Oh my freaking...holy crap. The Foxglove King is without a doubt my favorite book that the Queen of Fantasy has written so far. Hannah Whitten has the way of writing that I can't even describe. I freaking devoured this book and am anxiously waiting for the next book in this series. I need more.

I wanted to read this book based on the cover alone, it is just so pretty and compelling. I will admit I picked this up for that reason and I jumped into the story without knowing anything about it. I will admit that I didn't realise at the time that I had read another series by this same author that I was not a super fan of, but I am so happy with this book

The only negative I can say is that The Foxglove King is book 1 in a trilogy and the next book won't be out for a year so I have to wait to see what will happen next. No this was not really a cliffhanger, a lot of loose ends were tied off well enough that I am happy, but I would love more from these people and this super dark and well executed world. I mean zombies and death magic, yes please!

If you like evil plots and machinations, a very capable heroine who gets pulled in all kinds of directions with pockets full of her own secrets, a world full of poverty and disconnect from the royal family, magic that can extend life but with dark consequences, life altering secrets and betrayals, a dark underworld full of shady deals and bets, and a great love triangle where i am not sure what direction is better, then this is the next book for you!

This was a really good book! Whitten did a great job at world building and character development for the first book in what is presumably a series. It’s very ToG meets Gideon the Ninth. I loved the magic system and the way Whitten built relationships without the focus being on romance. I love a morally grey FMC and a broody sidekick! I highly recommend this for my fantasy lovers who don’t need a romantic subplot to hold your interest. There is romantic banter though! Overall this book was captivating. I will be purchasing a physical copy!

3/5

I really liked Hannah Whitten’s previous series For the Wolf but this one fell a little flat for me. It was so slow until the last 25% when it finally picked up. The story itself wasn’t bad, but the characters weren’t captivating. The world was also a little confusing in how the magic system worked.
It was enjoyable overall and I’ll read the sequel but this did take me a really long time to get into. If I didn’t already know the author I would have thought this was a debut based on the style of writing.

A dark and twisty tale that will definitely leave you with a book hangover! Fallen gods, forbidden magic, a bit slow at times but well worth the read.

I was confused a lot throughout this book, but I think if I reread this book I would love it? There was a lot going on and it took me a little while to understand what Mortem was. And then trying to understand Spiritum and how it was all connected just went over my head for a lot of the book. I also thought we were leading up to some really spicy why choose scenes, but there's practically no romance in this book. Maybe in future books in the series? Super slow burn? I'll reread this at some point, but probably not in the near future.

The Foxglove King was such a gorgeous slow burn, dark Adult Fantasy. We’re in a Kingdom where the religion is to worship an ancient god. There is a poison, political intrigue, and some amazing romantic tension in the triangle of our three main characters. I don’t want to say too much or else it’ll spoil the fun. I absolutely loved the ending and might have hugged the book when I finished.

The characters are exquisitely crafted, and the world building is incredibly atmospheric. I knew I would like this book, but it surprised me just how much I LOVED it. Now it’s time to read Hannah’s other Duology while I wait for book 2 in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley & Orbit Books for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I was very much looking forward to this title as soon as I saw it come up! The premise was something I'm very interested in, and had all the components of a novel that I tend to enjoy: strong female MC but a bit morally grey, intrigue, some romance, a very unique magical system, etc! The Foxglove King did not disappoint on these accounts.

Two points I really enjoyed were the characters and their development + the magical system. The system is so incredibly unique, of being able to channel death energy (essentially) into and out of objects, and also the way that one acquires the ability to do so, but within the confines of a specific set of rules to use this as well. The magic system is part of the worlds religious beliefs, and so there are religious tones and themes to this novel. These themes are amplified and criticized by the characters themselves, and this makes for a well rounded set of characters and themes.

My two favorite characters in this novel were Lore, of course, and Bastian, our esteemed sun prince and also somewhat of a fun morally grey character with his own visible internal struggles. I enjoyed both of their character arcs the most, and felt as though the author did not hold back in assigning struggle or flaw to either character. Lore's growth and sense of self/strength became beautifully apparent over the course of the novel. Unravelling Bastian's inner workings of aloof and drunken party prince to intelligent and caring was really satisfying to read for me, personally. Gabe was another of our main characters, and consistently self righteous and pious, while also battling his own inner demons, making him frustrating, but impactful!

