Reviews with content warning for Gore - For the Throne

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For the Throne by Hannah Whitten

19 reviews

leemazz01's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book wasn't as good as the first one, in my opinion. It was incredibly predictable (I correctly predicted every major plot-twist and turning point about 50 pages into the book) and much slower than the first book. I also felt the tension between the two main characters of this book wasn't as good as that of the two main characters of the first book.

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katievallin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

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blissofalife's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I don’t often enjoy multiple POV but this series was done well. It wasn’t jarring to change narrators, and it was nice to be given the whole picture without any one character knowing everything. (Love me some dramatic irony) But where the first book seemed to be building building building, this one felt a little weighed down. Like there was too much exposition in order to make the climax make sense. (I’m still not sure what exactly happened in the end) but it was an enjoyable read with plenty of grey characters. I liked where everyone ended up, at the very least all characters were accounted for in the epilogue.

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alexijai98's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

I have to get one thing out of the way first: the Wilderwood duology could certainly use a map. Usually, sequels end up being my favorite books in series/duologies, so I’m a bit disappointed in For the Throne. Other reviewers have said this, but the pacing was strange. The first 300ish pages felt like a slog, especially when the POV wasn’t Neve’s. The last 100 pages felt like a Sonic speed run to resolve all conflict,

including a classic “pair up everyone into couples.”

I also came out of this book more confused about the magic system than I was when I read For the Wolf. Maybe I just can’t wrap my head around it, but the rules of magic (especially towards the conclusion) felt inconsistent and hand-wavey for the purpose of moving the story along. For the Wolf is a fine sequel, but after seeing it hyped up by some of my faves on Tik Tok (bombastic side eye), I am a bit disappointed.

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mckiheather's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The story did a great job resolving what was left over from the first book, and it was very interesting to get to see so much from the “villain” characters (relatively speaking). It keeps your attention when stories don’t exist in black and white and this one is basically all in gray.

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kelanor's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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reneec1's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
🌶 fade to black, innuendo

Characters: We follow the same characters as in For the Wolf, but this time with a larger focus on Neve. We see Neve struggle through who she is and what she needs to do.

I wish there would have been more to Red and Neve’s relationship in FtW because I felt like I was only really convinced of it by the end of FtT. I loved the push and pull of Neve and Solmir’s relationship, and appreciated that both their and Red and Eammon’s spicy scenes weren’t explicit.

Worldbuilding: I love the worldbuilding and magic system in these books. Learning about their world and magic as first Red and then Neve learned about it is my favorite writing style. With the addition of the Shadowlands in this book, there was still a ton of new information, but it never felt like an info dump.

Plot: The overall plot was great, but I didn’t like some parts of the ending and that’s why I rated it a little lower than I would have.

My main issue with the ending is that Solmir spent the whole book fighting for his soul in the Shadowlands and then in the end, Neve and Red smashed their souls when they died in order to come back to life and then they went on with their lives with only a slight difference in how they felt. Was Solmir always wrong or was this just a convenient way to kill the kings without killing Red and Neve? I think the latter.

However… two things I liked about the ending were: 1. Neve and Solmir’s relationship ended ambiguously instead of being perfectly paired off forever. 2. I was also really glad to not have to see a pregnancy trope with Red and Eammon because it wasn’t necessary.

I’m the end, I had fun reading this duology and would recommend it if you’re looking for some fantasy!

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beccaand's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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blewballoon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wasn't looking forward to this book because everything to do with Neve was my least favorite part of the last book, and I kind of hated her going into this one. I was pleasantly surprised. The main supernatural setting of this book feels so different from the last, much darker and less like a classic fairy tale. I still enjoyed the chapters that focused on Red and her gang more, it was lovely to be with those characters again and I think the new additions worked well enough. Some plot threads from the last book took some unexpected turns in this book, and some of the events/plot that popped up in this one threw me off, but overall I think this was a good conclusion to the duology and I wasn't unhappy with the ending.

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bookforthought's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.0

For the Wolf was one of my favourite reads last year, so I was really looking forward to the second book in this duology. In fact, For the Throne was probably one of my most anticipated reads this year.

This second book picks up right where the first one ended. I didn't re-read For the Wolf before starting this one, but it might be worth doing if you have the time as, outside of the main characters, I had a hard time remembering who was who for a few chapters.

The book mostly follows Neve, Red's sister, while she is stuck in the Shadowlands with Solmir, but there are also some chapters in Red's POV as she struggles to find a way to save her sister and even some showing Raffe's POV. Neve was by far the most interesting character, and I loved getting to know her more deeply than before, exploring her complexities and witnessing both her incredible strength and her touching vulnerability.

The author does an amazing job with the atmosphere. It was dark and chilling and just absolutely perfect. I could almost feel the Shadowlands as Neve and Solmir made their way through them to try and destroy them and the Old Kings. I also really liked the original way in which some classic folklore tropes and elements were woven through the story, and the addition of the gods was a very welcome one for me.

Action on the surface wasn't quite as captivating as that in the Shadowlands for me, and I did find that rather a lot of it was too slow-moving to really hold my interest. I still love Red and Eamonn, but some of the other characters failed to really grow on me and, by the end, there were a few too many couples going around. Some of the surprising twists were also not so surprising after all, which was disappointing as I love being surprised!

Still, I really liked the ending and was very satisfied with it as a conclusion to this duology even if this second book didn't quite live up to the first one for me. Hannah Whitten was a fantastic discovery and I look forward to reading many, many more of her books in the future.

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