DNF-ed at 51%.

I really liked the premise of this book and felt that there was a good chance it would be fantastic. However, it was incredibly slow and the characters didn’t have much depth to them, in my opinion. I found myself struggling to care about what happened to the characters (good or bad).

I may revisit this title later on, but I don’t think this book was for me.

The Foxglove King is an intoxicating start to a page-turning new series by Hannah Whitten.

This book has been on my radar since wayyyyy before it was released, and I’m here to report that it did not disappoint! The Foxglove King throws the reader right into it as we follow Lore, a poison-runner, as she gets thrown into court intrigue and plots that are much more than they initially seem.

It initially took me a minute to get into this book because the beginning throws you in so abruptly, and there were some places where it felt almost info-dumpy to compensate for it, but once I got past the little bit of it, I was Obsessed. I enjoyed Lore as a protagonist, and although Gabe wasn’t my favorite character personality wise, his character still had my attention. And guys, gals, and pals? I am hereby officially declaring myself to be a simp for Bastian. I would like to stick him in a jar and observe him.

At first, there’s pieces of the plot that seem confusing, but as Lore and the reader discover more information and the stakes grow, it all comes together in a plot that’s hard to put down. There were some elements that were predictable to me (although not in an unenjoyable way), and others that completely threw me for a loop, and the ending was definitely a shock. I can’t wait to see where it goes.

I will also add that while this does have a bit of a love triangle, it was done in a way that your local love triangle hater very much enjoyed. Part of me is hopeful that somewhere down the road it’ll maybe be polyam in some capacity, but that remains to be found. (PLEASE IM BEGGING)

I also enjoyed the writing overall! It was pretty accessible and straightforward, and while there were some things that were described or phrased in fairly ‘modern’ sounding ways, I didn’t feel like it detracted from the experience or overall prose at all!

Overall, I loved this book a lot and I’m glad I got to read it.

P.S. Bastian is my blorbo now and you can pry him from my cold dead hands.

I loved this book! Hannah Whitten writes such enthralling and complex characters, and I will read anything she writes. I can’t wait for the rest of this series!

4.75✨

I was impressed. If you even remotely enjoyed For the Wolf you will REALLY enjoy this. This was a huge step above her debut novels and I was someone who did enjoy those books.

This story follows the FMC named Lore. She is great. Has great character background and fun banter. While love triangles are not my thing, I didn't mind it in this novel with Lore, Gabe, and Bastian. Lore is able to more Mortem which is practically the essence of death. The magic system is really cool and I enjoyed the dark vibes and witchy feel; while at the same time we are dealing with courts and attending balls. Absolutely amazing combo. This story deals with childhood trauma, betrayal, and coming into ones power.

I am very eager for book two! Congrats Hannah F. Whitten!!

Ugh I was so looking forward to this but was so disappointed by the execution! I really struggled to keep going and felt bored in the first 100 pages.

This is such a cool book! It reminds me of The Serpent and the Wings of Night and Belladonna. Dark vibes and mysterious settings, what’s more to love! + romance, of course. I loved the court elements and forbidden romance. I’ll definitely be buying this book!

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Pitch a story to me with ‘necromancy’ in the description and I’m going to sign up 9 times out of 10. Like a lot of people I love the idea of magic based around the dead - one of my favorite characters I’ve made for a D&D game was a necromancer! The Foxglove King has some of that in the truest sense. The story follows Lore who can channel the power of Mortem, death magic, and raise the dead. This is definitely not on the legal side of things in her world, and when she’s captured and given a bargain - work for the king or live in exile, she obviously takes the job.

From there we get our usual Fantasy Romance setup. A magic girl, and two guys. The prince she’s supposed to be investigating for treason and the stoic guard who is assigned to follow her every step. On the whole this follows every beat you’d expect for a Fantasy Romance and I enjoyed that. Unfortunately, my first big complaint ties into this. While it followed familiar beats, it let itself get caught and really drag in the middle. The story was a bit overwritten and when Lore and her associates became trapped in the castle so were we the readers, so there is a huge slog of dry reading from 50 to 85%. We spend so so much time in the heads and conversations of the characters that it felt like we were trapped in the same three rooms and one garden for a huge chunk of time. Editing was desperately needed here, 50 to 100 pages could have been trimmed.

