Top reads of 2023? The Foxglove King is one of mine, for sure!
Whitten delivered a masterpiece with dark wold building, death magic, court intrigue and a web of politics and religion. The romance was masterfully crafted, bringing together the prince, the religious Presque Mort and the deathwitch. I loved the dynamics between them and particularly enjoyed Lore's sass.
I can't wait to pick up the next installment - definitely my favourite Hannah Whitten title to date.

Urgh this book was so fantastic! It was beautifully written, it had me gripped from the start and I never wanted to leave this world! Would definitely recommend!

In truth I struggled with this read, trying to work out what the main thrust of the plot was (was it about the people dying, about the crown, about a threat to the main female character?) But can see this being v popular in the Sarah J Maas niche readers. I struggled as it was such heavy world building up front, and was befuddled by death magic, which is understandable in a fantasy, but found the pace dragged so it was a bit slow and dry. I wonder if I read it at a different time, would I have raced through it?!

It’s been a while since I’ve read a fantasy book and struggled at the beginning. Unfortunately this happened to me with this book and I felt so confused and lost at the start. However when I found time to read a solid chunk I really found myself immersed in the story and I loved the sarcasm and banter Lore had with Bastian and Gabe. I feel like the start was slow but the ending was tied up extremely fast but overall it’s a great book and the more you read the more enjoyable it gets.

This book is absolutely beautiful.

Initially, I found it a little hard to get into - but the opening chapters by no means reflect the whole book. The steady setup quickly moves into a stunning fantasy novel, with sympathetic, well-drawn characters, a city that we still need to know more about, understandable politics and a brilliant magic system.

Our protagonist is absolutely a Strong Female, but she's fallible without becoming a parody, human with everything that entails. The world changes around her at the drop of (usually someone else's) hat, and assumptions are not to be trusted based on first sight. In particular, the romance angle wasn't a core aspect of the book, which I was very appreciate of. Let's have a good story that doesn't hinge on a love triangle, please and thankyou.

Also it gets dark in places. Very dark. Oh yes.

I finished this in two days, and that was only because I had real-life chores to do. Very eagerly awaiting the sequel, and I'll certainly be rereading this in the meantime - a rarity, as I've always got a lot on my TBR review pile!

Clever, engrossing and magical. A definite 10/10.

I was kindly sent a copy of this book by the publisher, but the above opinions are my own.

So a long time ago there was a man god and a woman god and they loved each other very much but then the man god realised the woman god was much cooler than him. He couldn’t handle it so he murdered her and half assed the body disposal so now her ancient corpse is leaking magical death juju in to the world that some lucky mortals can wield to make zombies. This is the world we find our heroine who having lived underground with an army of militant priestesses, has escaped rickets and bone density issues, to emerge smokin hot and in possession of unique death controlling powers. She is much in demand and soon two super hot dudes - a horny, fun loving prince and a muscled, virginal, warrior monk - want what she’s got as villages all over the country are being massacred to create unstoppable zombie armies. Great stuff. This was lots of angst, lusty gothicy fun. I had a good time.
Point of pedantry: this author has a writers tick of condensing ‘it had’ and ‘it would’ into ‘it’d’ which is fine if you have a nice soft colonial accent. I’m Scottish so the voice narrator in my head is also Scottish so ‘it’d’ ends up being about four syllables long and jars soooo badly especially when the rest is quite formally written. I noticed it her first book and now I’ve seen it I can’t unsee it and it annoys me every time and she does it A LOT. I’m probably the only person this annoys but I feel better having got it off my chest.

I absolutely loved the world Hannah Whitten has created with The Foxglove King. I must admit I found the magic system a little tricky to understand, however I believe there's still lots to discover about this in future books.
The protagonist is likeable and we root for her as the story moves along. I enjoyed the dark fantasy elements, and although this technically seems to be building a love triangle, I believe its obvious which suitor will be end game and if I'm right, I'll happy with the choice!
I'm looking forward to seeing where this story goes next!

This one took a little bit of nurturing myself into it, once we met our horse, I was sold that I was going to enjoy it. The book is unlike one I've read before, its a pure gothic dripped fantasy with so many extra elements to love and explore!

