A review by anna4
The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

To say “I am confused” would be an understatement in every way, shape or form.

I read ‘The Foxglove King’ in February this year (so about 4 months prior to picking up ‘The Hemlock Queen’ and a reasonable period between books if you ask me) and I can't really say if it's a me thing or if it's the book, but it took me forever to get into this. At least until the 40% mark, but probably more. After the first couple of chapters I was immediately hit with the thought of ‘Did I skip a book?’, because it sure felt like it.

Honestly, I am even hesitant to say if I got into it at all.

Maybe it’s just one of those series that needs to be read back-to-back to properly make sense. I don't know.

My biggest issue, especially in the beginning, were Lore and Bastian, because it almost felt as if they drifted into completely different people after and especially compared to how ‘The Foxglove King’ ended. I guess, after finishing the book, you can say that Bastian’s behavior makes sense, Lore however ?

At one point my confusion just got more confused.

The only character who seemed “normal” was Alie. Bless her. Actually, I  really, really came to like her.

I was also missing more of Gabe. The somewhat love triangle between Lore-Bastian-Gabe, again, if you read this book, will somewhat make more sense, but can’t say that I was enjoying or routing for this back and forth between them.

One of the few really good and interesting parts of the book was the backstory of the gods somewhere in the last 30%.

That last third was also the part with the most moments I wish had happened more sprinkled in throughout the book, which maybe would have helped for me to be more invested.

I was so excited when the Kirytheans early on suddenly got involved and kinda disappointed when they were abandoned up until like the second to last chapter. I feel like exploring them more would have been a great plot point.

If you enjoyed the vibes of ‘The Foxglove King’, I do think ‘The Hemlock Queen’ delivers very nicely on that.

Besides the last 3 chapters (before the epilogue), which seemed for whatever reason to go on forever in a mouthful-like writing, the ending/epilogue was good. Really good actually and I am interested to see how it will all play out in the last book of the series.

Until then, I will debate if I should reread The Foxglove Kind and The Hemlock Queen before book three releases.

Thank you to Orbit for providing this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.