Thank you to Netgalley and and Orbit Books for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Mortem rules the city of Dellaire. A cruel magic leaking from the body of a dead goddess, both church and crown work daily to keep mortem at bay and protect the city's people and their faith. Lore, our heroine who was born in the catacombs of the city - close to the body of the goddess - can channel mortem far beyond the church's Presque Mort can imagine. When one drug run goes awry, she finds herself enlisted to work for August and Antom, the Sainted King and Priest Exalted (crown and church, respectively). Forced to spy on August's mischievous son, Bastian, and watched by Anton's protege, Gabriel, Lore finds herself caught in a web of deception, religious fanaticism, and forbidden romance.

The Foxglove King is the first work by Hannah Whitten that I've read and I had a lovely time immersing myself in a fascinating magic system and a world built on questionable faith. Lore is basically a necromancer - which lends to some pretty awesome displays of horror that I was not expecting and was thrilled by. I also absolutely LOVED Bastian and the comic relief he provided and thought that his development throughout the book was well-paced and set itself well for the second book in this trilogy. The love triangle Lore finds herself in wasn't as annoying as it could have been (lol), and I appreciated that it is tied to elements of the overall story. Be warned that this book ends on a HUGE cliffhanger - and while that doesn't work for some, it had me excited for the second book. (She got me!!)

So here is where I explain the three-star rating. While the overarching plot of the story is interesting, Whitten is much too heavy-handed in her delivery. Rather than parsing out each twist and turn with subtlety, the writing does so much telling - causing the majority of the twists to be predictable. Nonetheless, I do think this is a fun read and am interested in seeing more of this world explored after that bang of an ending. I have more critiques, but do not read on if you don't want to be spoiled in your experience!

**SPOILERS **

The fated vibe of the romance was incredibly frustrating and could have been less so if the cyclical nature of the triangle was alluded to much sooner, instead of added like a last-minute plot device. We as readers are so focused on Gabe vs Bastian and the weird way Lore "feels like she knows them", that it doesn't actually add to any real development in their relationships or in her character. All the time spent on the romance creates plot and character holes; for example: are we really supposed to believe that Lore is a professional spy??? While we are told that she is in the beginning, all of her actions and personality throughout the story do NOT support this. She's kind of awful and doesn't come close to being the strong and independent heroine that we are told she is. This ultimately takes away from the whole chosen one trope that we are supposed to buy into, and Lore becomes more of a device than a unique character we can really root for.

The Foxglove King promises a decadent, romantic, courtly fantasy with a whopping dose of dark and gothic aesthetic, but does it deliver?
Let’s start with what worked for me. This book is incredibly readable, you can devour it quickly and a large part of that is due to the writing style. It just works. Each chapter feels like a quick scene, some funny conversations depending on where in the plot we are, and then we move on to the next scene/chapter. I really enjoyed this intriguing magic system, where our main character, Lore, can pull the death out of living things. I want to know more, but a lot of this is still left a mystery at the end of the book which sets us up for the sequel in this planned trilogy.

As for the characters, I feel bad saying it, but the only one I really care to learn more about is Bastian. Lore and Gabe both fell a little flat for me, which is a huge bummer considering I am primarily a character-driven reader.

Now onto what didn’t really work for me.
The worldbuilding, while intriguing, was quite heavy handed at the beginning. I’m a big fan of show-not-tell when it comes to this which didn’t go so well here. The first chunk of the book is a lot of internal monologue and world-building, which may turn some readers away before they get to the more action-filled scenes in the book or get to feel any of the court intrigue we are promised.

Next, romance. I’ve seen this pitched as a romantic fantasy, and I just have to ask…where? While I understand what Whitten was trying to do with our three main characters, it really didn’t work for me. From the get-go we can tell that one of the male main characters has far more intrigue to him than the other. I was never convinced that this would end up being a triangle, and overall, it wasn’t. I would’ve loved for the trio’s dynamic to be more well-fleshed out, to feel the conflict within Lore about who she wanted to be with. I love pining, and I didn’t get it here. However, I did really enjoy the scenes we get with all three of them, I think in the sequel we will be able to see more depth to this dynamic.

