Chronicles, Short Cuts, Vampires in the Lemon Grove, so, so many more.
  11. We all love the covers of Three Dark Crowns but, if you would need to choose one, which one will you choose and why?
  I guess the US hardcover. Because it has all of the crowns on it so I don’t really have to choose between them! Of course, I just saw a sneak peek of the German cover and it’s also pretty rad. And there are more covers to come, so…for now, the US hardcover.
  12. What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
  If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be? And I would answer, well, a pig probably. Pigs and I have a lot in common. We’re fairly smart, and low to the ground. Plus, and this is a bit personal, when I gain wait I tend to gain it in my back. Like, I get a fat back. Fatback. Pigs and I both make good bacon, is what  I’m saying. So if we’re ever in a horrifying apocalypse and I no longer want to live, you have my blessing to you know, cure up some delicious Kendare Blake bacon.

  Thanks for having me by the blog!

  Thank you for being so amazing, Kendare!
  Hope you all enjoyed reading this!
  Love,
  Alexandra

• A Book Lovers Playlist - http://abookloversplaylist.blogspot.my/2013/06/kendare-blake-interview.html

  Tuesday, June 4, 2013
  Kendare Blake Interview

  I don't know if all of you are aware of this but I am the luckiest person on the freaking planet.

  I got to interview Kendare Blake!

  Crazy right?

  I'm still jumping around as i'm typing this!

  She was awesome to get to talk to and I feel soooo stinkin' special to have had the chance to interview her!

  Some of her answers made me laugh really hard so be warned that she's really funny.

  Thank you thank you thank you Kendare for doing this!

  1. There are so many Y.A. books about vampires and werewolves, why did you choose to write about a ghost?

  I don't know that it was a conscious choice. The character of Anna showed up and I knew I wanted to write about her. But I don't really think of her as a ghost. I think of her as a dead girl. The distinction is small, but I think it's there.

  2. Since you are a female what made you want to write Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares in a boys point of view?

  Again, I don't think I decided. Cas just started to tell the story. Looking back, I'm lucky that he did. It would have been an entirely different (and shorter) book if I'd been stuck in that house with Anna the whole time.

  3. My favorite characters are Anna and Thomas. Which character did you have the most fun writing?

  Thomas was definatly a kick. I loved getting to know him right alongside Cas. And Morfran too, Thomas' voodoo grandfather. What a salty old dude.

  4. Would you ever want to have the same job as Cas?

  If I had his natural ability to kick murderous dead ass? Sure. Why not. It'd be something to do on a Tuesday night. But I'd probably scream a whole lot more than he does.

  5. Have you ever loved a book sooo much that you wish you had written it?

  Of course. So many. The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, just about anything by Milan Kundera...some of the less twisted Bret Easton Ellis, if such a thing exists...most of what Joe Hill does. Okay, all of what Joe Hill does. And every single short story by Caitlin R Kiernan.

  6. Does music ever influence your writing?

  Sometimes I'll hear a song and want to write a story that evokes the same emotion that the song evokes. For the last third of the last book in The Goddess War trilogy, I did keep the same old CD on repeat, but that's rare. I'm preparing to shut everything down after this interview is over, to achieve total silence for the book i'm starting now.

  7. If you could do a book tour with any author who would you choose?

  Any of them I've met so far, because they're all excellent people to hang out with. Maybe JK Rowling, so I wouldn't have to say anything, and could just spend the tour staring at her.

  8. If you could be best friends with any character from any book, who would you choose?

  Hmm. Maybe Lestat from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, because I feel like he's high maintenance but would be worth it. Or how about Legolas from Lord of the Rings? Sure, he's not that great for conversation, but I'm assuming I'd get to be in friggin Middle Earth, so there's a tradeoff.

  9. Would you want Anna to be turned into a movie? Who would you want to play her?

  Well, Stephenie Meyer and Meghan Hibbett's production company Fickle Fish Films is working on turning Anna into a movie, so I definitely want that to happen! I have no particular wish on who would play her. My Anna is a voice and a shape through blurry glass. I see pieces of her but never the whole girl at once. I never imagined anyone as having her face. But there have been lots of suggestions from readers: lovely, grounded, dark-haired actresses.

  10. If Anna had a theme song what would it be?

  This one is easy...The Fiona Apple cover of Sally's Song from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JtnI_tvXmA

  If you want to follow Kendare then click on any of the links below!

  Official Website
  Goodreads
  Twitter
  Facebook

  Posted by KayleighCalling at 5:28 PM

• Recently Heard - http://recentlyheard.com/2016/08/11/an-interview-with-three-dark-crowns-author-kendare-blake/

  An Interview With “Three Dark Crowns” Author Kendare Blake
  by Kathryn Lawler / August 11, 2016 / in Books & Comics, Features

  We had a chance to speak with author Kendare Blake about her newest book "Three Dark Crowns"!
  Kendare Blake is a South Korean-born writer who was raised in the United States of America. Known for her dark and violent female centric narratives, Three Dark Crowns is her latest novel.
  The story’s synopsis paints a picture of power, sisterhood, and deception:

  “On the island of Fennbirn triplet sisters – each possessing a unique magical ability and an equal claim to the throne – are born each generation. Mirabella controls the elements, Katharine can ingest poisons with no repercussions, and Arsinoe controls plants and animals. Separated at birth, the sisters will reunite on their 16th birthday for a battle to the death, and the last queen standing gets the crown. Let the games begin.”
  We had the chance to speak with Kendare about what inspired Three Dark Crowns, her views on the challenges women face in today’s modern world, why she wanted to become a writer, and more.
  Now this I must hear. How did a hive of bees inspire your latest work?
  Quite by accident! I was at an indoor/outdoor book event in Oregon, and there was a swarm of bees in one of the trees near the hot dog truck. Everyone was nervous about being stung, but there happened to be a beekeeper on site and she told us not to worry, that they were in their ball and swarming to protect their queen. We got to talking more about bees, and she told me that the queen had probably just laid her queen eggs in the old hive, and when they hatched, one would kill the others in order to take over. I found that fascinating, and on the drive home, the idea that would become THREE DARK CROWNS began to take shape.
  Three Dark Crowns, like many of your works, features a matriarchal society. What do you think are the biggest challenges women still face today?
  One of the biggest challenges is the tempting idea that there are no more big challenges. We’ve come a long way. Things are pretty good for a lot of us. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still barriers. Inequities. There always will be. One thing that particularly gets my goat is the sense of entitlement that some men have towards women and their bodies. Ick. Or things like…retaliatory shootings. “You broke up with me so you deserve to die.” “You said no when I asked you out, and you were even sort of mean about it, so I’ll kill you.” The kind of thinking that this woman is not an actual person, but a thing that ought to meet one’s needs. Double ick.
  What made you want to write fantasy and horror books?
  I’m not sure! I mean, I do contemporary stuff too, and literary stuff, for want of a better term, but even that is usually fairly dark. I’m definitely attracted to darkness. But whenever I pause to consider why that is, I don’t get very far, so I must not want to know.
  Your three main characters each have their own magical power. If you could possess any of the three, which one would it be and why?
  I would want to be a naturalist, because I would want to commune with the animals, and ever since I read The Golden Compass I’ve wanted something like a familiar. Also, sometimes you just want the fruit ripe NOW, you know? I hate to wait days for guacamole.
  Female narratives are important to you. What authors inspire you?
  Just about every author working inspires me. But in particular: Caitlin R Kiernan, because she’s just too good, and Milan Kundera because I haven’t mentioned him in a while. And Joe Hill…I can’t wait to read The Fireman, and see what he comes up with next. None of these are exactly female narratives, are they?
  Why did you want to become a writer?
  It’s the only thing I’ve ever been consistently compelled to do. The one thing I couldn’t seem to stop doing. I tried other things first, believe me, but I had to keep on scribbling on the side or I’d go nuts. I think it comes from being such a voracious reader, as a kid and as I grew up. Stories breed stories.
  You are known for writing sort of dark, violent work. What attracts you most to this genre?
  The darkness is the draw. The twisted underpinnings, the light that it shines on that side of human nature. I don’t shy away from violence, but I’ve never gone into a story only looking forward to writing that part. It’s the consequence and the cause, that interest me. Except maybe for Anna Dressed in Blood. I wrote that just coming off my Master’s and writing mostly literary, so I really missed writing entrails and bright red inside bits.
  What are you currently reading?
  I just finished Bad Blood by Demetria Lunetta, which doesn’t come out for awhile, and I’m in the midst of an upcoming Sarah Porter…but in terms of things that are available now: Bird Box by Josh Malerman, The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie Mclemore and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.
  How old were you when you moved to the United States from South Korea? And how has living in both countries inspired your writing?
  I was only about seven months, so honestly it hasn’t informed my writing at all. I have never been back, and I was adopted by midwesterners so I have no link to the culture. I’ve never even eaten korean food! Not even kimchi. Not even korean barbecue (if that is even considered korean food). I need to get on that.
  You’ve written six books previously and this is your seventh. What inspires you to continually create such compelling stories?
  First of all, thank you! I’m glad you find them compelling! With every book that ends, there’s a small whisper in the back of my mind that wonders whether it will be the last. That wonders where the stories come from. When it’s going well, they don’t feel constructed so much as channeled, which might sound stupid and new agey but what the hell. There’s always been magic for me in writing. There’s always been the inexplicable. So there you go. A really long-winded way of saying I don’t know.
  The YA fantasy has received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist and has been named a book to watch this fall by BookRiot. It will be released on September 20, 2016.

• Darkstars Fantasy News - http://www.fantasy-news.com/2017/07/15/interview-with-kendare-blake/

  15. Juli 2017
  Interview with Kendare Blake
  about her Three Dark Crowns novel series
  Category: Interviews – Darkstar – 12:48
  Three royal sisters, one throne …
  Kendare Blakes Three Dark Crowns has been one of the highlights of my reading year so far.
  Therefore I am pleased to present the interview with her.
  We spoke about the book series, the world it is set in, about movie options, One Dark Throne – and the subsequent books 3 and 4!
   
  Interview with Kendare Blake
  In other interviews you talked a lot about how bees inspired the idea for Three Dark Crowns. What inspired the different talents of your queens? How did you decide which ones would be best fitting for your story?
  I had always wanted to work with poison (was fascinated by Mithridatism and the tale of Queen Elizabeth and the poisoned dress), but never had quite the right story. So when these queens showed up with their gifts I knew that one of the gifts would be the ability to ingest and administer poison.
  As for the naturalists, I always love to write animal characters. And for Mirabella’s elemental gift, I knew she needed to be a powerhouse, and being able to throw lightning seemed appropriately badass. The other gifts—the war gift and the sight gift—filled in with time.
  Have all queens gifts which differ from each other per generation or have their also been for example three poisoner queens in the same generation previously?
  There have never been three of the same born but there have been two. Two elementals is probably the most common variation of that.
  To give readers who didn’t read the book yet a feeling about what awaits them: Which color(s) and which key word(s) would describe the atmosphere of your novel best?
  I’ll do three of each. For colors: Black, orange and green. Key words: manipulation, competition, loyalty.
  What do you like most about your main characters? And which one was the hardest to write about?
  Mirabella was definitely the hardest to write about. It was easy to dislike her just because she seemed to have it all figured out. But once I got to know her, and understood how deeply she loved her sisters, and the internal struggle she had between loyalty to them and duty to the island, I came to adore her.
  Arsinoe and Jules go hand-in-hand, and their arc and their friendship was one of my favorite aspects to explore.
  Katharine was probably the easiest to write about, because I found the poisoners very easy to write about in general. And her journey from victimized pawn to scorned combatant was lovely to see.
  Which secondary character did grow on you unexpectedly?
  The priestess Elizabeth.
  She was meant to be a very minor side-character, but she just kept inserting herself into scenes, and ended up becoming one of Mirabella’s closest friends.
  I’ve just found out that you expanded your novel series from 2 books to 4 books. Will book 3 and 4 be a continuation of the story of Mirabella, Arsinoe and Katharine or will these be prequels or something different?
  Both? We’re going a bit deeper into the island’s history, and into the bloodline of the queens. But the story arc of 3 and 4 will still be a direct sequel to the arc of 1 and 2. The survivors of One Dark Throne will continue on to try and survive 3 and 4.
  I think of the series as two duos: Three Dark Crowns and One Dark Throne are the duo of the Ascension Year, and 3 and 4 (titles to be revealed) are the duo of the reign.
  I am always looking for lgbt-characters in fantasy novels and blog often about this topic. Therefore I wonder: Will we see some (open) queer characters in the sequels to THREE DARK CROWNS?
  Female-female relationships are common in certain circles on the island, for instance within the temple, and within war-gifted society they have something called blade-women, who are close companions in arms and are also in a strong physical relationship. Sometimes they function as second-spouses. Some of that will feature within the third and fourth books, but I’m not sure yet to what extent. I tend to let the characters work that out on their own.
  Male-male relationships are also present of course, but they are less common. I suspect that Arsinoe and Jules’s friend Luke is gay, but he’s not out enough to tell me for certain.
  You named your cat Tyrion, so I assume you’re a Game of Thrones fan. Would you recommend your novel to GOT-fans and in which way differs your novel from his works?
  Since I do love Game of Thrones, it would be great if GOT fans enjoyed Three Dark Crowns. They do share some similar elements: a struggle for a throne, betrayals and unexpected twists, a cast of varied and manipulative characters.
  But they also differ in many ways. Three Dark Crowns is contained (well, for now) to the world of Fennbirn Island, and it is intensely matriarchal. There are no dragons, to my great dismay, and also no Khal Drogo. What was I thinking?
   