The magic system was solid and it was not expected, It was intertwined with tensiony goodness and complex characters and our little added touch of poison depending on who wields it played through!

I'm very excited to see what comes next for this most promising series given the solid, captivating starter we've been blessed with!

Lore is a poison (drug) runner with an unholy power of sensing death, when she is caught running poison and taken into custody she has no idea what awaits.

Whitten has written what I think is a pretty easy to get into fantasy featuring creepy priests and mad kings, almost-but-not-quite love triangles and death magic. I loved every moment of it, it was very much no thoughts just vibes the whole way through. By the end of thr book you pretty much know where book two is going to go but that is absolutely *not* going to stop me devouring it when it comes out.

I think my only issue was Lore sometimes being so ignorant of what's going on around her, please don't tell me she's super smart and cunning and then NOT SHOW that, come on.

Basically this book is Hannah Whitten giving us all a Masterclass in how to write solid, beautiful and enjoyable fantasy. I loved this book and found everything about it was top-tier; the world-building, the magic system, the characters, the banter, the plotting. I even loved the love triangle, which is saying something. The title comes from the abundance of poisons in the story, which are extracted from flowers like Foxglove, Hemlock and Belladonna and taken as drugs by people wanting to get close to death, which due to the death magic that pervades their world, somehow (counterintuitively) extends their life.

Lore, our FMC, should be super-annoying because she's super-special (she has the gift of powerful death magic called "Mortem") but thankfully Whitten gives her those things we need in a strong female lead - confidence, bravery, morality and a brain - and this means I was barracking for her the whole way. She is taken prisoner for being caught using her magic, but is soon drawn into a web of Royal intrigue. The Church needs her outlawed magic to find out why whole villages are being killed outside of the city and the King wants her to expose his son, the Sun Prince, as a spy for their enemy. She is instructed to pose as a distant cousin of Gabriel, a disgraced noble who had joined a monastic order and is reluctantly back at court; who also happens to be a childhood friend of Bastian the Prince. We're swept up in events both inside and outside the Citadel as Lore is dragged to fancy balls and tea parties but also illegal fighting matches and into the vaults of the dead.

Throughout she is dealing with not only the betrayal of the women who had been like mothers to her for many years on the streets but also trying to learn how to use her wild magic to help solve the mystery of the dead villagers. She also feels a strong pull, a CONNECTION if you will, between herself and both Gabe and Bastian and there's a few kisses exchanged that spell the beginnings of a love triangle.

In short, loved this book. First in a series, I will definitely be reading the rest as they come out.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Lore a poison smuggler with the ability to raise the dead finds herself in the Kings Court. Forced to spy on his son Bastian, believed to be conspiring with neighbouring empires and bringing the country to the brink of war. But not all is as it seems and who can Lore really trust. As her powers grow so do her suspicions.

This is probably my first real fantasy read and I will admit it took me a while to get into. I couldn't fully understand what poison/mortem was but as I wrapped my head round everything I really enjoyed this book. I really like that although there were romantic elements that was not Lore's sole purpose. She was a flawed and powerful woman.

I'll be buying the 2nd installment when it's released!

A fantasy story with a unique twist to its magic system - channeling death magic called Mortem siphoned from a dead god.
Lore is 23, escaping from a cult living in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. Living on her wits and hiding her power to channel Mortem ( illeagal ) Lore makes a living as a poison runner. However one day her luck runs out and her powers are exposed. She is captured by the Presque Mort, warrior monks who are legally allowed to channel Mortem, and expects to come to a very sticky end.
Unexpectedly the Sainted King - King August and his brother the leader of the Presque Mort have a use for Lore's gift (to raise the dead) and set her the task of discovering what is killing villages at a stroke. To aid, guard and keep an eye on her she is assisted by Gabriel (Duke turned monk) and Bastian (Prince and seemingly dissolute heir to the throne). Navigating the court with takes all her skills from living on the street and she is aided by Gabriel and Bastian, with a tangible emotional connection to both leading to some interesting tensions.
The world building was excellent, characters developed and the story thread compelling.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who may have missed it on its launch in March. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC, apologies for the delay in review.

