Queens of Fennbirn audiobook

This is the first book I've read where it's a compilation of novellas, and I absolutely loved it! THE ORACLE QUEEN was my fav, but I also liked all the backstory of the three queens as children too. Can't wait until Kendare's third book drops! Gimme!

some novellas add nothing to the entire story, but these two? they added so much. in the first one we get to know more about Arsinoe, Mirabella and Katharine. we learn about their childhood, what happened once they were taken away from each other. it adds so much background story. and in the second novella we learn about a queen who lived 500 years prior the story, and at first you don't think it'll be that important to the story, but to me it was. it highlights how much the queens are being played, how little power they truly have. i loved learning about queen Elsabet, the oracle queen. her story broke my heart. i really really recommend these two novellas, they were amazing in their own way. (4.5)

Am citit doar prima nuvelă, deoarece aceea m-a interesat.🥰 A doua mă plictisea destul de mult și am abandonat-o.

The Young Queens: 3.5 StarsHonestly I don't remember anything significant from this. I enjoyed it and it was nice seeing the queens' childhoods. Although, I was hoping that this was going to be about the queens together at the cottage and I'm kind of disappointed that it wasn't. It was still good nonetheless. The Oracle Queen: 5 starsOh my GOD. This made me SOOOO angry. I wanted to fight EVERYBODY that fucked with Elsabet. She didn't deserve any of it!!! The Arrons are TRASH. William and Joseph can rot together in their trashy gross boys club. I loved this story. It invoked so much emotion from me. So much ANGER. I couldn't put it down and it felt so much longer than it actually was. It was amazing. I am wondering how this information will tie in with the rest of the series or if it will at all. Who knows? Kendare LOVES to play with our emotions.

I cannot express...how pissed off I was at the ending of this...

Note: I'll be discussing some general plot points, but no spoilers for books 1 or 2 (or 3, which I haven't read yet) that aren't enclosed in a spoiler tag. My favorite currently running fantasy series is Kendare Blake's Fennbirn books and it's sheer joy to return, even though double-crossings and assassinations occur there on the daily. This paperback collects two prequel novellas that were previously only available in epub format. And cheers to you Harper Teen, because try as I might, I still hate e-books. Book 1: The Young QueensIf you've ever wondered what Katherine, Arsinoe, and Mirabella's lives were like before we met them near their Ascension Year, this story gives you a delicious glimpse. It also provides a little background on why their mother, Queen Camille, (view spoiler)[told the midwife to switch the abilities of Katherine and Arsinoe at birth (Katherine is actually the naturalist and Arsinoe is the poisoner.) (hide spoiler)] It covers up thru their birth and separation, then some key moments from their first few years with their foster families. The novella concludes with Arsinoe's attempt to escape from the island, the aftermath, and Jules' mother Madrigal being banished to the Black Cottage.My favorite part of this was when Arsinoe met Jules (truly a beautiful friendship), followed by Mirabella proving early on she was going to buck the accession system. Seriously, Mirabella is a badass.The Arrons show up to prove once again they are the supervillains of this series. But as bad as they are here, just wait.Book 2: The Oracle QueenEver since the last Oracle Queen, Elsabet, went mad with paranoid delusions and murdered half of her court, queens with the Oracle gift are killed at birth--this matriarchy is no utopia--but was it really that simple?(Hint: no.) This story, set 500 years before the current series, tells the story of the sad last days of Queen Elsabet. For such a short story with characters we've never met (although some family names will ring familiar), this packed a lot of punch and the ending choked me up a little. In SummaryThese stories aren't absolutely essential if you want to just stick to the main books, but they are fun, engrossing backstory and don't feel like cash grabs. If you are at all curious about details that are only mentioned in retrospect in the novels, you'll definitely want to read these to fill in some blanks. I love how this world is so fully realized that Kendare Blake had all this backstory more or less just chilling in her head. It's how the best fantasy works. Get on this series if you haven't already. It's fantastic, no pun intended.