  How excited are you about the movie option? To which degree will you be involved and can you tell us any news about it?
  I am EXTREMELY excited about it! I have no news to share as the option is still very new, but I have spoken to a few of the execs/producers with Fox and 21 Laps and they are awesome. I’m sure they will make a fantastic film and I don’t intend to get in their way.
  21 Laps’s STRANGER THINGS and ARRIVAL were two of my favorites last year, so I couldn’t be more thrilled that they are on board.
  What excites you most when you start a new novel?
  Finally writing down the story that’s been clanging around in my head for the last few years. That’s usually how long it takes before I’m ready to put pen to paper (or rather, fingers to keyboard).
  The beginning is always electric…so much uncertainty about where things might go. And that magical feeling when the words take over and the story finds itself. I love the writing most when it feels like I have nothing to do with it.
  Can you please give us a small teaser what awaits us in ONE DARK THRONE?
  I’ll give you a few:
  Someone is getting betrothed!
  There are accidental murders!
  And by the end of One Dark Throne, someone will be wearing a crown.
  Thank you!
  Kendare Blake’s Website: click!

• Author Turf - http://authorturf.com/author-interview-with-kendare-blake-2/authorinterviews

  Posted on September 23, 2014
  Get to know Kendare…
  Kendare Blake is an import from South Korea who was raised in the United States by caucasian parents. You know, that old chestnut. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Ithaca College and a Master’s degree in Writing from Middlesex University in London. She brakes for animals, the largest of which was a deer, which sadly didn’t make it, and the smallest of which was a mouse, which did, but it took forever. Amongst her likes are Greek Mythology, rare red meat and veganism. She also enjoys girls who can think with the boys, like Ayn Rand, and boys who scare the morality into people, like Bret Easton Ellis. To learn more about her books, visit her website. 
  Quirky Questions
  Are there any stores you refuse to shop in? 
  Abercrombie and Fitch. I refuse to even look in there. Every time I do, I see some half-naked sixteen year old male model and feel like I’ve committed some kind of pedo crime.
  When was the last time you cried? 
  I don’t know. When was the last time Marley and Me was on cable?
  If you could stay one age forever, what would it be?
  The age I was two years ago. Bah humbug. My life is over.
  Favorite TV show?
  Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Game of Thrones. The Walking Dead. Sailor Moon. Gargoyles. Fringe. And I was really into Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles for a while. 
  Writing Questions 
  After a day of writing, how do you recharge your creative batteries?

  Booze and soap operas. I don’t think it recharges anything, but it’s what I do.
  What books are you reading right now?
  A big stack consisting of The Nightmare Dilemma by Mindee Arnett, Three by Kristen Simmons, Anya’s Ghost because I want to get into graphic novels, Tin Star, by Cecil Castellucci, Graphic the Valley by Peter Brown Hoffmeister, Copperhead, by Tina Connolly, and The Ape’s Wife and other stories by Caitlin R. Kiernan.
  Any advice for other writers?
  Write what is true to you. Write what you want to write. Don’t be boxed. Don’t be pressured. Don’t try to follow anyone’s formula but your own. This might not result in becoming a millionaire. But hopefully it will result in honest work. And interesting work.
  Do you have a specific writing style?
  No. I’m a slave to the story. That’s the hardest part, sometimes. Submitting to the writing. Writing something the way it wants to be written, instead of the easiest or most natural way to tell it.

• YA Nighstand's - http://theyanightstand.blogspot.com/2017/02/interview-kendare-blake.html

  24 February 2017
  INTERVIEW: Kendare Blake

  Q&A with Kendare Blake
  Author of Three Dark Crowns

  What was the inspiration behind Three Dark Crowns?

  A bee swarm. I was at a book event in Oregon in 2013, just before Antigoddess came out and there was like, a ball of bees in a tree. Literally, a ball made of bees. Hundreds and thousands of them.  Lucky for us, there happened to be a beekeeper there, who assured us we were safe, and told me all about bees, that there was a queen in the center of the ball, and that was who they were trying to protect, and that the queen probably laid her queen eggs back at the old hive, and when the new queens hatched they would kill each other for the right to take over.

  I thought that was delightfully brutal, and HAD to do it to people.

  You have 3 very strong protagonists, what was the most challenging part to making them all individual?

  Thankfully, they sort of took care of that themselves. I thought at the start that I would have a favorite. That one sister would become the lead protagonist over the other two. But it didn’t happen. They all have their strengths, and weaknesses. Their admirable qualities. Their…less than admirable qualities. And I found I couldn’t choose between them.

  Readers though, seem more able to pick sides. But not the same side! I get messages about Team Mirabella and Team Katharine, and Team Arsinoe. Even Team Jules, who could really be considered a fourth protagonist.

  What would you say Katharine, Mirabella and Arsinoe’s strongest and weakest qualities are?

  Mirabella’s strongest quality is her love for her sisters. Of course it’s also her biggest problem, as it’s in direct conflict with her desire to fulfill her responsibilities to the island as its Chosen Queen.

  Arsinoe’s strongest quality is her inner stubbornness. It goes hand in hand with her staunch loyalty to her friends and foster family. Her biggest weakness would be her somewhat fatalist attitude…that she was born to lose so the only thing to do is be pissed about it and cause a little trouble. But she’s working on that.

  Katharine’s strongest quality would have been her desire to please. She very much wanted to make Natalia proud, and do what was expected of her. But after what happened to her over the course of the book…I think we’ll see a whole host of new strengths from Katharine.

  How did you come up with the idea of Fennbirn?

  The concept of Fennbirn borrows heavily from the legend of Avalon. The protective mists and the association with mystical women. The society of Fennbirn followed logically from the inspiration of the bee hive: in that it is matriarchal.