I always struggle with writing reviews of any ARCs I receive because as grateful as I am to read them, I never know how to talk about the books that I disliked. I have a weird love-hate relationship with The Foxglove King. While the story seems interesting, the world-setting is very complicated and until the very end, you are very confused. It almost makes me think that the author herself did not know where she was going with the story for the majority of the book. I found none of the characters to be very likeable. Despite some appealing qualities, all characters were weirdly annoying, including the main character, Lore. Maybe it's me being naive, but one would think that if she was born with an ability to channel Mortem (i.e., death), she would have known a lot more about herself and her abilities at the age of 24. Alas, she seems as clueless as a child at times. The weird love triangle between herself, Gabe and Bastian is also mildly infuriating at best times and seems pointless. The Epilogue itself does not give you a satisfying end, nor does it entice you to read the next book in the series. Therefore, as much as I hoped to love this book, it took me a month to read it and I was counting down the pages until 'freedom'.

Thank you to the author, Net Galley and Orbit Books publishing house for providing me with a free electronic version of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

I was both very confused and intrigued in the beginning. I had no idea where this was supposed to go from there and how the world worked but I let myself fall into the story, hoping for the best. The world building and especially the magic system aren’t highly complex, but explaining and understanding each aspect certainly is. It took some time for me to understand how the gods and religion works and what Mortem is and how people work with it.
But I found it to be quite interesting and really enjoyed how deep the magic is rooted within the world and how the different characters use it, fear it, want it. The more I read about the magic, the more it fascinated me.

I also really liked the divide in people, or, I liked how it was written. There is the ignorant, rich aristocratic high society and all the rest, made up of traders, smugglers, workers. The book focuses especially on thieves and smugglers and I liked that perspective a lot, making the whole city seem darker, more desperate, grittier and dirtier, yet very atmospheric.

I also liked the main character Lore. The book is written from her perspective and she has a really good narrating voice. Due to her upbringing and what she has experienced in life, she seems older than she is, yet in some things she is still naive and discovering new things. There are many facettes to her and I liked seeing each one, I liked how she plays roles, both for herself and others, using her experience and knowledge of humans to get what she wants.
What I found interesting, maybe not quite believable in this context was how she acted around certain other characters. I don’t want to say too much, but she is supposed to be able to read other people very well and to determine their characters, so I didn’t really understand why she, almost blindly, trusts some characters.

Bastian and Gabe couldn’t be more different. Bastian is definitely my favourite character in The Foxglove King. He is the prince, seemingly carefree, clever and fun to be with, wether it’s for a night or for a cup of tea. But there is so much more to him. He cares deeply about the country and his loved ones, he’s incredibly smart and knows his way around both court and the underbelly of the city. He’s full of hope for a better world and of determination to fight for it, trying to do what’s right.
Gabriel on the other hand has a stick up his ass. I’m sorry to say it like that, but I was quite annoyed with him most of the time. And yes, my favourite parts were those where he lost control over his composure.
Together, the three of them make up a very unlikely trio in which nobody truly trusts the others, where everyone keeps well-guarded secrets and has their own goals. I liked their back and forth, all the new discoveries about the world they live in and they make about each other. On the other hand, the back and forth was somewhat tiring (especially if Gabe was involved, sigh).

The Foxglove King is the first book in The Nightshade Crown series and has an intricate world building, a complex and fascinating magic system with beautifully written, yet not necessarily likeable, characters. If you like dark fantasy, difficult character relationships and stories that brim with tension, this book is definitely for you!

For me The Foxglove King simply did not live up to Hannah Whitten’s previous work. In the Wilderwood Books I didn’t just feel that she went against the grain with her characters and their development, but she had me engaged in their stories from the first moment I met them. In The Foxglove King I didn’t warm up to any of the three main characters, and felt that they were all quite stereotypical.

The main character is Lore, a mysterious woman working as a spy before her hidden death magic is revealed, and she is swept up by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks and the only ones legally sanctioned to use death magic. Blackmailed by the King and his brother, the Priest Exalted, to work for them and spy on the King’s wayward son, Lore has no choice but to do as they say. She is accompanied by a monk, a former duke and lone survivor of an attack when his family betrayed the King. Gabriel is told that to introduce Lore to Court he must return to take up his title, a title and a past that he thought long left behind when he lost his eye and joined the Presque Mort. Attending to Lore, so she can hook up with the Prince is the last thing he wants to do.