The plot and atmosphere in this novel went hand in hand. There was a lot of mystery and intrigue, and since we were reading from Lore's perspective, there were many unknowns. The plot twists were not *all* easily discernible, and the ending was full of twists that I didn't foresee or quite expect. Certain points were set up and as such were somewhat unsurprising, but the way in which the intricacy and detail was done even during those plot twists was really enjoyable and even brutal at points. There were areas in the novel where I felt as though certain loose ends were not tied up well, and explanations were hastily given, and this made it less of a cohesive story than I prefer as a reader. This is likely my biggest gripe with the novel.

Overall, this was a pretty unique story for me so far, with a unique magical system and great characters. The ending leaves us with many questions, and so I am excited for the second to be released!

I read Whitten’s For The Wolf last year and didn’t really enjoy it. I thought I’d give her another go to see if maybe it was just the story itself that I didn’t connect to.

Unfortunately, I think it may be the storytelling and writing style that just isn’t working for me.

The Foxglove King has a lot of fans, just like For The Wolf did, but for me personally, they are a bit overrated.

The Foxglove King was very slow for me to start with and by the time the story got up and running, I wasn’t connected enough to be interested. I also didn’t really enjoy the characters either.

The magical system in this fantasy isn’t explained very well and so I felt this jarring drop into a new world where we, as readers, are left to figure stuff out on our own.

And then the actual storyline didn’t capture my interest- either because of the slow burn start, the overall fogginess of what’s actually going on or the writing style. 🤷🏻‍♀️ IDK

So just a big miss for me. 2 stars

This book was so delightfully dark and tense--I'm 100% here for all its moodiness. Hannah Whitten is one of my favorite authors, and she did not disappoint with THE FOXGLOVE KING. I can't wait for sequels!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

This book is full of magic, necromancy, political drama, and maybe a love triangle to round it all out and I loved it!

The main character Lore is so interesting, on the run from a cult that wants to either sacrifice her or keep her in a gilded cage, she's become a poison runner who can manipulate death. How awesome is that? The two potential love interests are the heir to the throne and the son of the head priest, very different personalities and both have their merits. I'm excited to see how things go in the next book with these frenemies.

The world was pretty cool and I want to know more about the gods and the powers over life and death. The pacing wasn't bad and most chapters were pretty quick to keep things moving. I did get a bit confused at the end because so much happened, but overall I really enjoyed this.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the copy.

Overall, it was a good stor. it definitely reads more like young adult than adult. The moment Bastian shows up, you immediately know a romance will happen between the two. Add in the second male lead, and you instantly know a love triangle is going to happen.

I found the magic system interesting but also very confusing. There’s Mortem and Spiritum - literally death and life - and while you can push Mortem into living people (and kill them), Spiritum…makes a living person turn into a rose sculpture…while almost killing them. I would have expected an opposite effect, like using Spiritum to reanimate a corpse for example.

Pacing is quick, although there’s hardly a sense of time passing. Lore becomes a bit obsessed over Gabe’s celibate vows for some reason, and the romance between the two feels rather like insta-love.

The Foxglove King is a gothic fantasy novel that offers a lush and engaging story filled with necromancy, court intrigue, espionage, hidden identities, polytheistic religious fervor, and a captivating romantic subplot. Despite being a love triangle story, the book manages to be entertaining even for readers who do not usually enjoy that trope.
The main character's strong sense of self is apparent from the outset, and her personality remains consistent throughout the story without any unnecessary changes to accommodate male characters.And we love a FMC who doesn’t change who she is for men! The book maintains a perfect balance between lightness, humor, and darker themes, making it easy to fall in love with the characters. The banter was pretty great too and had me pulled right in.
Compared to the author's previous work, The Foxglove King represents an improvement in many ways. While I liked For The Wolf and For The Throne, the magic system and world-building are explained much better, eliminating the need to catch up with the plot. Yet, the author still leaves some things unexplained, providing room for further exploration in future books. I’m looking forward to book two of this series!
Overall, The Foxglove King is an enjoyable read that promises even more fun and excitement in the rest of the series.

⚠️TW: murder, death, alcohol, infidelity, toxic friendship, drug abuse, pregnancy, adult/minor relationship

Absolutely LOVED this new Hannah Whitten fantasy! A dark and dangerous new world full of dangerous characters and daring situations. So much fun.

The Foxglove King promises a lot and it delivered!

The world Whitten creates offers so much room for story telling. There are many factions of people, class systems, magic and history.
The characters we meet are flawed and in many cases broken. Lore (our main heroine) runs the meaner streets but is far more self aware of herself and her abilities. Her morally gray mentality lends well to the tasks before her.
There is a lot of court intrigue and religious zealousness. The magic system was interesting and you just get hints at just what all one can really do with it in this first installment.
My biggest issue is the writing. Its not that its bad. The pacing was fantastic and I found myself flying through it not once, but twice. Whitten has not quite grasped the way people speak. Characters often switch back and forth with a more fantastical way of speaking to what feels very modern/contemporary way of talking.
Beyond that I found this to be a highly engaging fantasy read and I'm anxiously looking forward to the sequel.