Queens of Fennbirn is a bind up of two short stories: The Young Queens and the Oracle Queen.The Oracle Queen: I really enjoyed this short story. Throughout the series, there are mentions of Queen Elsabet, who went mad and had three families murdered based on a vision of the future. This story gives the reader a look at that Queen, and tells the story of what actually happened. The truth is a tale of politics, power and murder, showing how history is told by the winners. Though the story introduces completely new characters, it is easy to see the parallels between Elsabet's Fennbirn and the one in which Three Dark Crowns takes place. The Young Queens: This was a short story about Mirabella, Arsinoe and Katharine as children. It follows their mother through her birth, and ends after Arsinoe's attempted escape, really setting the scene for what occurs in Three Dark Crowns. I enjoyed bits and pieces of this tale, but found that it was choppy, moving around through time way too much. I loved how it gave the reader an insight on Caragh that we don't get in the main series, and enjoyed the early bond between the three sisters.

Rating ~3.5A pleasant little duo of novellas. Of the two though, The Oracle Queen is definitely stronger as it certainly adds to mythology and the continuous amount of misunderstandings and misrepresentations of queens long past. And now we know two things, being an Oracle Queen does not drive one to madness. And two, the Arron’s will truly stop at nothing to claim and hold onto power. Vicious snakes.

I really enjoyed this novella collection. It packed the same intense punch that the novels do, except in a shorter story form. Both of the Novellas were really enjoyable. Do you need to read these? Will you be missing something from the series as a whole if you don't? Maybe not, but, if you're already a fan of the series, reading this is just a way to get a little more of it. I would recommend reading these two novellas (or this collection) after reading the first two books in the series, because you could spoil yourself if you try to read them before. I've only read the first two books in the series so far, so what do I know really? It could maybe spoil something for later books and I just wouldn't know. When looking in the front of this novella collection, I think it came out before the third book did, so that's why I think you could be safe by reading just the first two books like I did, and then jumping into this collection.The Young Queens -- 4/5 -- I definitely enjoyed this novella. I liked getting this little glimpse of the past. Kendare Blake can just pull me into a story so fast. This Novella is about the events before the first book. It shows the birth of the queens, their separation, and some past events mentioned in Three Dark Crowns.The Oracle Queen -- 4/5 -- Another good one. It was very political. It kind of had a slow start, but the end was pretty WHAM BAM! I liked getting the history of The Oracle Queen. What a tragedy. What a cast of no good, awful people too.I'm excited to continue on with this series. It's really fun, really brutal, and I'm excited to see what happens in the third and fourth books. I'm also going to have to read more from Kendare Blake.BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5Brava, Brava!

Full review in my wrap up vlog. https://youtu.be/6_EFasi4gAE

Two great little novellas that further the story of the queens of Fennrbirn, both past and present.Three Young Queens gives a brief glimpse into the younger lives of Queens Mirabella, Arsinoe, and Katharine, from their birth to after their separation. It's interesting to get a bit of perspective from their mother, Queen Camille, and to learn why she (view spoiler)[switched Arsinoe and Katharine (hide spoiler)]. From there, we see the queens as they begin to grow older, beginning with their lives together at the Black Cottage. It's actually quite sad to see how well they get along and how much they clearly love each other in light of knowing the fate of queens and how things play out in the first two books of the series. I love that Mirabella is so fiercely intent on protecting her sisters, even after they've been separated. From how she's treated in Three Dark Crowns, I never would've expected how her foster family had treated her in the past. The other queens struggle with the separation as well, but eventually, they begin to forget their sisters and begin training their gifts. A lot of other big characters are featured in this story as well, and it's nice to get some more background from them and see how the initial presence of the queens changed their lives. Overall, this is a sweet novella, but it doesn't really have any unexpected twists.The Oracle Queen, on the other hand, is mostly a solid a gut-punch. Three Dark Crowns and One Dark Throne make it clear that oracle queens are killed as soon as they're born, but why? Queen Elsabet's story explains why, and it's not a happy ending. I like that this novella features all five of the gifts on the island--elemental, naturalist, poisoner, oracle, and war--and shows how the different families butt heads and plot against one another. This story is full of deception, secrets, and heartbreak, and it shows how Elsabet's gift and her legacy have been so twisted. I'm hoping we get more of Elsabet's story or at least more oracle lore in the next book in the series.In the end, Queens of Fennbirn is a nice extra to the series. I don't think these novellas are strictly required reading at this point in the series, but I have a feeling they're going to be useful in the future.

I love how this novella foreshadows what happens in the main series politically. It totally shows how the main families create the rhetoric and makes you think about what is happening in our own world.