As the two of them embark on their mission, they find themselves getting closer to Prince Bastian although not quite in the ways their masters intended. There’s more happening beneath the visage of a decadent court and frivolous parties, and even the deaths that Lore has been told she has to look into aren’t quite what they seem.

I’m not someone who dismisses tropes straight away, however, I can’t help looking at the plot of The Foxglove King especially having read it and see trope after trope piled on top. That is even more disappointing when I know that Whitten can write so much better. One of my biggest dislikes is when a synopsis alludes to something just to sell books, and then it never actually happens in the book. All I’m going to say is that calling it “romance” is a huge exaggeration. There are feelings that build up, but if you’re looking for actual action then this isn’t the book for you. It’s the slowest of slow burns.

The other aspect of the book that was most off-putting for me was the religious theme throughout. Religion in a fantasy book can mean so many different things. It could be based on a real life religion, or it could be something completely fictional. In The Foxglove King it essentially means Catholicism, and religious zealotry is rampant. While there was a hint of this in Whitten’s Wilderwood Books, it was minor, and I got a strong Pagan feel from them. I think that was why it was such a surprise to me that this was the path she chose to go with this series.

With all that being said, Whitten’s world-building especially her magic system in The Foxglove King is absolutely amazing. I adore what she has done with Mortem and lived for every scene with it. There is so much going on regarding the three characters that is sort of said and hinted at that Whitten has sucked me into the world of The Nightshade Crown for at least a second book. Maybe this one wasn’t quite for me, but it has promise, and I’m curious to know what happens next.

This one wasn't really for me. I tried and tried but right from the off it just didn't grab me like fantasy usually does.

I liked the premise of this book and I was eager to see how things developed, but it felt too forced for me and unfortunately I just couldn't get through to the end. I gave up about 40% of the way through. (SORRY). The writing felt a little clunky to me and I just didn't gel.

I tried reading For the Wolf before and did not enjoy it at all. It just didn't pull me in as I had hoped. This book however got me interested from the very first page and kept it that way. Very excited for the next book

Clearly Hannah Whitten is not for me. I tried For the Wolf and also hated it.

I think this far into a book it should have stopped being boring but it didn’t. It never stopped being boring.
This novel firstly just doesn’t feel like an adult novel and yes you don’t need sex for an adult novel but the character seemed very happy in her physicality so I was unsure why there wasn’t any. She’s such a horn dog inside her mind.
Secondly it just feels like throne of glass for grown ups. Girl who is doing illegal thing gets brought before a royal and given a task to either do thing they want or die. Girl says yes and then her bodyguard and the prince take a fancy to her and clash over it.

The prince is kinda debauched and a playboy and the bodyguard is a shy flower shocked by shoulder blades.
The world is supposed to be fantasy but the world told building feels like urban fantasy and the outer world is very murky and unclear. Oh did I forget to mention the bodyguard used to be a royal from a minor house and he lost his title (sound familiar).

Our main character must infiltrate the court and get to know the price but also do some necromancy. Also she’s almost immediately caught so I’m supposed to believe she managed to live double lives on the regular? Also the fact she lives double lives on the regular and then moved onto new people with no repercussions when they’re unable to leave their city was also sus to me.
Overall, this felt generally unoriginal (what is but wow don’t need to copy throne of glass it’s not that good). Overall, not debauched enough to match the apparent French Revolution era inspiration either. Poor.
Only plus I can say is interesting magic system that was sadly lacking in use.

Main character has two mums and apparently the prince is bisexual but idk about any other character rep. The bodyguard priest is missing an eye so we have some disability rep as well. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to save the terrible book.

Brilliant! This was a pretty wild ride! I loved the complex and profound bond between the three main characters. The story is saturated in political and religious manoeuvring and the plot is twisty and hard to predict. The end of the arc was quite surprising and I look forward to seeing how it develops over the series. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.