I don't know what else, I don't care about Mirabella [LAUGH].
>> I hear you.
>> Hey, I'm Michael from team Epic Reads.
>> Hey guys, I'm Tyler.
>> Hey, I'm Jane.
>> And today we're recapping the first three books of
The Three Dark Crowns series.
It's a series about betrayal, bloodshed, and too many twists to count.
>> So if you need a refresher before starting Five Dark Fates, the epic finale,
we've got your back.
>> Here's everything you need to know about Three Dark Crowns.
[MUSIC]
If you haven't read the first three books, please turn off this video now.
>> No, seriously.
>> Go away if you have not read the series yet, or if you like being spoiled,
some people are in to that.
[MUSIC]
>> The story takes place on Fennbirn Island, where every generation,
triplet queens are born, but only one can rule, and
on their 16th birthday the battle's supposed to begin.
>> Mirabella is an elemental, meaning she can control earth, air,
fire, water, or the weather.
She's the most powerful of the three queens,
the most powerful elemental in generations, in fact.
She has a strong sense of morals, and
is the island's favorite to win of the reigning Poisoners.
>> Arsinoe's a Naturalist, but
it's seriously struggling to develop her powers.
>> She can't summon a familiar, or even get flower to bloom, but
she's definitely a ride-or-die.
And even though she's an underdog, she and
her best friend Jules refuse to go down without a fight.
>> Katharine, the Poisoner, is the best of both worlds,
she's a favorite to win because she comes from the ruling class, but
she's an underdog too, since she also hasn't shown any abilities herself yet.
The family who's raised her is very different from Arsinoe's Naturalists, so
she's grown up meek, abused, and
a little more willing to bend the rules to get things done.
>> And what's Y-fantasy without a little morally ambiguous murder?
>> The story starts right before their 16th birthday.
>> When they'll face each other down for the first time, and the war will begin.
>> We meet Billy, a suitor from the Mainland, and
Joseph, one of Arsinoe's best friends.
>> Joseph was banished to the Mainland for trying to help Arsinoe escape the island
years before, and has lived with Billy's family ever since.
>> Billy is meant to win over the queens, and
eventually be chosen as the winner's king.
>> We also meet Pietyr,
a gift of a Poisoner who schemes his way into sticking around the capital.
He offers to teach Katharine to behave more regally, and
has his eyes on the queen's council.
>> Let's just say some sparks fly between them.
>> Meanwhile, Arsinoe has literally no interest in courting suitors.
>> But she kinda starts to win Billy over regardless,
even though his dad knows the political strength lies with the Poisoners.
>> So you have Arsinoe, Jules and Billy teaming up against Pietyr and Katharine.
>> And as these two camps gear up for
the fight they kwow is coming, Mirabella is still nowhere to be found.
>> Because she still has memories of growing up with her sisters, so
she doesn't wanna harm them.
>> This concerns the Temple, especially who want the Poisoners out of power.
So they decide they'll kill her sisters for her.
>> The Poisoners find out, and claim Pietyr, but
make him swear not to tell Katharine.
He doesn't, but they make an escape plan.
>> On the night of their birthday festivities, if anything goes wrong,
they'll run and meet up at the Breccia Domain,
a giant chasm at the heart of the island.
>> It's where all the corpses of the past dead queens are thrown.
>> Cute, right?
>> It's not not romantic?
>> Back with the Naturalist, we find out that Jules' mother, Madrigal,
dabbles in Low Magic, a witchcraft that isn't connected to the queen's gifts.
>> Jules loves Joseph, so Madrigal wants to cast the spell that will help her lock
him down, and queen's blood is the strongest ingredient she has access to.
>> Madrigal tries to enlist Arsinoe for the spell, but
Arsinoe feels really uncomfortable taking away her friend's free will.
And she trusts that Joseph will fall in love with Jules on his own.
>> So she throws the spell's charm in a fire.
>> This definitely doesn't send good vibes to the couple's way, and
Joseph just happens to run to Mirabella after that.
>> The two fall for each other, suspiciously instantly, and
get busted by Jules, Arsinoe, and a temple priestess.
>> For some reason Madrigal thinks this was a huge success and
decides to do more Low Magic.
She thinks she can summon Arsinoe's familiar.
>> It doesn't work too well the first time.
>> They get attacked by an undead bear.
>> But with some help, they eventually manage to bind one to her.
Jules is basically commanding it, keeping it calm on the sidelines,
until Arsinoe is ready for the grand reveal.
>> At their birthday festival each sister has to show off their abilities.
Mirabella goes first performing a dance with fire, her favorite element, and
demonstrating how strong and graceful she is.
>> The islanders are impressed,
and so is Joseph, who can't take his eyes off of her.
>> Jules notices.
>> Jules' focus slips and she looses control of the bear,
it charges Mirabella but Joseph saves her.
Katharine flees like they planned, and
she reunites with Pietyr at the edge of the domain.