Overall (TLDR)
While I had a lot of excitement for this release, I ended up feeling very mixed on it. This book could’ve used some extra time in editing, as our characters needed more development and the worldbuilding feels heavy handed. I wanted to love our trio and feel the pining that this promises with a love triangle and was left wanting. I read this quickly thanks to the writing style, which I’ve enjoyed from Whitten since her debut, and this magic system is SO promising and has me as intrigued as the royalty in this new world Whitten has created. This feels very much like a “book one” in that it is a lot of setup, and not a lot of forward momentum until the latter half of the book.
Go in with the correct set of expectations! A lot of my disappointments go from my expectations being much different than what this book gave.
3/5 stars.

Thank you as always to Orbit for the review copy! I am so grateful to have the privilege of reading books early to give my opinions on them.

The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten is a delicious read that kicks into action in the first few pages. You immediately get pulled into the alleys and catacombs of Dellaire following the main character Lore as she is swept into an exciting yet dangerous path. It’s not clear who can be trusted along the way and what the hidden motivations are of those around Lore. I found a few incongruities that bothered me but not enough not to read the rest of the series which I’m looking forward to!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sharing an advance copy. I have shared my candid thoughts on the novel.

The Foxglove King is the first installment in a new dark fantasy romance series, and this is the first book I’ve read from the author. I was very impressed with her writing style, which flowed easily and was just a pleasure to read. Sinking into this story felt effortless, which to me is a mark of wonderful storytelling. I was actually reminded a bit of Brandon Sanderson in terms of readability, which is some of the highest praise I can give. But while the story and world building and character development all started off very strong, things fell apart a bit for me as the story progressed and certain tropes came to the fore.

Lore is a highly unusual girl, and she knows it. Raised in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire, she has an innate and highly unusual ability: she can channel Mortem, the magic born by death, in ways no one else can. Mortem is dangerous and unpredictable and as feared as it is prized. Many in this world ingest careful doses of poison in order to balance keenly between life and death, though such poisons are illegal. Lore is making her living as a poison-runner when she finds herself drafted by the powers-that-be to help them solve a deadly mystery. Plucked from the streets and dropped into court politics and religious intrigue, Lore quickly finds herself in over her head and pulled between two men: Gabe, the disgraced duke-turned-monk of the Presque Mort who serves as her guard and imaginary cousin; and Bastian, the Sun Prince she has been summoned to investigate.

Whitten’s style is so much fun to read. It’s smooth and easy, her prose disappearing behind the story so that it plays out like a movie in the mind. At the same time, the internal voice she gives Lore, our perspective character, is absolutely delightful. Lore is strong and snarky and a joy to follow through her story. She’s far from perfect, and totally embraces that fact, while laughing in the face of anyone who is blind to her failings or their own. However, her voice and character become muddled as she falls into one of my least favorite tropes: the dreaded love triangle.

It’s this love triangle that dampened my enthusiasm for the story. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, especially since I had at least an initial fondness for all three characters. However, as the love triangle began to take centerstage, the world building and character development and the story itself all seemed to suffer for it. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of how things wrapped up. That being said, I did enjoy The Foxglove King for the most part, and I definitely enjoyed it enough to continue the series whenever Whitten releases the next installment. This is an interesting story with fun characters set in a unique world, and it’s very well written. I just wish that the love triangle hadn’t become the focus.

The Foxglove King impressed me in some ways and disappointed me in others. I liked it, but it still felt like a 3-star read to me at most.

The characters:

Hannah Whitten is really skilled at writing female main characters who are unapologetic and don’t care about societal standards. Lore is a survivor and hasn’t been able to feel close to anyone because of the nature of her job and her secret magic. She has a sharp tongue and a cynical mindset that I really enjoyed. The small thing I found odd was the fact that she was a successful spy for her mothers, but that skill didn’t really transfer when she had to be sneaky in the Court. She fumbled in ways that made me shake my head in disbelief, but it’s a small thing so it’s fine.