  Speaking of Fennbirn, there is a strong emphasis on female empowerment throughout the book with the women on Fennbirn holding all the power. Why was that?

  It lended itself rather naturally from the original inspiration of the bee hive. Ruled by a queen, filled with female workers. I was very excited to write about a matriarchy, a government and a society that had always been dictated by women, and contrast it with the patriarchal suitors from the mainland.

  Who was your favorite character to write and why?

  I love to write the animals. So Hank the rooster was fun, and Camden the cougar. The poisoners were probably my favorite society to write about. And Billy, the first mainland suitor, was surprisingly fun, too.

  The UK publication of Three Dark Crowns saw a cover for each Queen, out of curiosity, which is your favourite cover?

  I actually love Katharine’s. The snake. So cute. But I have loved all of the covers for Three Dark Crowns. The German cover is striking, and on a white background, and the Persian cover is very graphic novel-like. And of course I love the US cover as well.

  If you had a gift would you have an elemental, poisoner or naturalist?

  Naturalist. I want an animal familiar, and also, I really want to be able to ripen my avocados and stuff whenever I want.

  If you could pick anyone, whom would you cast as the three queens in a movie adaptation?

  Oh, that’s a hard question. I’m better at casting the supporting adults. Like, it would be cool to see Anna Torv from Fringe somewhere, Natalia maybe, or Madrigal.

  For the queens though….Mirabella needs intense emotion and solid beauty, but with a sweetness to her. Katharine should be delicate, with innocence and an edge. Summer Glau, ten years ago maybe. Or a young Eva Green. And Arsinoe has to be tough and contrary, who keeps their vulnerability hidden. Dye Shailene Woodley’s hair, maybe.

• Esconced in Lit - http://cahreviews.blogspot.com/2016/09/interview-with-kendare-blake-author-of.html

  Monday, September 12, 2016
  Interview with Kendare Blake, author of Three Dark Crowns and INT giveaway of hardcover of her book!

  Hey gang! I'm so excited to invite Kendare Blake, the author of Anna Dressed in Blood, back

  to my blog! I remember reading Anna in 2012 and being blown away by her dark writing, and I knew I'd be picking up her books to come. She has done it again with Three Dark Crowns (and recently just got a starred review, which is well deserved!), which is just a phenomenal book. And as an extra treat, Kendare is giving the book away, so make sure to read to the end of the post!

  Goodreads Description:
  Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

  But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

  If only it was that simple. Katharine is unable to tolerate the weakest poison, and Arsinoe, no matter how hard she tries, can’t make even a weed grow. The two queens have been shamefully faking their powers, taking care to keep each other, the island, and their powerful sister Mirabella none the wiser. But with alliances being formed, betrayals taking shape, and ruthless revenge haunting the queens’ every move, one thing is certain: the last queen standing might not be the strongest…but she may be the darkest.

  My Rating: 5 couches

  My Review: Ever since I read Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake many years ago, I knew there were was something super special about this author. The thoughtful but delightfully creepy way she wrote YA horror was really mind boggling. When I saw that she had recently written another book called Three Dark Crowns, I immediately obtained an e-ARC of it from Harper (thanks!) and read the whole thing in a day (thanks to a 3 hour plane ride and a 2 hour stint at the airport!). This book is unbelievable, guys. I had no idea what I was getting into, and it was a ride you won't want to get off.

  Three Dark Crowns is written in tight third person present, which really works for the story. We are presented with three (more accurately 4) perspectives in alternating chapters from three sisters, all Queens. The catch is this-- triplets are born from the current Queen, and then when they are 6 years of age, different Houses/islands take them into custody and teach them their ways (Poisoner, Naturalist, Elemental). When they reach of age, only one can be left standing, the other two must be murdered by the ruling Queen. Holy cow, right? What a great hook. It only gets more and more complex as the story unveils itself.

  I can't say enough good things about this book. The characterizations are pitch perfect. I wanted to know more about each of the queens, they are all equally interesting to me. I had been wondering if Katharine was the youngest (The Poisoner) and turns out she is because you can just tell by the characterization. She doesn't seem to have any talent and neither does Arsinoe, who is supposed to be a naturalist. The naturalist queen shares the tight third perspective with her best friend, who is the strongest naturalist the kingdom has seen in many years, just adding another hook. Mirabella, the oldest of the triplets, is the most talented, and has had the ability to control the elements for years. While it seems like she is the likely candidate to win, she loves her sisters and has no drive to murder them. I just couldn't get enough of these characters or this world, or the dark, moody atmosphere that Blake is just so good at. Her writing has only gotten better and stronger since her first YA series, and I was just so impressed with the skill of her prose. The feeling I got with this book felt similar to how I felt with Robin LaFevers' series with the assassin nuns, which is high praise because that is one of my all time favorite trilogies. Not usually do I start to have crushes on several boys in books, either, and I found myself swooning over not one, but definitely 2, and possibly 3, although I may have changed my mind about him by the end. And then that ending... oh my goodness. I need the next book in my hot little hands NOW!!!

  Overall, a phenomenal start to a series, with dark, lush and gorgeous writing, with rich and three dimensional characters that wouldn't let me go even after the book came to a close. The sequel to this book will be at the top of my TBR list.
   
  Weblinks:
  Twitter: @KendareBlake
  Facebook: Kendare Blake 
  Instagram: kendareblake
  Website: kendareblake.com

  Pre-order links for the book:
  Amazon
  BN
  IndieBound

  Author blurb: Kendare Blake has a hankering for French food. Or donuts. Or a Seattle dog. Whatever you've got really, she's just hungry. She is the author of the Anna Dressed in Blood duo (soon to be a movie, fingers crossed!) the Goddess War Trilogy, and Three Dark Crowns, which is what she's talking about today. That was a whole lot of referring to myself in the third person.

  Author Interview
  1. I don't usually ask authors the dreaded question "How do you come up with your ideas?" but I have to ask for this particular story if you had an inspiration for the 3 deadly sisters. I love the setup and think it's so fascinating that there must be a fun backstory to it!

  The Dreaded Question...but finally I have an answer to it! So, I was at a book event and there was a bee ball in a tree. A swarm of bees. People were afraid of being stung, but a beekeeper said not to worry, because they were only protecting their queen in the middle and weren't much concerned with what we were doing. Then she told me about queen bees, how they will lay four or five queen eggs before they leave their hive, and when the daughter queens hatch, one kills the rest and takes over the hive. Interesting, I thought. And then on the drive home, I thought about how much I'd like to do that to people, and the idea that became Three Dark Crowns was formed!