Past that our characters are interesting, though nothing mind blowing. My favorite character was Lore. She was not the standard ‘bad ass girl’ we typically get, but had some soft edges and quiet attributes I enjoyed. She was selfish but not brash, and held secrets (possibly for far too long) that seemed very important to have, as opposed to melodramatics. Bastian, our Sun Prince was the best built of the two male love interests, the other a dull shadow to him. My other big complaint about the story is in the villain of the piece. - SPOILERS HERE He did not need to be scarred in the face in the way he was. It’s 2023, can we not turn every person with a facial scar or disfigurement into a villain. I despised this portion of the book and I’m glad that he’s out of the picture at the end - END SPOILERS.

The ending was a hair bit on the predictable side with it’s reveals if not explosive and jaw dropping in it’s action, leaving me wanting the second book. I’m hesitant to recommend this one, without the warning that the middle is dense and the villain a terrible stereotype. However if you’re okay with that and you love Fantasy Romance I’d say give this one a read.
3 out of 5 Stone Roses

Wow what a read! I love Hannah's writing style, it's always excellent to me. I thought this was a great follow-up to For the Wolf. Thank you for the early copy!

The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten follows a deathwitch in a world of death magic to the heart of political and religious intrigue. This book has some of your classis YA tropes, including the love triangle between the tough, emotionally scarred orphan main character who has chosen-one abilities, the brooding and mysterious guy who believes in the world's system (or most of it) and has to work with her, and the charming and powerul prince. Throw in some class issues, death magic, corrupt religion and politics, the threat of a war, and a mystery to solve, and that's this book.

I have mixed feelings, and some of that stems from the fact that this is the first in a series. But also that the middle of this book, with most of the investgating, is rather drawn out, where the end happens in a violent (and I do mean violent) rush. I was left with a bit of worldbuilding whiplash, trying to parse exactly what different characters are thinking. Also there was a lot of the final reveals that felt obvious, although there was also one part I didn't guess.

There are also some plot threads dropped just for the sake of it being a first book in a series, so hopefully some of them get picked up in the next book.

Beyond some of the unfortunate side effects from a YA love triangle, I really liked Lore. She's tough, determined, and actually has a strong sense of right and wrong for a poison runner. I also liked Gabe and Bastian for most of the book. The mystery itself was interesting, but I think the solution was a bit weak.

Rating: 3.5/5

Hannah Whitten’s third book met all my expectations and then some! I think it would be fair to say I’m mildly biased as I LOVED her debut duology. However, I found this to be the start of a fantasy series I know I’m going to obsess over!

The world building was incredible and added to by her descriptive, yet not exaggerated, writing. I really enjoyed the magic system and felt like it was more original than recent reads. Lore is the kind of female lead I love to read. She is strong and snarky and fantastic. I struggle with love triangles, however, I haven’t found myself annoyed with the inner dialogue as I typically do.
I’m excited to continue this series!!

Unfortunately, I stopped reading this book around the 50% mark.

What felt so exciting and had so much potential in the beginning, practically skipped to a stop plot wise and my interest wise as the story unfolded.
I found the discussion of religion/political issues lacking in substance while also being overly explained. Word soup.
Maybe if I cared about the characters AT ALL I would have stuck it out. But, alas. No.

A wonderful start to a new series by Whitten. I loved her For the Wolf series and I can't wait for more of this!
The beginning is incredibly slow with figuring out this world and what is happening exactly. The wording was a little difficult to follow but by the end I mostly understood it. Slow burn that makes you craving more by the end!

As much i love gothic suspense books, this was just not for me.

I was drawn to everything this book was being advertised as but unfortunately it did not deliver.

The magic system really drew me in, its unique and interesting but other than that the book just felt flat for me. The romance, and the plot just weren't as interesting and at times felt repetitive.