Ooooo did I enjoy this one. I can’t wait until book #2 in The Nightshade Crown series, the newest romantic/fantasy series from Hannah Whitten. Do we even have a tentative release date yet?!? Goodreads says no, so don’t mind me while I melt away 🫠

Lore was born with the ability to control Mortem, a magic form of death. She can pull it from someone to bring them back to life, or put it in someone to .. you know. Bring them death 🫣. She’s been keeping a low profile but gets blackmailed/caught up in some political scheme that forces her to find more about the prince and prove he’s up to no good. Little does Lore know, no one can be trusted!!!!

I thought I hated love triangles, but this is the third book I’ve read this year with this trope- and I gotta say, I loved the ANGST. I am rooting for one person in particular though, so if you’ve read this lemme know so I can pine away with you. Can’t wait to see what #2 brings!!

I had gotten this on Netgalley through Orbit and I'm late in reviewing this. Unfortunately, my untimeliness is largely due to the fact that I kept trying to finish it but I just couldn't and it's ended up as a DNF at 60%.

So, I won't make this too long but I'll go into what worked and what didn't.

What worked:

I loved the idea of being able to harness death energy and use it as a type of magic. I loved the idea of poisons being an integral part of society and magic. That's the whole reason why I picked this up. I recently have gotten very into gardening, and plants, and Victorian flower language and so I thought I'd really gel with this. I also really loved where this led to Necromancy and the main character having an ability to raise the dead but has no finesse or grace with it since it's an outlawed magic. However, it's this exact outlawed magic that the king needs to find out about and has tasked her with raising the dead from various villages to see who killed them, how, and why. I liked this plotline a lot and wish there had been more time spent on it.

What didn't work:

The main character was just not one I enjoyed. She was pretty immature for her age, she's about to turn 24 but honestly she reads more like she's 15 or 16 to me. There's a lot of enamored glances and gaze in weird moments where you really shouldn't be thinking about that kind of thing. Not only that, but she seemed to think it's really funny to make a celibate monk uncomfortable with nudity, or mention of sex, and I just don't find that funny, especially not for the 100th time. Male or female gaze both annoy me, hot and bothered stuff annoys me, thinking sexy thoughts while you're in mortal peril or the person is being an asshole annoys me, unexplained deep feelings annoy me... and so honestly this book just really didn't work for me and I had to set it down.

Grains of salt:

I am notoriously picky about romance, so it shouldn't be shocking that I bounce off romances from time to time. This may be your exact book you've been looking for!

I mostly liked it, but not everything is explained by the end of the book. Pretty straightforward YA Fantasy, complete with a very PG-rated love triangle. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Okay this was SO GOOD! I thought it would be a bit creepier based on the description of the death magic, but it wasn't and I liked it! We get to know Lore, who is badass and able to use this death magic, Mortem, more strongly than others, which gets her in a predicament where she has to leave the streets she is from to go live and spy in the palace. She gets close to both prince Bastian, who has secrets of his own, and Gabriel, one of the order of monks who is permitted to use Mortem as well.

I loved the world building and finding out all the little pieces of magical and religious history. I also adored the love triangle vibes- at first I wasn't sure who to root for but by the end I was even more unsure and I love that complexity! The court drama was also fun, and if you liked Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick, you would probably like this too, since it reminded me of that but a little shorter and darker.

My only issue with this story was literally like just the last chapter, because I did not like the ending. I won't spoil it but it felt soooo out of character to me and unexpected, like I wish it had been a little longer of a book and with a more drawn out and resolved ending. However, I would totally still read the next book in this series and recommend it!

In The Foxglove King, we have Lore, who, at 13, escaped the cult she was raised in the catacombs of Dellaire. As a result of being born there, she has the power to channel Mortem's magic born from death, and it is illegal. To make a living, she runs poison for her adopted moms, but soon she is recruited by the king to spy on his son. What she discovers and finds out about herself are eye-opening and involve a twisty plot and some love. The way the channeling of Mortem is looked down on by everyone but is used by the church for religious purposes is a hypocrisy not overlooked by LoreLore. Throughout the story, the theme of religion being used to suit the pursuit of power is an exciting plot thread to follow in this story. I was a little creeped out by all the reanimated death, so if you have an issue with zombie animals or people, you might want to avoid this book.