  2. If you could choose one sister for whatever reason, whether it be that she least annoys you or she has street smarts, etc, to fight for you in a battle, which one would it be and why?

  I would choose Mirabella to fight for me in a battle. Hands down. I love all of them, but Mirabella has a drive for protecting those she cares for, and, let's face it, she's absolutely the strongest.

  3. There are several swoony guys in this book, and I honestly had a hard time picking one I liked best. Is there one in particular you'd like to keep for yourself? Why or why not?

  Ah, the boys. The arm-candy! The personal agendas! I'm curious to find out who you ended up liking the most. As for one I would keep, I mean, if I had to choose only ONE, it would be Joseph. He's completely conflicted but he's all best intentions. He's only loved one girl his whole life. What happens in the book breaks his heart as much as anyone's. 

  4. I ask in all my interviews, and in this particular case, I think will be very enlightening: Which Hogwarts house would each of the sisters be sorted into and why? I have my suspicions :-)

  Oh, delightful question! My husband and I just recently sorted ourselves at Pottermore and were surprised to discover we're both Ravenclaws. Okay, I was surprised to discover he was a Ravenclaw. Anyway, back to the question:

  Mirabella would be a Ravenclaw, for her natural excellence and superiority of her gift. Arsinoe would be a Gryffindor, for her indominable spirit and courage for herself and her friends. And Katharine would be a Hufflepuff. Perhaps you thought she would be a Slytherin? Natalia and Pietyr certainly would. But sweet Kat is Hufflepuff through and through.

  5. You've written several different genres now-- the wonderful Anna Dressed in Blood, a YA horror duology, The Goddess trilogy, more into Greek mythology, and now dark fantasy. What genres would you like to try next?

  Next...well I do like dark fantasy. And I will always have a toe in horror. I want to write a hero's tale. And maybe a weird thriller. Maybe a graphic novel, a different kind of storytelling altogether.

  6. What is your drafting process? Do you do a free write? Outline? Give us a few details of what you do to get the story down on paper.

  You know, it seems like every book is different. With Anna I did a little research first and then Cas pretty much took over. With Antigoddess, Athena took over, but Cassandra was a pill and refused to cooperate, requiring many rewrites and diagrams. Three Dark Crowns was "free-written" about four times. That last time was just because I realized I'd written it in the wrong voice. The wrong tone. Three Dark Crowns 2 was largely outlined, which I've never done before. So I guess I don't have a set process. I have to wrangle each book how it wants to be wrangled.

  7. If you could go anywhere in the world for a write-cation, to get inspiration for your next sets of books, where would it be and why? 

  I would want to go to a European city. Vienna, maybe. I feel like cities are great, dynamic environments with a lot of options. 

  8. What books can we look forward to next?

  Hopefully I'll have a better answer to that in a few months, but for now Three Dark Crowns 2 comes out in 2017!

  And now... the giveaway! Kendare has generously offered a signed hardcopy up for grabs and this giveaway is INT! So please enter!

• NovelPro - http://novelpro.weebly.com/latest-news/-interview-with-kendare-blake-author-of-three-dark-crowns

  3/16/2017
  1 Comment
   

  The book trailer summed up what Three Dark Crowns is all about( quite nicely might i say). You should definitely check it out and read the beginning of an epic battle of the crowns. 

  1.    How did get the idea for Three Dark Crowns?
   
  From a swarm of bees. There was a bee ball, like a ball made of bees, in a tree at a book event and everyone was terrified. But a beekeeper happened to be there and said they were just protecting their queen in the middle of the ball, and as long as we left them alone they would do the same for us. Well, I peppered this beekeeper with bee questions and she told me that a queen bee will lay several queen eggs before she leaves her old hive, and when they hatch out they kill each other to see who gets to inherit. And I just thought that was brutal and wonderful and wanted to do it to people. 

  2.    Were there other titles you came up with before Three Dark Crowns? If so what were they?

  Three Dark Crowns was originally called Three Black Witches, which is really more of a title that the mainland would have given it. 

  3.    Which of the triplet did you have difficulty writing and why? 

  Mirabella, probably. She's the most reserved, and the most internally conflicted. She's quite austere and hard to put a finger on.

  4.    Congratulations on Three Dark Crowns (and its three planned sequels) being optioned by 20th Century Fox. What scene are you eager to see on the screen?

  Thank you! We're a long way from the film actually getting made (fingers-crossed!) but I would love to see the entire Beltane Festival. All the ritual and magic and fires. It could be really gorgeous to watch.

  5.    Could you give us an interesting fun fact about Three Dark Crowns?

  The bee thing is all I can think of right now. Though my poison research did save my dog's life. I was researching right before we were to get our first puppy, and through that research was able to identify an extremely toxic tree in my backyard. Like, so toxic that dogs die within minutes of chewing on a branch from it. So toxic that the smoke from burning it can make you ill or kill you. So we had them removed and killed the stumps and covered them over with dirt and protective coverings. The toxicity doesn't leave the wood until it's completely decomposed.

  6.    Did you know how Three Dark Crowns would end or did it come to you while writing the story? 
   I knew how the first book would end. I still don't know how the series will end.

  7.    Which fictional character (besides yours) would you like to sit down and chat with?

  So many! And for so many different reasons. I would love to hang out with Lyra Belacqua. She'd just be fun. And it would be delightful to have a meal or something with Jane Eyre. Also, I think I would enjoy antagonizing Patrick Bateman, but only from behind glass.

  8.    What book are you currently reading?

  Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. Fabulous. And...some Philippa Gregory. And...I just read The Devils You Know by MC Atwood, not out yet.

  9.    Do you have any unique or quirky writing habits?

  Not really. I'm typing this one-handed with a Sphynx cat in my other arm. Does that count?

  10.    Do you recall the first story you ever wrote?

  No, but I recall some early ones. A novel about two herds of wild Mustangs.

  11.  What is something memorable you have heard from your readers/fans?

  Anytime they cosplay as a character, or do makeup looks, or fan art, I love to see that. It's mind-blowing that the characters could inspire them that way.

  12. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?

  I'm pals with lots of writers. There are a few of us that live nearish each other and we meet up occasionally to work on stuff. Marissa Meyer, Lish McBride, Rori Shay, Jennifer Chuschoff, Martha Brockenbrough and more...all fantastic writers and very cool to hang with. And I'm in pretty close contact with April Genevieve Tucholke, who is consistently interesting.