Gabriel is a Presque Mort who is assigned to guard Lore. He has a dark past, a complicated relationship with this court, and a kind heart. I enjoyed getting to know Gabe. Even though he has taken the oath, he doesn’t blindly follow everything his King says. I also appreciated the bond he and Lore built, their banter, and the conversations they had about spirituality and hypocrisy.

Bastian is King August’s heir who doesn’t see eye-to-eye with his father. I didn’t know how to feel about him for 40% of this book. He's an interesting character once he starts having actual conversations with Lore. Until then, it’s as if the author meant to write him as irresistibly mysterious, but he came off as a bit immature and boring. Fortunately, he gets a bit more charming and heroic as the book progresses.

The writing:

The writing is where I was a bit disappointed. This is Whitten’s third book, yet the world-building was lacking. I found myself wondering: Where are the beautiful descriptions I read in Whitten’s other book For the Wolf? In this book, the world was disorienting at first. I felt like I was plunged into it, and then had to slowly piece it together as I learnt more about the characters. I read enough fantasy to feel confident in my ability to imagine a new world, but I had to take notes during the first 25% just to figure it out. Certain reveals were predictable, which isn’t a big deal but did make this story a little less exciting for me. Also, the *cough* love triangle was just okay. I think the romance would have been better without it because more time could have been spent on developing an organic relationship.

Final thoughts:

To end on a positive note, I do see some growth in Whitten’s writing: the atmosphere was dark and creepy; the characters were mysterious yet likeable; and the magic and class system were explained well enough for me to understand why this world was so corrupt. This book explores manipulation, indoctrination, religion, and politics. Whitten does not shy away from gore, or hard hitting topics, so I do suggest checking the content warnings on the author's website. Even though certain elements didn’t work well for me, and parts of the story dragged, the ending was insane enough to make me consider picking up the sequel.

Thanks to Orbit Books for the copy of this ARC!

Fantasy readers, you need this book. Necromancy! Religious themes! Court! Betrayal! And also a love triangle with some swoony characters, a really BA female main character, very interesting side characters (including the cutest lil librarian) and lots of scheming. The world/magic-building definitely took a little longer in this book, so the pace was a bit slower at the beginning, but whew the end of this book sped right up! I loved the time at court, especially with the royalty and church dynamic, adventure with romantic intrigue in unique settings, and dark air of mystery and magic in this book. Can’t wait for this series to continue!

Read if you:
- appreciate a good magic system
- can handle a love triangle
- want a necromancer MC
- love time at court, but also get giddy at the mention of catacombs
- regularly read fantasy and dark academia

Thank you Netgalley and Orbit Books for allowing me to read and review this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First off, the cover for The Foxglove King is to die for! I absolutely love the gothic-romantic vibes and I feel it fits the setting of the story very well.

The Foxglove King was good, but also not great at the same time.

Hannah Whitten has grown as an author and I think her writing has improved from her debut For the Wolf, which I still haven't finished yet. The Foxglove King is the beginning of a new dark fantasy duology. The pacing is a little bit slow and the world-building could use a bit more editing. The Foxglove King has an interesting magic-system and I do like Lore as a main character. I am curious about the sequel and how the story will end.

3.5 stars

Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter, and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King.

Lore is thrust into the Sainted King’s glittering court, where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted. Guarded by Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk, and continually running up against Bastian, August’s ne'er-do-well heir, Lore tangles in politics, religion, and forbidden romance as she attempts to navigate a debauched and opulent society.

The world building necessary to set everything up wasn't bad. I was obsessed with all three of our main characters at first but then..it just..slowed down and it I had to struggle to get through to the end.

But it picked up and I really can't wait to read the next one.

2 stars
I'm usually a fan of the fantasy-romance genre, but there just wasn't enough here to entice me. Your typical YA sassy heroine, repressed love interest, other sexy bad boy love interest to keep things "exciting", worldbuilding that didn't end up making much sense, the classic telling, not showing. The blurb, cover and interest in Whitten's other series seemed to confirm this would be a solid like for me.

