The Foxglove King is a YA romantic fantasy of magic, (some) mystery, and (a lot of) murder. Hannah Whitten spins an enjoyable tale strung between ancient catacombs, a decadent castle, and the churning back streets of Dellaire’s black market. All of which our heroine, Lore, has at one point called home.

I honestly enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I picked up Whitten’s For the Wolf last year but didn’t get very far at all with it, and while TFK was a little slow to start, once I got into it I sped through it. The plot was pretty predictable, but it was still fun to follow along.

Lore is a great lead, and her magic - and witty monologue - drive the plot well. She is, of course, a bit stupid - the “villain” is so utterly villainous and the “twist” very predictable - but she looks good doing it. I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs.

Out male leads were a little less compelling, but grew on me as the book progressed. I wasn't Gabe's biggest fan - probably because Lore spent the first half of the book calling him “Mort”, which just made me think of the lemur from Madagascar. Bastian is fun and ridiculous, and I'm looking forward to their relationship being explored more in later books. I've never met a love triangle I've got along with (power throuple once Gabe gets over his religious trauma please?), but Lore does give us this absolute belter of a quote:
“None of them had time for silly romance games—were this any other situation, she'd just sleep with them both and have done with it, so they could concentrate on the important things like finding a stash of dead bodies, figuring out why [redacted] had hidden them, and learning what made them dead in the first place.
But one was the Sun Prince, and one was a celibate monk, and thus the circumstances were a bit more complicated.”
She's so real for that. Genuinely hilarious.

Overall: fun! Imaginative magic system, LGBT rep, badass women. A little silly, but I think the tiktok girlies are going to eat it up. 4/5 stars.

Sorry but this book just isn’t for me. I do like romantasy and can see it’s of a similar style to “A Court of Thorn & Roses” which might be popular but found it difficult to get into voice and the world. I like Hannah’s worldbuilding in “For the Wolf” which was why I requested it but it just didn’t grab me.

A terrific fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Huge thanks to the publisher, I really hope there’s more from this series because it was a stellar story from start to finish. Five stars.

Hannah Whitten has definitely grown as an author from For The Wolf. The plot is very unique and I found the political intrigue , power structures and religious orders to drive the story and capture attention and make for a highly enjoyable read. I feel like this is the start to a very promising series. Thank you so much for the ARC

As a rule, I’m not a big fantasy book reader. I recently found myself enjoying a cosy fantasy and that made me think that perhaps I had been veering away from them for no other reason than I like the familiar. And that’s part of the reason why I requested this book by Hannah Whitten. I am unfamiliar with her work and therefore, don’t know if the slow start is something she is renowned for. However, once I got past the earlier chapters it was full steam ahead.

Were there a lot of cliches in there I remember from books like The Hunger Games and Twilight. Yes…the love triangle has not died a death in the decades since Edward, Bella and Jacob. But that didn’t make it a bad book.

I struggled with a number of things, but I cannot fault the world-building or the writing style. I think that perhaps it just wasn’t for me, but I know a lot of people who will love it and that’s why it’s a 4-star. Reading is subjective, but I know a large number of people for whom ACOTAR, Caraval and books like it are the air they breathe. And perhaps I will come back to this again once I have read those series and see a book that will lead me to the sequels which will definitely follow. I would also say that this is likely more New Adult than Adult fantasy, but again that’s my interpretation.

Takes a little while to settle in but once the plot gets going it will hook you in.
The characters are all well rounded and really enjoyable and the dynamics between them seem really realistic.
I feel the world building has come a long way from previous books written by this author, and it's an improvement for sure. Still not completely flowing but much better and I can't wait to read more of this series

Although this book wasn’t for me, I would like to sincerely thank NetGalley and the publisher for approving my request for this ARC. I definitely do not like DNFing ARCS, but I unfortunately had to call it at 30% through this one. What I enjoyed: the death based magic system, the setting, and the prose. What I didn’t like: I just could not connect with the characters or picture the setting very well. I will say that I have not written this book off completely yet, and I may choose to pick it up in the future.

This was so good. I loved this author’s other series but the foxglove king was next level. Amazing story telling.

Even though this wasn't the book for me I still want to thank netgalley and the publisher for accepting my request to read and review this book.

But yeesh... after 10 or 11 days of slogging through this book I have to be honest that it was not for me.

This book follows Lore who, with a secret power to raise the dead, finds herself entering the royal court under strict instruction with the help of proest Gabe, to figure out if the young flirty Sun prince is actually a spy for the evil other kingdom and responsible for the deaths of entire villages outside the city.