  13.  Which book (beside yours) have you read that you like to see made into a feature film?

  I'm looking forward to the adaptation of the Lunar Chronicles. And...of course, Caitlin R Kiernan's The Red Tree. I just heard that the film option on that one lapsed, but some other producer needs to snap it up!

  14.  Last question, what type of snack (or food) do you plan to get while watching Three Dark Crowns for the first time?

  Haha, well, like I said, we're a long way from a film actually being made, and so much needs to go right for it first...but if I do get to see it in theaters, I'm sparing no expense. I'm getting all the snacks! Even the hot snacks, like nachos or chicken fingers or whatever. Bottomless popcorn. So. Much. Food.

  Thanks for having me by the blog, Mike!

  And I thank you, Ms. Kendare Blake, for giving us some insight about you and your wonderful novel. I'm glad that you took your time to answer my questions. I really wish you all the success in finishing the series and the film adaptation as well. I hope my readers too enjoyed and gained some information in general. Please pick up this exciting book or put it at the very top of your to-read pile. Thanks for visiting and have a great day. 

Blake, Kendare: ONE DARK THRONE

(July 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Blake, Kendare ONE DARK THRONE HarperTeen (Children's Fiction) $18.99 9, 19 ISBN: 978-0-06-238546-8
Three sisters intensify their deadly struggle for the crown in the second of a horror-tinged fantasy series. After the spectacular catastrophe of the Quickening (Three Dark Crowns, 2016), the balance of power among the queens has shifted. With the rampage by Arsinoe's bear, the naturalist candidate has demonstrated unexpected strength, and now elemental Mirabella is no longer treated as the foreordained victor. Meanwhile, poisoner Katharine has returned from her rumored death with a vengeance...and a mission. Alliances shift as the various factions play Temple against Council, and potential suitors become both rivals and pawns--but not even the Goddess can prevent the queens from deciding to take their fates into their own hands. Blake's already pitch-black tale shades even darker, as the queens' cruel contest piles up an escalating (and grisly) body count. Yet more excruciating is the curse upon their experience of love, whether with siblings, parents, or friends; in romance, passion, even religious devotion--all relationships are twisted, broken, abandoned, and betrayed. With numerous alternating viewpoints, the exquisitely restrained prose limns a nuanced, subtly realized matriarchal society: all-white, normatively heterosexual (but with exceptions), in which even the most complex male characters function only in relationship to women. The deliberate pacing at the outset serves to re-establish the labyrinthine web of characterization and plot, paying off in a tumultuous climax that piles one shocking twist upon another. Achingly gorgeous and gruesomely fascinating. (Fantasy. 14-adult)
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
"Blake, Kendare: ONE DARK THRONE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA498345004&it=r&asid=2e1c5696a93ee26e8babb87ed86e0c8c. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A498345004

Three Dark Crowns

Maggie Reagan
112.22 (Aug. 1, 2016): p80.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
* Three Dark Crowns. By Kendare Blake. Sept. 2016.416p. HarperTeen, $17.99 (9780062385437). Gr. 9-12.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
"Three Black Witches, all fair to be seen / Two to devour, / And one to be queen." So goes a childrens song on the mainland, where the natives cast a suspicious eye to the island of Fennbirn. There several strains of magic run strong, and every generation a set of girl triplets is born to the queen. Each has a different magical ability, and they are separated and raised by a family with matching abilities. When they reach 16, their deadly fight for the crown begins, and the last girl standing becomes the queen until her own set of triplets are born. This year, with the triplets' sixteenth birthday approaching, the clear favorite is Mirabella, a powerful elemental who can manipulate the weather. Her sisters-- Katharine, who can make and ingest poisons, and Arsinoe, a naturalist who controls plants and animals--are weak, their powers barely manifested. The outcome of the fight should be obvious, but there are other forces at work here, and the battle is only just beginning. With exquisite world building and luminous detail, this is high fantasy at its best. The magic is fierce and the plot intensely twisted, but at this novel's dark heart beats a story about sisterhood, the unbreakable bonds of family, and ties that bind enough to kill.--Maggie Reagan

Reagan, Maggie
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
Reagan, Maggie. "Three Dark Crowns." Booklist, 1 Aug. 2016, p. 80. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA460761856&it=r&asid=8e3bef476336acd3551bbfc7168cb9e4. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A460761856

Ungodly: The Goddess War

(Nov. 2015):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
Ungodly: The Goddess War
Kendare Blake
Starscape
c/o Tor/Forge Books
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
9780765334459 $17.99 www.tor-forge.com
Ungodly: The Goddess War concludes a series that began in 2013 with Antigoddess, and while this reviewer hasn't seen the others; Ungodly stands well on its own as well as the conclusion to the story of Greek gods and goddesses in the 21st century. Here immortals are dying and Cassandra, who has been reincarnated as a New York high school student, holds the key to their survival--if she can be found. Athena and Hermes must locate her even as a trap threatens Olympus and leads them to the battle of their lives--and even as Cassandra's quest could end everything. Ghosts, gods, gore and twilight worlds intersect in an engrossing saga recommended for mature teen fantasy readers who enjoy myths come to life.
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
"Ungodly: The Goddess War." Children's Bookwatch, Nov. 2015. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA435637795&it=r&asid=5df829c69877382ab91b349bb4e044cc. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A435637795

Blake, Kendare: UNGODLY

(July 15, 2015):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Blake, Kendare UNGODLY Tor (Children's Fiction) $17.99 9, 22 ISBN: 978-0-7653-3445-9
The Goddess War trilogy concludes. It isn't tidy, but everything resolves in this final act for the Greek gods, led by Athena with help from Hermes, Calypso, Ares, and Aphrodite, who are all dying of maladies appropriate to their individual natures. Heroic mortals Cassandra, Hector, Odysseus, and Andromache have been reincarnated as modern teenagers--all of whom Achilles is bent on destroying, as are other enemies. In Mortal Gods (2014), the group broke up when they attacked Olympus. Now three small groups travel independently, still trying to find the cause of their imminent mortality. With help from Thanatos, the god of death, they finally discover who is behind it all. Like Rick Riordan before her, Blake has clearly had a good time modernizing the gods and heroes, but the difficulty in the imaginative series lies in the too-large cast. Given mostly equal weight, the characters banter and quip their ways through their adventures, each speaking in much the same modern and rather cynical voice. While readers can care about them, especially Athena and Hermes, the cast is simply too numerous and the threat, too abstract for a strong focus. Still, readers can enjoy the journey and the hip dialogue, punctuated by a few brief fights. Nevertheless, it's an above-average addition to the updated-mythology genre and a satisfying conclusion for the series' fans. (Paranormal adventure. 12-18)
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
"Blake, Kendare: UNGODLY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2015. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA421459623&it=r&asid=cb182d3dad04317fde0cdded35baf70f. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A421459623