I had a hard time believing Lore as a spy. Her unique magical powers and mysterious origin story fell flat the longer I read on. I'm supposed to believe the king knew of her existence and let her just run about for 24 years? There was just too much going on here for one character and the level of commitment to the typical fantasy-romance tropes was a turn off.

Read if you want something light that hits on all the hallmarks of the YA-fantasy romance genre. If you are looking for excellent character development, world building and plot - maybe go elsewhere?

“Forbidden romance?” Please, these relationships are about as illicit as my affection for chocolate cake. Perhaps deserving situational reproach, but nothing scandalous.

This book sends strong Crescent City and Serpent & Dove vibes. Unfortunate for me, as I wasn’t a huge fan of either, but perhaps fortunate for the book, since both series were and are wildly popular. We have our girl Lore - former criminal, spunky, possessor of unique special powers - who’s conscripted to the King’s plan to spy on his son, a suspected traitor. Given that the other option was a lifetime in the slave mines, she accepts the proposition, and is swiftly positioned to enter court life under the protection of Gabriel, a warrior monk with a complicated past. Lore’s efforts at espionage and ingratiating herself to Prince Bastian include necromancy, swearing and innuendo (less than CC, but I guess that’s why this is an adult book), and reminding Gabe that he’s a Presque Mort (cue S&B chasseur).

Lore doesn’t really have a plan, but I guess that’s fine because the dudes don’t need a reason to find her intriguing. I suppose Gabe needs something good in his life, but I didn’t feel a lot for his history beyond surface sympathy, and I’m waiting for his past and 10+ years as a Presque Mort to manifest as something more than loyalty to the high priest and everyone around him commenting when he swears (scandalous!). There seems to be something of a more organic connection between Lore and Bastian, but let’s face it, Bastian would have instant chemistry with a potted fern.

In general, I struggled with the dialogue. Lore delivers sass to any and all (do your thing, girl), and when the people who are supposed to be intimidating shrug it off, I start wondering just how mean and scary they really are. That could be intentional, but there needs to be some sort of preliminary threat established.

My favorite things in this book were Bastian (is this playboy prince hiding a heart of gold?) and the last scene. Based on those two things, I am possibly intrigued enough to try the sequel.

Also, Alie is precious and deserves all the best things.

**Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC**

Ultimately I think this was a book with a great idea and lots of potential that fell short in its execution. I was super intrigued by the premise of this book; death magic, court intrigue, warrior monks, forbidden romance all piqued my interest, but despite the interesting premise and possibility for a very interesting magic system almost everything about this book felt one dimensional and surface level.. The three main characters had potential to have complex and dimensional character development but none of them felt overly memorable and fell a bit too neatly into common archetypes and tropes to have any sort of real connection to them as individuals.. In general I felt that there was very little that felt unique in the sense of a very superficial exploration of the setting, politics, conflict, and characters that allows for strong parallels to other works without enough distinguishing aspects to set it apart on its own. And while I think this book will have a large commercial appeal for this reason, it’s a book that feels like it can’t decide what it wants to be. There was a lack of world building and too much of a focus on the romance over the central plot development to appeal to pure fantasy fans, and the fantasy romance fans will be left feeling the romance was lacking - not just in the level of spice but in the character and relationship development that varied between pure lust/insta-love and ‘I feel like I’ve known you my whole life’ fated bonds vibe with little actual emotional connection or relationship depth.

I think there’s lots to like about this book for those who don’t like fantasy books with complex magic systems or intense world building and are fans of the tropes and character archetypes featured in this book but I’m left feeling like there was so much more this book could’ve been.

