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luckylulureads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death
Minor: Drug abuse, Abandonment, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Terminal illness
soniajoy98's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Murder, Animal death, Child death, and Violence
Moderate: Classism, War, Blood, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Vomit
queergoth_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publishers but all thoughts are my own.
I went into this book knowing absolutely nothing about it. I just knew that I'd enjoyed Whitten's work before and I was not disappointed here.
It follows Lore, a spy with a necromancer's powers, as she is forced into helping the King. The country is on the brink of war and the King suspects his son so Lore has to get close to him and find out if the prince is a traitor, all the while learning more about her powers.
When I started this book I was pretty sure I knew what would happen but I was just enjoying the ride. Turns out I had no idea how it would turn out. I was kept on my toes at every twist and turn.
I really love the worlds Whitten creates and her characters are really fun and well rounded.
I did think that the chemistry between Gabe and Lore was a bit lacking but I don't think that really mattered to me too much.
I went into this book knowing absolutely nothing about it. I just knew that I'd enjoyed Whitten's work before and I was not disappointed here.
It follows Lore, a spy with a necromancer's powers, as she is forced into helping the King. The country is on the brink of war and the King suspects his son so Lore has to get close to him and find out if the prince is a traitor, all the while learning more about her powers.
When I started this book I was pretty sure I knew what would happen but I was just enjoying the ride. Turns out I had no idea how it would turn out. I was kept on my toes at every twist and turn.
I really love the worlds Whitten creates and her characters are really fun and well rounded.
I did think that the chemistry between Gabe and Lore was a bit lacking but I don't think that really mattered to me too much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Murder, and Animal death
Moderate: Drug abuse, Body horror, and Confinement
Minor: War
sophs_mood_reading's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book should have been a winner for me. It had the medieval royalty theme, magical powers, a love triangle, strong female lead, some YA romance and some mysterious twists and “who’s the bad guy” plot themes.
However, it was the longest 400 page book I’ve ever read.
The reason; the over done descriptions and much to long scenes. It was as if the author couldn’t trust the reader to “pick up what she was putting down” and literally had to write out every single detail of every scene until there was nothing left to the imagination.
This resulted in useless unimportant moments of the book going for multiple pages or chapters. Such as the first scene in the book so detailed about the relationship of her lovers sister and her and yet we never ever see her again! A simple, she hates me would have sufficed.
It’s so annoying because the plot of the book without all the padded out detail was great. However I feel we missed out on some really much needed plot details as we were to busy getting descriptions of every muscle movement in someone’s face and what that would then translate into meaning.
I got to the end an thought, damn it I want to know what happens next but I don’t know if I have the strength to read another book in the series.
So if they make a cliff’s notes. Please let me know!
However, it was the longest 400 page book I’ve ever read.
The reason; the over done descriptions and much to long scenes. It was as if the author couldn’t trust the reader to “pick up what she was putting down” and literally had to write out every single detail of every scene until there was nothing left to the imagination.
This resulted in useless unimportant moments of the book going for multiple pages or chapters. Such as the first scene in the book so detailed about the relationship of her lovers sister and her and yet we never ever see her again! A simple, she hates me would have sufficed.
It’s so annoying because the plot of the book without all the padded out detail was great. However I feel we missed out on some really much needed plot details as we were to busy getting descriptions of every muscle movement in someone’s face and what that would then translate into meaning.
I got to the end an thought, damn it I want to know what happens next but I don’t know if I have the strength to read another book in the series.
So if they make a cliff’s notes. Please let me know!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Child death, Violence, and Animal death
Minor: Death of parent and Abandonment
takarakei's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
My first Hannah Whitten and I'm def looking forward to reading her other duology and for the rest of this series.
This book is immediately so interesting right from the get-go. I find it hard to describe when writing is not good, but on the contrary when it’s THIS good it just works and is so easy to read. The world building is top notch, like I was not confused at all (beyond that this is a very mysterious book so obv there are things left out on purpose).
This book is immediately so interesting right from the get-go. I find it hard to describe when writing is not good, but on the contrary when it’s THIS good it just works and is so easy to read. The world building is top notch, like I was not confused at all (beyond that this is a very mysterious book so obv there are things left out on purpose).
- Court Politics
- Gods Mythology
- Necromancer Magic
- Love Triangle
- With a priest fighting his religious vows
- With a prince who hides his pain with humor
- ...Personally, I am team throuple
1.5/5 🌶️ (so much tensionnnn)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Child death, Classism, Genocide, Addiction, and Drug use
Minor: Death of parent, Violence, and Sexism
Animal Deathlucy_is_reading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Addiction, Violence, Child death, Murder, Animal death, and Blood
livwoods's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Thank you to Orbit and Net Galley for the e-arc!
I might come back to this review after I’ve had a chance to parse my thoughts, but I just flew through the last 11% of the book, and wow, the last 50ish pages and where the story left us bumped my rating way up!
I’ve read both For the Wolf and For the Throne, as well as the short story “One Lane Bridge”, and I think this is Hannah Whitten’s best book yet. Dellaire and the Mortem-cursed country of Auverraine is a fun, glittering, and bejeweled world of recreational poison use, dead gods, and courtly politics and espionage. The characters are fun and I enjoyed following Lore as a protagonist, but shout-out to Bastian—the seemingly irreverent, moderately dastardly Sun Prince—who was my favorite character to read. That’s not to count out Gabe, our Golden Retriever-esque monk who’s too loyal and upstanding for his own self-preservation, but right now, I’m firmly Team Bastian (but giving myself the choice to change my mind whenever Book 2 comes out). I’m a sucker for love triangles, too, and am waiting to see what shenanigans this trio gets up to in the books that follow.