The ending was pretty crazy but unfortunately I doubt I will pick up the sequel.



Thank you to Netgalley and the Orbit team for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I adore For the Wolf, even if I have yet to read the sequel, so I had really high hopes for Whitten’s adult debut, The Foxglove King. While this book is extremely different from Whitten’s earlier work, it still stands out in a similar way - strong writing and world-building, with characters you quickly find compelling. Even though the aesthetic of Wolf was much more my style, I still loved this book and honestly cannot wait to read the next installment.

One thing I think a lot of people will point out is that this book doesn’t feel entirely distinct from YA, and many will just group it in with YA, even though it’s an adult debut. While I can see where this comes from, I don’t actually agree with most of it myself, as I find the main themes and motivations of the characters are much more in line with adult expectations, rather than YA. There aren’t these grand notions of saving the world that many YA characters have, and it feels like these characters are indeed just a few years out of their teens, and more pessimistic for it. It felt like Whitten’s did the light cynicism of most people in their early 20s quite well, especially considering they have a lot more to be cynical about. And while this book wasn’t ‘spicy’, adult books don’t have to be, and we of course never know what the rest of the series will bring!

I honestly just had a lot of fun with this book, and even though I was reading a lot else at the same time, I kept finding myself turning back to this book the second I had the chance. There was just always so much going on, but not in a way that felt overwhelming, and I think that will just continue to hold true for the rest of the series, as I feel like there is so much more of this world and plot to explore. I also find where this story left off fascinating, and cannot wait to see how this all plays out in the upcoming books.

Overall, I think my thoughts can be easily summed up as: had lots of fun, dying to know more, and will commit crime to get my hands on the next book.


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A great read -- I thought the characters were well-developed and I really enjoyed their dynamic/chemistry, and the setting was fantastic. Loved the writing -- I thought the lyricism was absolutely gorgeous.

Things to know:
-love triangle
-magic
-dark fantasy
-court intrigue

Favorite quote:
“What’s the difference between a poison runner and a god? If you pray, the poison runner might hear you.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review:

Okay so I’ve loved every book I have read of Hannah Whitten’s… but this one is by far my favorite. I could not physically put it down. I stayed up way too late on multiple occasions because I couldn’t bare to part with the story or the characters. One thing I hate about reading books as they come out is having to wait for the next one.

Lore is such a strong and REAL female lead. She has feelings that just hit so close to home and really made me feel like I connected with her on a different level.

Do yourself a favor and read this book!

Really enjoyed this book and was the perfect level of fantasy for me. Have read other works by this author and didn’t love the writing style but this felt different

Hannah Whitten can do no wrong! I was hooked on her For The Wold duology and had high hopes for this next book. She did not disappoint! I cannot wait for the next book in this series!

I really enjoyed this dark, creepy, and atmospheric high fantasy novel. The magic and political systems were explained well and it kept me engaged. At some points, I found the plot to be predictable, but overall I really enjoyed the book and intend to continue on with the series!

Foxglove King was one ARC I have been dying to get ahold of and for good reason. I just love H. Whitten's writing style. Whitten stays in the gothic/horror genre and is able to build out such an interesting worlds that are both familiar yet so different than anything I have read.

I've read some reviews of people not being impressed with the heavy religious storyline that the book holds. Maybe because I didn't grow up as an avid church-goer, I didn't have any issues with it and just went along for the ride as a reader. I wasn't able to give any critique on that area because it is not my strong suit. My only issue with this book was the predictability of the ending and the love triangle. I'm not a huge fan of love triangles, I think they are overdone and this one was just as predictable as every other one. It was relatively early on that I guessed what was going to go down at the end and who was going to betray who.

That's not to say there aren't things I truly enjoyed about this book. Whitten is able to write characters that you end up loving. Personally I appreciated that Whitten threw some modern sass into this creepy/gothic world. The main, Lore was a fun character and from the start I was rooting for her.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for giving me this ARC. I'm ready for the next book! I'm giving this a 3.5.