Immediately we know we are in for a run of the mill YA fantasy plot (why was this advertised as adult, it is pure YA in every way expcet the 'ages' of the characters) in which our secret powered protagonist is in a love triangle with a smug prince and stoic other dude (in this case priest) who must work alongside them to uncover the secrets of the castle. WHERE IS THE ORIGINALITY. Also, where the fuck is the diversity? I hardly recall a single person of colour being mentioned in this book.

We know from 10% in where the plot is going and we arent surprised where we get to. We are strung along through 500 pages of zero romance. Which is ironic considering the second listed genre is romance and the 5th is fantasy romance. We get one? Two kisses? No steam. No declarations. Also if this doesnt end up being a throuple then wtf is the author on.

The world was under-explained except for generic descriptions of a city and vague mentions to another kingdom. We fail to see how the world workds, how the magic works, what the land is like. The author is, in my opinion, lazy to spend 500 pages on a garbage mystery only to not detail these things even in two pages.

The whole prophecy thing at the end was BEYOND lazy and zero thought to it. If its supposed to be the explanation as to why the charaters were able to bond so quicky it felt cheap and generic.

Also we spend 500 pages with a protaginsit who wants to save lives and yet when given an opportunity goes against her entire character.

The book was also so inconsistant e.g. seemingly only 3 or 4 people know about the protagonist not actually being Gabes cousin and yet when she suddenly springs out hardcore magic the priests are just like "cool". So if all the priests know about the arragement how was that kept a secret from a whole court considering its run alongside the church. People would easily find out.

Also with the reveal at the end, which changes everything that happened in the book so far, it just striaght up seems like the author made it up at the end when the first twist wasnt that exciting. Without spoiling things, if you think about it, if a certain someone wanted them to go to a certain place, why would they have not got the person that hints at the place to just TELL THEM WHERE instead of going on a crazy quest that nearly risks everything. Totally a plot cange that wasn't planned. Seems like she didnt want to cut all those bits so kept them only for them not to make sense at all.

Good thing that I liked: I liked the scenes where Lore brings the dead back and how creepy it felt. I like imagining it. Horror fantasy gets a yes from me.

But otherwise this was a massive flop for me, it felt so lazy and yet the author spend 500 dense pages on what we were given. So generic, nothing is shocking or massively intriguing.

4.5 stars rounded up. Slightly slow start for me, but that's probably understandable when there's a new world to introduce, and the world-building here is solid even if the initial exposition is a little heavy at times. It pulls together a number of disparate elements - a French-style court, ascended (and descended) gods, unexplained powers and modern-day speech patterns - but I didn't find that jarring as it was consistently maintained throughout. Main character Lore, struggling to stay alive within a situation she doesn't really understand and out of her control, is delightfully complicated, and so are the two men she is inexplicably linked to - plenty of nuance, depth and uncertainty. Once the plot really got going I became thoroughly invested in its twists and turns, all the way to the extremely intriguing ending. Indeed, my only real complaint is that this is the first of a trilogy, and I have no idea how long I'll have to wait for the next installment.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit for allowing me to read a e-arc of The Foxglove king in exchange of an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. The world building and magic system was a little tough for me to get my head around at first (i am unsure if it was the way it was written and explained or just my understanding of it). Once i had gotten into the book however i really liked it and thought it was well paced.

The writing did take me a little bit to get used to but i cant quite put my finger on why.

I LOVED the love triangle trope in this! And it reminded me alot of Throne of Glass at times and also serpent and dove and even the vampire dairies... regardless i liked it! Usually i have a definitely preference but found that much harder to choose here!

Looking forward to continuing the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC of 'The Foxglove King' by Hannah Whitten

I am a smidge bit conflicted in my review of this eARC. Hannah Whitten's 'The Foxglove King' enticed me from page 1 but then I lost interest - did I just fall out of love with it or was it the writing style that made me fall out with it? I don't know. What I do know is that the end of the story was great and so was the start, it was just that middle interval for me. This is the start of a series for Whitten though, so fingers crossed book 2 is much better for me.

DNF at 31%.

I don't like dnf-ing ARCs but I like books like this even less.
This is definitely a case of: 'It's not the book, it's me'. If you are a fan of books like ACOTAR and that style that Maas has crafted I would definetely give this one a try, I just don't enjoy that style.

It is to reliant on sexual comments (towards people who are uncomfortable with them at that) and 'snarky' characters for me. I can't stand the main character. The swearing feels out of place and I found the wordlbuilding very clumsy and overly complicated.

So just not for me.

It's the first book I read from this author and I really enjoyed it. The world buding and magic system were absolutely amazing and there was some really good characterisation. The overall story was also interesting, it did suffer the same problem than The Cruel Prince from Holly Black, which is the time spend describing the clothe people are wearing, and that's not somnething I'm super interested in. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, it felt too good to be true.