I don’t read much high fantasy where intricate court politics and royal espionage are involved, but this level of intrigue, mystery, and machinations suited me fine, and the twists keep the pages turning.
The pantheon of gods was by far my favorite element, and I’m hoping we can dig more into the mythology of the world as we move further into the series. (And maybe get some backstory for what really happened beforeredacted!!
This definitely feels like a first book in a trilogy and therefore has some of the standard conventions of getting a series off the ground: slower-paced world building and character development to get you invested for when the puzzle starts coming together. And a lot of the earlier pages are spent setting up the world, the court, and the key players in the mystery. But by the end of the book, the chess board is set and the pieces are in place for whatever Book 2 has in store, and I can’t wait to see how the game plays out from here!
I might come back to this review after I’ve had a chance to parse my thoughts, but I just flew through the last 11% of the book, and wow, the last 50ish pages and where the story left us bumped my rating way up!
I’ve read both For the Wolf and For the Throne, as well as the short story “One Lane Bridge”, and I think this is Hannah Whitten’s best book yet. Dellaire and the Mortem-cursed country of Auverraine is a fun, glittering, and bejeweled world of recreational poison use, dead gods, and courtly politics and espionage. The characters are fun and I enjoyed following Lore as a protagonist, but shout-out to Bastian—the seemingly irreverent, moderately dastardly Sun Prince—who was my favorite character to read. That’s not to count out Gabe, our Golden Retriever-esque monk who’s too loyal and upstanding for his own self-preservation, but right now, I’m firmly Team Bastian (but giving myself the choice to change my mind whenever Book 2 comes out). I’m a sucker for love triangles, too, and am waiting to see what shenanigans this trio gets up to in the books that follow.
I don’t read much high fantasy where intricate court politics and royal espionage are involved, but this level of intrigue, mystery, and machinations suited me fine, and the twists keep the pages turning.
The pantheon of gods was by far my favorite element, and I’m hoping we can dig more into the mythology of the world as we move further into the series. (And maybe get some backstory for what really happened before
This definitely feels like a first book in a trilogy and therefore has some of the standard conventions of getting a series off the ground: slower-paced world building and character development to get you invested for when the puzzle starts coming together. And a lot of the earlier pages are spent setting up the world, the court, and the key players in the mystery. But by the end of the book, the chess board is set and the pieces are in place for whatever Book 2 has in store, and I can’t wait to see how the game plays out from here!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Animal death, Death of parent, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
Moderate: War
whatmandyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
***Thank you so much to Hannah Whitten and Orbit books for allowing me to read and review this ARC. I have been so excited to get to this book!!***
This was my first Hannah Whitten novel and she is now a must read author for me! I will be purchasing some of her previous work in the new year. I love the way she weaves her words into a story that seems both delicate and fierce at the same time.
When reading a lot of high fantasy novels in short succession, plot sometimes becomes generic and predictable with character development becoming the only unique attribute. This is NOT the case with The Foxglove King. I am newer to the sub genre of necromancy but this book has very distinct plot in addition to expert character development!
In full transparency the book was a solid 3/5 star for me until the final 25% of the book. The first three quarters was quite a bit of mundane world building and historical accounting. This is not necessarily a bad thing because I’ve found that many high fantasy series have a first novel in series that really has to be powered through to make it to the meat of the drama. Some aspects of the world and character building bordered on generic and predictable in the beginning but as the novel drew closer to the arc of the story, The Foxglove King definitely distinguished itself as a very unique story. I wish that this didn’t take up 75% of the book. I feel like that is a lot of work for a small reward; however I am hopeful that the series building will pay off and future books will be packed with drama and action.
The last 25% of the book hooked me into the series. It went from driving on a straight country road to a winding road with many obstacles and turns—some predictable and some surprising. It was light on the romance in this book but I can see so many ways that might evolve over the coming books. The last chapters of the book elevated my rating to a 4/5 and made me want more!
Who is this for? YA readers, those that love high fantasy with necromancy and darker death themes, and fantasy readers.
Trigger Warnings: child death
This was my first Hannah Whitten novel and she is now a must read author for me! I will be purchasing some of her previous work in the new year. I love the way she weaves her words into a story that seems both delicate and fierce at the same time.
When reading a lot of high fantasy novels in short succession, plot sometimes becomes generic and predictable with character development becoming the only unique attribute. This is NOT the case with The Foxglove King. I am newer to the sub genre of necromancy but this book has very distinct plot in addition to expert character development!
In full transparency the book was a solid 3/5 star for me until the final 25% of the book. The first three quarters was quite a bit of mundane world building and historical accounting. This is not necessarily a bad thing because I’ve found that many high fantasy series have a first novel in series that really has to be powered through to make it to the meat of the drama. Some aspects of the world and character building bordered on generic and predictable in the beginning but as the novel drew closer to the arc of the story, The Foxglove King definitely distinguished itself as a very unique story. I wish that this didn’t take up 75% of the book. I feel like that is a lot of work for a small reward; however I am hopeful that the series building will pay off and future books will be packed with drama and action.
The last 25% of the book hooked me into the series. It went from driving on a straight country road to a winding road with many obstacles and turns—some predictable and some surprising. It was light on the romance in this book but I can see so many ways that might evolve over the coming books. The last chapters of the book elevated my rating to a 4/5 and made me want more!
Who is this for? YA readers, those that love high fantasy with necromancy and darker death themes, and fantasy readers.
Trigger Warnings: child death
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
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