>> Things go from bad to worse when he pushes her in.
>> I have honestly had worse first dates than that.
>> I was rooting for you.
The festival breaks up, Arsinoe is hailed as the bear Queen for her vicious attack
on Mirabella, and has started to receive support and gifts from the Islanders.
>> One of the gifts has been poisoned and causes Jules to collapse.
While Arsinoe stands there completely unaffected, in that moment of immunity,
Arsinoe realizes she isn't a failed Naturalist, she's a Poisoner.
>> Love a good plot twist.
>> She's a Poisoner.
>> No one knows what's happened to Katharine.
Until she returns a week later, bloody, broken, and completely terrifying.
>> She issues one warning.
>> I want revenge.
>> And then I want my crown.
>> And that's the end of book one.
>> I'm sweating.
>> Can I get some water?
[LAUGH] >> Yeah, that was a lot.
>> [SOUND] Here we go.
[MUSIC]
>> Book two picks up right where we left off.
Katharine's creepy new personality, and talent for knife throwing,
impress Nicolas, the only suitor to pursue her as his favorite.
>> But she's not the only one growing stronger on the island.
>> Jules is Legion Cursed, which means she was born with two gifts,
she's a Naturalist but she's also War gifted.
>> Madrigal bound the latter when she was born to prevent her from going insane.
>> Two gifts would take a huge toll on her mind and body.
But little hints of the War gift have been slipping out.
>> She's doing her best to stay calm and
keep it contained while the island's eyes are on Arsinoe.
>> Arsinoe's been secretly trying to teach herself about poisons,
she's kind of sloppy with it, she almost kills Billy, and
does accidentally kill two of her other suitors.
>> And isn't sure now if she even wants to win.
She gets worried that Mirabella is still mad about the bar attack, and
sets off to meet her.
>> Arsinoe just wants to talk and explain herself.
>> But when Mirabella sees her, she's just like.
>> Lightning.
>> Aah!
>> Yikes.
>> Arsinoe manges to escape with the help of her trusty bear.
>> Billy's dad, meanwhile, is still trying to keep up his political ties,
he sends Billy to attend to Mirabella.
>> Joseph goes with Billy, and breaks things off with Mirabella.
>> He ends up explaining to her that Arsinoe didn't set the bear on her, and
the whole thing was just one big misunderstanding.
>> He returns to Wolf Spring, and reconciles with Jules.
She realizes that neither of them want to kill each other, so, yay.
>> Katharine on the other hand has renewed interest in taking them down, with Nicolas
encouraging her, and Pietyr disapproving from a distance, she issues a hunt.
>> Arsinoe recruits Jules to help her, but she just reunited with Joseph, and
the couple oversleeps.
>> Katharine goes into the woods and takes Arsinoe down with a poisoned arrow.
She believes she succeeded in killing her, but Jules arrives in the nick of time and
knocks Katharine away with her growing War gift, she steals her horse and
whisks Arsinoe away.
>> Katharine is livid, she returns to the crowd and
tells everyone that Arsinoe is dead, and that Jules stole the corpse.
>> And has been secretly War gifted this whole time.
So, to take Katharine and Nicolas down, Billy and Mirabella agree to wed
>> Mirabella calls her to duel,
Katharine accepts, invites her sister to the capital, and plans for
a grand gothic ball.
>> Pietyr skips the festivities to figure out what exactly happened when he
sent the girl he loved to the bottom of the Breccia Domain.
>> And decides to climb down it himself.
>> He actually thought he was gonna make it all the way down, I mean,
it's super far.
>> It's not homeboy's best plan.
>> Pietyr, I'm rooting for you.
>> He doesn't make it to its non-existent bottom, obviously, but it's terrifying.
>> He's attacked by what seemed to be the spirits of dead queens, and, yeah,
he's learned enough.
>> Meanwhile, someone at the ball manages to poison Mirabella, and she hasn't fully
recovered by morning, so when the duel begins things are not looking good.
>> Until Jules busts in and saves her.
>> Arsinoe's close behind, and declares the duel is over, and it is.
>> Kind of, because the royal guards swarm in, capture them all plus Joseph, and
declare Katharine as the rightful queen.
>> The Council is cool with killing Arsinoe in private, since she's supposed
to be dead anyway, but Mirabella is too strong, she'll need a public execution.
>> Katharine visits her cell to say goodbye and poisons Arsinoe.
>> This breaks Mirabella until Katharine leaves and
Arsinoe reveals, syke, she was faking.
They free themselves and rescue Joseph, Jules, and Camden, her cougar familiar.
>> Theres a huge fight as the prison guards rally to try to stop them.
Things start to look bad, but the War gifted arrived, along with Billy,
they've come to save Jules, who they think is their own rebel queen.
>> Arsinoe and Mirabella don't really care what the War gifted have to say, they,
along with Jules, Joseph and Billy, decide to flee the island for good.
