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moonchild_cos's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War
Minor: Addiction, Genocide, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This was such an engaging and exciting read. The writing style was effortlessly propulsive, and the story was surprisingly immersive. I was almost immediately invested in the story, which is abnormal for me, and from there, I couldn’t stop turning pages.
I wish the characters had been more diverse, and there was a moment around like 2/3 of the way through when I hit a bit of a pacing snag, but other than that, this was a standout to me.
I’d recommend this to anyone who loves a dark fantasy with some angsty romance.
I wish the characters had been more diverse, and there was a moment around like 2/3 of the way through when I hit a bit of a pacing snag, but other than that, this was a standout to me.
I’d recommend this to anyone who loves a dark fantasy with some angsty romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
sarrie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Pitch a story to me with ‘necromancy’ in the description and I’m going to sign up 9 times out of 10. Like a lot of people I love the idea of magic based around the dead - one of my favorite characters I’ve made for a D&D game was a necromancer! The Foxglove King has some of that in the truest sense. The story follows Lore who can channel the power of Mortem, death magic, and raise the dead. This is definitely not on the legal side of things in her world, and when she’s captured and given a bargain - work for the king or live in exile, she obviously takes the job.
From there we get our usual Fantasy Romance setup. A magic girl, and two guys. The prince she’s supposed to be investigating for treason and the stoic guard who is assigned to follow her every step. On the whole this follows every beat you’d expect for a Fantasy Romance and I enjoyed that. Unfortunately, my first big complaint ties into this. While it followed familiar beats, it let itself get caught and really drag in the middle. The story was a bit overwritten and when Lore and her associates became trapped in the castle so were we the readers, so there is a huge slog of dry reading from 50 to 85%. We spend so so much time in the heads and conversations of the characters that it felt like we were trapped in the same three rooms and one garden for a huge chunk of time. Editing was desperately needed here, 50 to 100 pages could have been trimmed.
Past that our characters are interesting, though nothing mind blowing. My favorite character was Lore. She was not the standard ‘bad ass girl’ we typically get, but had some soft edges and quiet attributes I enjoyed. She was selfish but not brash, and held secrets (possibly for far too long) that seemed very important to have, as opposed to melodramatics. Bastian, our Sun Prince was the best built of the two male love interests, the other a dull shadow to him. My other big complaint about the story is in the villain of the piece. - SPOILERS HERE He did not need to be scarred in the face in the way he was. It’s 2023, can we not turn every person with a facial scar or disfigurement into a villain. I despised this portion of the book and I’m glad that he’s out of the picture at the end - END SPOILERS.
The ending was a hair bit on the predictable side with it’s reveals if not explosive and jaw dropping in it’s action, leaving me wanting the second book. I’m hesitant to recommend this one, without the warning that the middle is dense and the villain a terrible stereotype. However if you’re okay with that and you love Fantasy Romance I’d say give this one a read.
3 out of 5 Stone Roses
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment
Moderate: Body shaming and Chronic illness
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and War
beccaand's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Gore, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Death of parent and War
bibliomania_express's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten follows a deathwitch in a world of death magic to the heart of political and religious intrigue. This book has some of your classis YA tropes, including the love triangle between the tough, emotionally scarred orphan main character who has chosen-one abilities, the brooding and mysterious guy who believes in the world's system (or most of it) and has to work with her, and the charming and powerul prince. Throw in some class issues, death magic, corrupt religion and politics, the threat of a war, and a mystery to solve, and that's this book.
I have mixed feelings, and some of that stems from the fact that this is the first in a series. But also that the middle of this book, with most of the investgating, is rather drawn out, where the end happens in a violent (and I do mean violent) rush. I was left with a bit of worldbuilding whiplash, trying to parse exactly what different characters are thinking. Also there was a lot of the final reveals that felt obvious, although there was also one part I didn't guess.
There are also some plot threads dropped just for the sake of it being a first book in a series, so hopefully some of them get picked up in the next book.
Beyond some of the unfortunate side effects from a YA love triangle, I really liked Lore. She's tough, determined, and actually has a strong sense of right and wrong for a poison runner. I also liked Gabe and Bastian for most of the book. The mystery itself was interesting, but I think the solution was a bit weak.
Rating: 3.5/5
*I receieved an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
I have mixed feelings, and some of that stems from the fact that this is the first in a series. But also that the middle of this book, with most of the investgating, is rather drawn out, where the end happens in a violent (and I do mean violent) rush. I was left with a bit of worldbuilding whiplash, trying to parse exactly what different characters are thinking. Also there was a lot of the final reveals that felt obvious, although there was also one part I didn't guess.
There are also some plot threads dropped just for the sake of it being a first book in a series, so hopefully some of them get picked up in the next book.
Beyond some of the unfortunate side effects from a YA love triangle, I really liked Lore. She's tough, determined, and actually has a strong sense of right and wrong for a poison runner. I also liked Gabe and Bastian for most of the book. The mystery itself was interesting, but I think the solution was a bit weak.
Rating: 3.5/5
*I receieved an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Vomit, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Terminal illness, Stalking, and War
yourbookishbff's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Genocide, Violence, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Child death and Chronic illness
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: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
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: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Terminal illness, Blood, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
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: Animal death, Child death, Drug use, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, and Drug abuse
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, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Violence
Minor: Death of parent and Abandonment