Hannah Whitten's first pair of novels were good - good enough for me to read both and then read this one. They had some flaws, but it was clear she could write well. But this, her third published novel, is excellent. All that writing ability has produced a solid fantasy adventure without any of the factors that I felt were detrimental in her Wilderwood duo. 'The Foxglove King' is a fast paced, event packed dark fantasy with likeable characters and one of the best written love triangles I've come across for a long time.

The viewpoint character is Lore, a streetwise, tough but basically good hearted young woman. There are many fantasy heroines in this mould, but like most tropes, it works. Lore is working as a smuggler and spy at the start of the novel, before she is caught and drawn into the far more dangerous world of the royal court. Lore has strange abilities and a murky past, and now powerful people want to exploit them for their own gains. She can trust nobody, even the two young men whom she is thrown together with by circumstances. Lore needs to unravel the sinister mystery that has brought her to the palace, before whoever is behind it does something really awful.

Whilst the genre is on the darker side of fantasy with its focus on necromancy and various undead souls knocking about, I don't feel it tips over into horror (although that of course is subjective). It's not particularly gory and it isn't frightening as such. The bits with corpses etc. are there for their purpose in the story, not for their own sake. Initially I found understanding the set up of the magic and the kingdom a bit wearisome to learn, as is often the case with a new fantasy, but once I got past that (within less than a quarter of the book), I was totally gripped.

The characters are good - Lore is a sympathetic, likeable heroine and the two young men vying for her attention/friendship/etc. are both complex and likeable in their own ways. Generally in a love triangle type storyline I have a character that I want to 'win' but in this case I felt equally about both suitors, which made it more interesting to read. I certainly invested in the characters and really cared about their fates, which made it extremely compelling and hard to put down given all the perils they faced.

I would highly recommend this novel to those who enjoy fantasy and to anyone who likes a good, action packed bit of escapism. Whitten has really found her stride with this one - it's brighter, more colourful, pacey and cohesive than the Witherwood duo. It also has the kind of cliffhanger ending that leaves you praying she isn't afflicted by writers' block or anything else to slow her down writing the sequel.

The Foxglove King is a dark, adult fantasy novel that follows Lore, a channeler of death magic, as she is forced to spy on the Sun Prince in his decadent court, while accompanied by a grim death monk.

Things I liked:
• The prose was decent, and at time quite evocative.
• The death-based magic system was fairly interesting.
• The bits of lore (ha) we got to learn about the gods and what happened to them. Would've liked to see more of this, but it's possible the gods will feature more heavily in the sequel(s).
• The love triangle, sort of.

Things I did not like:
• The world was a ill-defined and a little vaguely described.
• The court environment is just... so lacking. The courtiers don't act like courtiers, they act like modern people at a frat party. Definitely do not go into this expecting good intrigue or court politics (to be fair I don't know if that's meant to be a selling point of the book).
• In general most people acted and spoke in a modern way. This is something I see a lot in recently published fantasy. It doesn't always bother me, but here it does.
• The character development was basically non existent and the relationships between the main trio were forced. Spoilers <spoiler> there is a reason for this but it's still unsatisfying </spoiler>
• It was very YA, and not the good kind.

Overall I thought it was pretty mediocre but it did end on a somewhat interesting note, so I might read the sequel? We'll see.


Thanks to Little, Brown and NetGalley for giving me an ARC.

A beautiful, dark new fantasy. I devoured this book like the citizens of Dellaire devour Poison. I cannot wait to read more in this series and to see what is in store for our trio.

Although I found that it started off rather slow, The Foxglove King quickly picks up and I ended up completely devouring this book. I adored the world building and the magic system, which were unlike anything I've read before. The romance is exceptional and was definitely one of my highlights of the book! I loved the main character, Lore, and I found her to be a very interesting character with a very intriguing job.

I am highly looking forward to the sequel as I can't wait to see how the series progresses.

Thank you to Net galley for the Review copy
Full review will be on my Tiktok closer to release date!

A story of magic , religion , betrayal & mystery
The Foxglove king is an unexpected novel with so many twists and turns. I enjoyed this read I found it a little slow in some places but overall a great read 4🌟

You join Lore she is working as a poison runner and as an untrained morgen channeller.
She tries to remain hidden on her journey but is soon discovered as she tries to escape but and it becomes very apparent that she has been betrayed.

Lore is turned over to the Citadel where in exchange for her life she must
get close to the prince…

I loved For The Wolf and was so excited to read The Foxglove King. And it did not disappoint! With incredible world building and a fascinating magic system, this is hands down one of my favourite reads so far this year.

The main character, Lore, has the macabre ability to channel Mortem, a type of magic that stems from death. She gets dragged unwillingly into court politics when the corrupt King discovers her power, and must find a way to survive surrounded by those she cannot trust.

The plot of this book is non stop and I'm desperate to find out what happens next!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.