>> Joseph is in bad shape, and
the mist around the island seems like it's fighting to keep them on Fennbirn.
But Mirabella is the strongest elemental in generations, and
fights right back, it is complete chaos.
>> Joseph bleeds out before they are able to make it through.
And Jules, unsure of what her own role in all this is now,
decides to head back to the shore, that's where she believes her future is.
>> And while all of this is happening, Katharine is crowned Queen, and
officially names Nicolas her King consort.
>> They consummate their marriage, and it kills him.
>> She calls for Pietyr, who promises to help her with the corpse, and
everything he knows that'll come after.
>> Katharine learns that her sisters have escaped, but
she's not worried about them coming back, Fennbirn is hers to rule.
>> [SOUND] And that is the end of book two.
>> I need an emotional break, this has been a journey.
My God, there's still another book left.
>> Yep, okay, recap of book three, let's go.
>> All right, book three, here we go.
>> I'm stressed, I'm not prepared, but we're starting book three.
[MUSIC]
>> The two queens are having a very different experience adjusting to life
on the Mainland.
While Mirabella has an easy enough time, things aren't going as smoothly for
Arsinoe, especially since Billy is quite the hot commodity there.
>> It doesn't help that Arsinoe begins having vivid dreams of a spirit,
though she struggles to understand what it's trying to tell her.
>> There's one clear part to the message, though,
it wants her to return to the island.
>> Meanwhile, back on Fennbirn,
Katharine is finding out not everyone is quick to accept her as queen.
>> So instead of letting her sisters get away,
she sends a search party after them >> Said search party never finds
the sisters though, why?
Because the mist tore them to shreds.
After centuries of hiding the island from the Mainland, something is changing,
the mist is turning on them.
>> But why now?
>> Meanwhile, the War gifted are trying to convince Jules that she is the true queen,
the queen's line has been weakening after all.
>> And as much as Jules wants to deny it, she wouldn't have such a strong gift for
no reason.
>> And so grows the rebellion.
>> It doesn't go unnoticed by Queen Katharine.
In a bid to stop the rebellion, Jules' mom Madrigal is captured.
There's to be a trade in order to get her back, Jules for her mother.
>> The rebellion has other plans for this trade though, ambush-like plans.
>> Pietyr takes advantage of the situation, he promises to set Madrigal
free if she shows him how to cleanse Katharine of the ghosts,
because Low Magic has been working so well this entire series.
>> Having spent enough time on the Mainland, Arsinoe, guided by her visions,
returns home.
>> Mirabella and Billy refuse to let her go alone, and so the trio head back to
the island, and Fennburn will once again have all three sisters.
>> The visions guide Arsinoe to the rebellion camp,
where she's finally reunited with Jules.
>> They aren't together for long though, as Arsinoe and Billy head to the mountains
in search of what her ghostly visitor has been trying to tell her all along.
They won't be tagging along for the impending trade.
>> And already reluctant Mirabella will have to join them alone.
>> Following the guidance of her visions, Arsinoe finally get some answers.
>> So, centuries ago, a queen actually gave birth to quadruplets.
And when a fourth queen is born,
she's automatically declared the sacred successor.
>> A Blue Queen.
>> Her sisters were sent to their deaths, but one, the elemental, was found and
raised on the Mainland, completely unaware of her true identity.
>> Years later, the queen returns to the island because her best friend was chosen
to be a suitor, she meets the Blue Queen, her long-lost sister.
The elemental sisters bond, but
the refusal to bond to one cruel suitor accidentally brings a war to their shores.
>> In a tragic turn of events, the Blue Queen falls from the cliffs of the island,
and becomes the mist.
>> Arsinoe realizes what the specter was trying to tell her all along,
one elemental queen died to make the mist, and another almost died to unmake it.
>> Elsewhere, Katharine and Jules attempt their trade.
>> And as Katharine walks Madrigal to her opposition, the dead queens take over, and
Katharine slits Madrigal's throat.
Jules Legion Curse reveals itself, and her War gift explodes out of her.
>> She loses complete control.
Needless to say, the ambush did not go as planned.
>> Seeing Jules in such a state has Mirabella feeling uneasy about
the rebellion's plans to make her their queen.
Arsinoe must keep her sedated to prevent her from causing harm to
literally everything around her.
>> So our elemental queen decides to take things into her own hands.
She sets off to join Katharine.
>> Pietyr finally gets the chance to try the Low Magic spell on Katharine to rid
her of the dead queens inhabiting her body.
No one is surprised when it doesn't go well.
The dead queens take over and ambush Pietyr.
>> Our poor Poisoner boy is left bleeding from the eyes.
>> And that brings us to Five Dark Fates.
>> I'm honestly not convinced that any single character could possibly
have a happy ending.
>> I am overwhelmed, and I am not ready for how this all ends.
I just want these children to be happy.
>> I'm just so worried for Pietyr.
[MUSIC]