As someone who was not a huge fan on Hannah’s For the Wolf duology I was nervous going into this one. The death magic is what sold me on this one. I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see where the rest of this series goes. This book pulled me in from the start. I found myself immediately immersed in this unique world with poison runners, magic, court politics. I love how atmospheric and dark this world was. I enjoyed Lore, Bastian, and Gabe and can’t wait to see more from them. I hope to see more insight into their bond and connection in the next book. I will say I disliked the fact that nearly every female betrays her. I hope that we are able to see a more positive relationship between some female characters in the next book. I enjoyed the plot but there were times when I felt that the clues that were being given to us were too obvious and I felt like she was beating us over the head with it with repetition. I enjoyed the ending and I will be anxiously waiting for book 2 to see what happens next. If you are a fan of dark fantasy, unique magic systems, and court politics I think you should definitely pick this one up.
Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit books for providing me with an e-arc for an honest review.

ARC received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The concept of this book sounded very intriguing, as it features necromancy and dark magic. I was drawn in by the description of this being full of romance and fantasy, but instead this was really lacking in the romance department and seemed to moreso focus on political intrigue, and I have read many more books with better political intrigue than this book.

I also did not connect with the writing style. It was overly descriptive. There was a lot of describing what characters felt and things they planned to do rather than actually showing the reader theses things happening. I felt myself wanting to skip over large paragraphs of boringness to get to dialogue, but the dialogue was lacking as well due to each line of dialogue being interwoven in multiple paragraphs of internal monologue. It was hard to following conversations because of this. I needed more banter and more angst.

The final issue I had with this book was there were many people introduced all at once with little to no explanation who they were. I kept forgetting characters names. This also happened with places, backstory, etc. I understand that fantasy stories need an info dump to set up the world, but this was just excessive.

A big thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel. I am voluntarily leaving a review, all opinions are my own.

This was definitely an interesting read. I loved the idea of poison and death being such prominent features in this society, the world building was so intriguing.

It’s fairly well-paced with some action pretty much right off the bat, though it’s a little slow in getting into the main story, mostly because of the intricate world.

I honestly can’t wait to have this beauty in my hands as a print book. This will definitely be a book that a lot of people will enjoy.

The Foxglove King is an epic fantasy akin to the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. It has a lot of the same elenents - the court system, romance and mystery. I think this is a hard genre to breach because it seems to be oversaturated with the same kind of material but the author did well to knit herself into this world while still holding her own. I found it similar to other high fantasies but different enough to enjoy. I look forward to the sequel

A wonderful start to a new series.

This is my first Hannah Whitten book and although the prose is a little rough at times, the world building was amazing and I enjoyed the story a lot.

The Foxglove King follows Lore, a Deathwitch with an interesting past, working as a spy for drug dealers. In an attempt to save a man working for her adoptive parents, Lore uses her magic and gets caught. Normally Deathwitches are killed but Lore is given a chance to help the kingdom by finding who is feeding information to the neighboring kingdom and how two villages were completely killed without a clue to how.

This is a typical Young Adult novel with a good dose of horror and a slightly older main character. The themes and tropes are nothing new, there’s the usual love triangle, one of a kind “not like other girls” main character, a chosen one, a hero with a dark past… but I still found it fun to read and the plot was extremely enjoyable even if a tad predictable.

I only wish the dialogue was a little more creative, for the world Whitten created, the dialogue was too mainstream, too simple.

P.S. I see a potential throuple or I just really want it to be a throuple and it’s a hill I’ll probably die on.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read The Foxglove King.

I absolutely loved this book. The book is set in a world where poison (ie Belladonna, Foxglove, etc.) is a recreational drug that can even extend life if dosed properly. But taking poison leads to a person playing with death, and those that reach death but do not follow it through are able to then control death. Described as a form of magic, death is leaking throughout the city. Outside the glimmering Citadel, the city is a desperate place of squalor, but inside the Citadel, it is a life of luxury and excess. In this book, we follow Lore, a poisonrunner and powerful necromancer, become spy in the citadel. As she investigates the Prince on the Kings behest, she becomes suspicious of the King and Priest Exalted that they are not telling the full truth. Lore teams up with the Prince and a Monk to try to figure out what the King and Priest Exalted are up to, who is killing the villages, and what is happening to the Bodies.
I really loved the world building of this book. I have not read a book where death is magic in its own right, and how that is tied in with the poison use as a drug was really clever and well done. I also thought the religion that was built was really interesting and I enjoyed how it was weaved throughout the society and book. I loved Lore as a main character, she was sassy, strong, and felt like someone I could hang out with. I also really appreciated that while she had a tempter and could be mean, she was fundamentally a kind person that was simply put into circumstances well above her paygrade. And I loved the development of her relationships with Bastian and Gabe. Every time they were interreacting I just was having so much fun. I just really loved the group together.
One thing that is clearly apparent is that Hannah Whitten has significantly grown as a writer between this book and the previous series, the Wilderwood. I really enjoyed the last series, but I loved this book so much more. The world was built better, the characters were better developed and stronger, the plot was a better pace. I loved it.
To be fair, this book is not earth shattering in any way, but it is so good for what it is and I just really had a lot of fun reading it. I am really looking forward to the next books in the series and to see what else Whitten ends up writing. I am definitely going to try to get all of my friends to read this.