Mortal Gods

(Mar. 2015):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
Mortal Gods
Kendare Blake
TOR Teen
c/o Tor/Forge Books
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
9780765334442, $17.99, www.tor-forge.com
MORTAL GODS: THE GODDESS WAR blends horror with fantasy and tells of Ares, god of war, who is leading the other dying gods into a battle. Athena has her own war to consider, so Ares' plans are just fine with her: perhaps their immortality will even be restored and even if not, they will all die and leave her and Hermes in peace. Cassandra is the girl who can kill gods--but she just wants her lost love returned to life. Get Athena and Cassandra together and what you have is a global war and a desperate search for gods, enemies, and an elusive peace that will engross any teen interested in stories of conflicts between neo-gods.
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
"Mortal Gods." Children's Bookwatch, Mar. 2015. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA405807952&it=r&asid=5a1344bb8150dc7d5b0cfa563eda5b27. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A405807952

Mortal Gods

Frances Bradburn
111.4 (Oct. 15, 2014): p44.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Mortal Gods. By Kendare Blake. Oct. 2014.352p. Tor Teen, $ 17.99 (9780765334442). Gr. 9-12.
The irony behind the title of Blake's second Goddess War book is obvious. The ancient Greek gods and goddesses--Athena, Hermes, Ares, Hera, and Aphrodite--who have lived myriad lives without dying are suddenly suffering horrible diseases and death. Athena sprouts feathers that will ultimately destroy her body, Hermes is slowly starving, and Hera is gradually turning to stone. Yet Athena holds out hope that Cassandra (now a New York teen) and Achilles will help her win the coming war, a victory that should stave off their ultimate destruction. Blood and gore abound in this mythological twist on magical realism. Determined to align herself with Cassandra and benefit from her visions and prophecies, Athena brings Hermes to live in Kincaid, New York, where they pose as contemporary siblings, all the while gathering both mortals and other gods and warriors to their side. As much as Cassandra and Athena need each other, neither trusts the other, thus creating a battle for survival that will require at least one more book before victory is declared. --Frances Bradburn
Bradburn, Frances
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
Bradburn, Frances. "Mortal Gods." Booklist, 15 Oct. 2014, p. 44. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA388966036&it=r&asid=84d0a6d2eb5e940932ccd3da2c58476f. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A388966036

Blake, Kendare: MORTAL GODS

(Aug. 1, 2014):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Blake, Kendare MORTAL GODS Tor (Children's Fiction) $17.99 10, 14 ISBN: 978-0-7653-3444-2
This second installment of the Goddess War series continues the modern-day battles originally fought centuries ago, pitting god against god even as all of the Olympians appear to be dying. Athena, at the center of the rebel faction, still fights off the owl feathers that sprout in her lungs, constantly threatening to choke her. She remains teamed up with her brother Hermes, who's wasting away from a too-high metabolism, and mortal characters from Troy now reincarnated as teenagers. Athena sees Cassandra, who can kill gods with her touch, as one of the two major weapons she has against the other divine faction, which primarily comprises Aphrodite, Ares and Hera, thought killed in the first book but found still living. Athena and Odysseus travel to find Achilles, Athena's second weapon. Athena's errands and an interesting side trip into Hades add action, but much of the book churns with constant repartee among the characters, their suspicions of one another and their constant training bouts. The prose, both narrative and dialogue, is characteristically witty, but there's an undeniable feel of second-volume sag to the story. When readers finally reach Olympia for a final battle, the suspense picks up. The underlying concept that finds dying gods at war with one another is still intriguing, but readers may become impatient for more back story. The series still intrigues, but it needs tightening. (Paranormal suspense. 14-18)
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
"Blake, Kendare: MORTAL GODS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2014. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA376818235&it=r&asid=ef1fa30e44fddd8389c346ef38ea3aad. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A376818235

Blake, Kendare: Three Dark Crowns

Sue Polchow
64.4 (Winter 2016): p243.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
Blake, Kendare
Three Dark Crowns
Macmillan, 2016, pp432, 7.99 [pounds sterling]
978 1 5098 0455 9
This compelling dark fantasy tells the story by way of third person narrative telling of a set of triplets separated at a young age and all born to be the rightful queen and claim the crown of the island of Fennbirn. Each has a special prowess which becomes known as they approach their teens, Mirabella can control the elements, Arsinoe tame the natural world and Katherine has ability with poisons. Some of the sisters are better at their abilities than others which means that the playing field is far from level. Their horrific destiny, which has been repeated over and over across the generations, is that in order to claim the throne they must use their gifts once they reach the age of sixteen to murder their sister rivals. As this time approaches we switch from one sister to another and experience their friendships, loves and betrayals, but somehow remain distant from them possibly due to the monstrous task they have to perform. Those surrounding each court are desperate to ensure that their faction wins at all costs, whatever the price to their queen who must not weaken. Tensions build, dark deeds are done and deadly schemes hatched.
The sisters seem destined to be trapped in their doomed ritualistic roles. But as their characters steadily develop and grow stronger you start to see slight chinks of light as signs of sibling emotion, rebellion and escape emerge. It will be interesting to see how this plot strand develops in the next book.
First in a series, this will appeal to fans of sumptuous fantasy sagas with a dark twist to them.
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
Polchow, Sue. "Blake, Kendare: Three Dark Crowns." School Librarian, Winter 2016, p. 243+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA478639596&it=r&asid=148bae30292526ed6d1292d3140b3be2. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A478639596

Blake, Kendare. Three Dark Crowns

Zeying Wang
62.7 (July 2016): p79.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
BLAKE, Kendare. Three Dark Crowns. 416p. ebook available. HarperCollins/HarperTeen. Sept. 2016. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780062385437. POP
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Gr 8 Up--A poisoner--a teen who comes from a line of people who are supposed to ingest poison without being harmed--whose body betrays the gift that should have been innate suffers the ravage of toxins to defend her house's reign over Fennbirn Island. A naturalist who dims in the brilliance of her childhood friend turns to low magic to mold the earth and its creatures. An elemental whose beauty is made more terrible by her savage fires and storms is trapped within the palms of the Temple priestesses, ruthless in their scheme to overthrow the Black Council. Three sisters celebrate their 16th birthdays at the Beltane festival, but two are to be murdered during the Quickening, and one is to be crowned the red-handed Queen. This is a story entrenched in deceit, twisted by selfish desires for redemption and revenge in a crooked game set in generations of insidious matriarchal rule. Readers will be riveted by Blake's ingenious world-building, stunning developments of main and supporting characters, and spiraling tensions. VERDICT Highly recommended for fans of fantasy action thrillers with strong female leads, such as Victoria Aveyard's "Red Queen" and Sarah J. Maas's "Throne of Glass" series.--Zeying Wang, School Library Journal

Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
Wang, Zeying. "Blake, Kendare. Three Dark Crowns." School Library Journal, July 2016, p. 79+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA457303187&it=r&asid=91b63f8ce2676c20173030e866a4b560. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A457303187

Blake, Kendare. Ungodly

Tamara Saarinen
61.9 (Sept. 2015): p157.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
LAKE, Kendare. Ungodly. 368p. (The Goddess War: Bk. 3). ebook available. Tor Teen. Sept. 2015. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780765334459.
Gr 7 Up--The final book in the modern, Greek myth-based "Goddess War" trilogy (Tor Teen) finds the group scattered after their failed attack on Olympus. Hermes is trying to lead and protect Andie and Henry. Athena remains on the banks of the underworld, where Odysseus hovers between life and death. Cassie and Calypso are in California, where Cassie seeks revenge for Aidan. The gods are dealing with the painful loss of their immortality, and the gaining of human emotions. The reincarnated humans from Troy are now supercharged by the myths that surrounded their previous lives, giving them powers once limited to the gods. A sense of fear and urgency rings through the dialogue as the gods race to save themselves and their friends. After quests, adventures, and schemes, they gather once more in Kincade, having formed new and surprising alliances. The deities turn out to be as dysfunctional as any human family, but they find a way to put their differences aside and work together. Athena and Cassidy change the most over the course of this volume and the series. Athena begins to accept that she can fall in love and make mistakes. Cassie struggles to let go of her desire to kill all of the gods. In the end, the characters defy tire Fates and create their own destinies. More fast-paced and action-packed than the first two installments, this entry will engage teens because of the family tensions and loyalties, shifting alliances, constantly changing emotions, and the characters' desire for love and vengeance. VERDICT Purchase where the previous titles have a strong following.--Tamara Saarinen, Pierce County Library, WA
Saarinen, Tamara
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
Saarinen, Tamara. "Blake, Kendare. Ungodly." School Library Journal, Sept. 2015, p. 157. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA427423784&it=r&asid=67c7b084c3e75fa7d81b61e916ce738c. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A427423784

Blake, Kendare. Mortal Gods

Ryan F. Paulsen
60.10 (Oct. 2014): p114.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
BLAKE, Kendare. Mortal Gods. 352p. (The Goddess War: Bk. 2). ebook available. Tor Teen. Oct. 2014. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780765334442.
Gr 9 Up--Aphrodite has killed the boy she loves, and now all that Cassandra wants is vengeance. Except Aiden was not just some boy. He was Apollo, the immortal god of the Sun. Cassandra is not an average teen girl from Kincade, New York, but rather the prophetic Cassandra of Troy, born again. And more, she has the power to exact her revenge as a Weapon of Fate--the young woman has the ability to kill a god with the slightest touch of her hands. Less than a year ago, the protagonist was happily spending her days with Aiden, until his siblings, the Olympian gods Athena and Hermes, arrived in town, leading to the battle in which Cassandra learned of her power by turning Hera to stone. Despite her hatred for Athena, the heroine has decided that joining forces with her historical enemy is the best way to find and destroy Aphrodite. The Goddess War has begun, and together Cassandra, Athena, and their allies intend to win no matter the cost. The second book in Blake's Greek mythology series, this novel picks up soon after the end of Antigoddess (Tor, 2013) and continues to expand upon the world of the immortal Olympian gods and returned heroes of the Trojan War. Like the previous installment, the author expertly brings these ancient characters into the modern world and provides a fun story for readers who enjoy the supernatural, swordfighting, and larger-than-life heroes and heroines.--Ryan F. Paulsen, New Rochelle High School, NY
Paulsen, Ryan F.
Source Citation   (MLA 8th Edition)
Paulsen, Ryan F. "Blake, Kendare. Mortal Gods." School Library Journal, Oct. 2014, p. 114. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA384340169&it=r&asid=554398212c829ab08b42b7549fe35870. Accessed 18 July 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A384340169

"Blake, Kendare: ONE DARK THRONE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA498345004&asid=2e1c5696a93ee26e8babb87ed86e0c8c. Accessed 18 July 2017. Reagan, Maggie. "Three Dark Crowns." Booklist, 1 Aug. 2016, p. 80. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA460761856&asid=8e3bef476336acd3551bbfc7168cb9e4. Accessed 18 July 2017. "Ungodly: The Goddess War." Children's Bookwatch, Nov. 2015. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA435637795&asid=5df829c69877382ab91b349bb4e044cc. Accessed 18 July 2017. "Blake, Kendare: UNGODLY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2015. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA421459623&asid=cb182d3dad04317fde0cdded35baf70f. Accessed 18 July 2017. "Mortal Gods." Children's Bookwatch, Mar. 2015. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA405807952&asid=5a1344bb8150dc7d5b0cfa563eda5b27. Accessed 18 July 2017. Bradburn, Frances. "Mortal Gods." Booklist, 15 Oct. 2014, p. 44. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA388966036&asid=84d0a6d2eb5e940932ccd3da2c58476f. Accessed 18 July 2017. "Blake, Kendare: MORTAL GODS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2014. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA376818235&asid=ef1fa30e44fddd8389c346ef38ea3aad. Accessed 18 July 2017. Polchow, Sue. "Blake, Kendare: Three Dark Crowns." School Librarian, Winter 2016, p. 243+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA478639596&asid=148bae30292526ed6d1292d3140b3be2. Accessed 18 July 2017. Wang, Zeying. "Blake, Kendare. Three Dark Crowns." School Library Journal, July 2016, p. 79+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA457303187&asid=91b63f8ce2676c20173030e866a4b560. Accessed 18 July 2017. Saarinen, Tamara. "Blake, Kendare. Ungodly." School Library Journal, Sept. 2015, p. 157. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA427423784&asid=67c7b084c3e75fa7d81b61e916ce738c. Accessed 18 July 2017. Paulsen, Ryan F. "Blake, Kendare. Mortal Gods." School Library Journal, Oct. 2014, p. 114. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA384340169&asid=554398212c829ab08b42b7549fe35870. Accessed 18 July 2017.

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