*beware spoilers*

I’ll be honest, the first few chapters threw me for a loop. I had a completely different image of the time period in which this takes place at the beginning then I did once I was well into the book. (Although I do have a terrible habit of getting over-excited and reading too quickly and missing details, so maybe that’s on me).
I was FASCINATED with the magic system and the workings of Mortem/Spritum. I thought the descriptions of Lore channeling her power and how they worked were very, very well written. What a breath of fresh air!
We love a good love triangle, and I honestly did not see Gabe’s betrayal coming until it happened. Lore/Gabe/Bastian gave me huge Celaena/Chaol/Dorian vibes lol.
Did not at all see Lore’s mother being reintroduced and was sorta disappointed in her role in the story. However I would like to see the cult (I forget the name) she is apart of being explored more in book 2.

Overall 5/5 stars and I am VERY excited for a sequel! :)

I really enjoyed this book! The magic system is pretty clear and intriguing. It’s death-inspired magic such as necromancy. Of course this magic is outlawed (except for the warrior-monks) and our girl Lore is caught. To save herself she was blackmailed by the church to use her magic to investigate why a whole village died with no apparent causes overnight and to verify if the crown prince is being treasonous.

The book was described as gothic, but I didn’t find this gothic at all 🤔 It really reminds me of CW shows, like a bunch of modern people with not so much historically accurate costumes taking place in medieval times (Reign 👀). The writing and words used are pretty modern. Overall it’s pretty campy and I enjoyed it quite a bit 😂 There’s no open world adventure here, it’s pretty much court intrigue set in the palace (which I like too!)

Lore is quite quick thinking and resilient - a nice FMC for this story. Bastian, the crown prince, is the breakout character for me. He’s very sharp, acts like a hedonist prince but actually cares a lot about his country and can be ruthless as well. Definitely a morally grey character. Gabe, the warrior-monk, is a letdown for me unfortunately. For someone of his experience and character (lots of trauma and stoic), he’s rather juvenile and one-dimensional. Definitely not as robust as Lore and Bastian.

There was no romance up until around 70% of the book, which I welcome since the slow burn is appropriate. However, after that there’s some but I thought a bit out of place (very YA in otherwise adult book). The conflict resolution at the end also felt contrived. However, the final resolution and ending is amazing! I can’t wait to see how the character will continue to evolve after hints of them in the epilogue.

Thank you Orbit Books for the access to ARC in exchange of an honest review!

Thank you so much for the chance to read this as an ARC! Truthfully, I finished this book a few weeks ago, but given that The Foxglove King comes out on March 7th, it made more sense to give this review now instead of earlier.

This is my first novel by Hannah Whitten and I am completely entranced by her writing style. The characters, the development, the BANTER, the magic system, the world building- all of it was impeccable. I love how she is able to describe everything so vividly and explain the story without giving everything away- I love being surprised by plot twists, and this book was no exception. The magic system is so unique and she sets up the plot so beautifully in preparation for the second book, which I am SO excited for.

If you are a fan of Hannah Whitten, I definitely recommend this book; I will definitely be getting my hands on everything else she's written because of how much I enjoyed this. Keep an eye out for The Foxglove King in March!