The concept of the magic system continues to be interesting but I personally am not a fan of the love triangle/multiple love interests trope so that aspect of the story was not for me. If that’s a trope you enjoy then definitely give it a read!

I loved the second installment of this series. It gets darker and more complex and sets up for what I think will be an exciting conclusion!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I won't say much because this is the second book in the trilogy, but gosh did this not feel like the middle book. I was sucked along the way with the story, as more answers were revealed yet only gave more questions. Especially after that ending I can't wait to get my hands on the final book.

I love Hannah Whitten's writing. If Hannah Whitten wrote a phone book I would read it. "The Hemlock Queen" was great and had a lot of the things I love about her books, though I think it suffered from middle book syndrome just a little bit.

While it took me a second to recall everything that went on in the first book of this trilogy, I was quickly reminded how much I love all of these characters and this world. The writing is lush, vibey, atmospheric, and just a little bit gothic. I think the dynamics between the characters in this book were done so so well, especially the dynamics between Lore, Bastian, and Gabe.

However, where the book was great in vibes and character I felt it sometimes lacked a little in plot. Without saying what happens, I felt like we ended up in a very similar place at the end of the book to where we started. It sometimes felt a little bit like the plot was running circles around itself.

With that said, I am so excited to see how this trilogy concludes. If there's one thing I know about Hannah Whitten, it's that she can write a phenomenal conclusion. And I am absolutely on the edge of my seat wanting to know how the romance aspect specifically is going to conclude. I'm usually not a huge fan of love triangles, but damn if this doesn't have me hooked.

3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

overview:
when I started reading The Foxglove King, I went into the story SOOO excited. I was really disappointed when it fell short of my expectations, but I still enjoyed the story enough that I was excited to continue the story in The Hemlock Queen.

there is no time jump between the two books—The Hemlock Queen picks up immediately where The Foxglove King ended. Bastian is trying to figure out how to be a better king than his father, while Lore is just trying to get by—struggling with her new role of “deathwitch” and Bastian’s right hand, on top of her feelings for both Bastian and Gabe, even after his betrayal in The Foxglove King, and of course, Gabe trying to also ignore his feelings and focus on his new role as the new Priest Exalted.

as they go, Bastian is taking strides in trying to reconnect with the people of Dellaire, and figure out what is going on with the Kirytheans, using his Spiritum magic and Lore’s Mortem magic to make a show of united power as often as he can, but Lore starts to notice him acting a bit “off”, and then she starts to hear a voice in her head...

plot: ★★★★☆ (3.5 rounded up)
the plot is great, but a bit fickle at times. it seems to dance around itself a lot before finally progressing to the next step. this links into the pacing of the story, but I found myself being engaged in waves. like, I would be really into what is going on for a chapter or two, and then have to go a few chapters where it felt like “filler” pages before something would engage me again. it wasn’t until about the 40% point where I started to get excited about where the story was heading.

writing/prose: ★★★★☆
the writing is fine. there are a few moments of repetition in language, but it’s nothing that hindered my experience.

pacing: ★★☆☆☆
the pacing was a struggle throughout out the first half-ish of the book. it just felt like chapter after chapter where not a whole lot was actually happening. or one big thing would happen, and then the next 7 chapters were talking about the thing.

humor: ★★★★☆
it’s not meant to be a funny book, so there’s no loss by not having heavy amounts of humor, but Lore is the comic relief. her comments usually catch me off guard, making them funnier than they would be if she was constantly trying to be funny.

characters: ★★★★★
I like our main trio a LOT. I just wish we would get more of them together. I feel like the book shines the most when we get them on page together, or even just two of them at a time. I really wish that both books would have leaned into Lore/Bastian/Gabe more. the angst we are meant to feel from the three of them at the beginning of The Hemlock Queen just didn’t feel justified after the events of The Foxglove King. I think if we had more intense relationships in the first book, the angst would feel more palpable/believable in the second.

spice level: 🖤🖤🤍🤍🤍
we are amping up a little compared to The Foxglove King, but it is still pretty subtle for majority of The Hemlock Queen. HOWEVER, we are treated with one good spicy scene that was a lot of fun to read. quick, but fun.

over-all enjoyment: ★★★★☆
I enjoyed the book and will absolutely be wrapping up the trilogy when The Nightshade God is released. I struggled with the slower pace and the plot taking too long to move forward. the story seems to struggle between being a “romantasy” and focusing on the relationships, and wanting to be a heavy political fantasy (in the beginning), so it’s like whenever we get into one side of things, it flipflops in the other direction without giving any real satisfaction to the prior part. but in the later half, it’s like the political tensions are thrown out the window, leaving me like ??? (it is explained why, but it wasn’t a super satisfying explanation) but the last like 30% was so fun, it brought my rating from 3 stars to 4 stars.

It is no secret to anyone who has been around me for at least five minutes that I am a huge fan of Hannah Whitten's books. I loved The Wilderwood duology so much and was lucky enough to read an eARC of the The Foxglove King. I've been waiting impatiently ever since to get my hands on The Hemlock Queen.

I have written and rewritten this review about five times already because I kept writing things that were too riddled with spoilers. The Hemlock Queen picked up right where book 1 left off and expands the world building and lore tremendously, however the immaculate vibes remained wholly intact despite the increase in information scattered throughout book 2. I did think the pacing to be a tad slower than book 1, but Hannah still delivered the same gorgeous, immersive prose and character driven narrative that made me fall in love with her characters and world building in the first place. The Hemlock Queen was a win for me overall and now I find that I am once again nursing a book hangover as I wait in rapt anticipation for book 3 of The Nightshade Crown series.

The Nightshade Crown series is perfect for fans of Rachel Gillig, Lyra Selene and anyone who read Hannah's debut duology (The Wilderwood Duology).


Some highlights:

- love triangle
- unique magic system - death magic/necromancy (mortum)/life magic (spiritum)
- adult gothic romantasy
- exploration of loss and religious trauma
- warring deities
- a hot priest
- tension and angst galore (and some gore, because it wouldn't be a Hannah Whitten book without a little gore)

As the second book in this series, I think it falls subject to middle book syndrome. The whole story was longer than necessary and seemed to spend a great deal of time world building for a seemingly larger conflict in the next story. I dont enjoy the love triangle and the main character comes across very selfish and immature through most of the story. Overall, the book was fine and I will read the next book, but I didnt enjoy the pace or storyline that much.

Thank you netgalley for this eARC!

i’m not emotionally okay because wtf?? HELLO??

rude

in all seriousness though, i loved this. it has slight middle book syndrome in the fact that there were some filler moments and the first 50% was kind of slow and boring at times, but the payoff was so worth it!!

give me book 3 now please and thanks

THE HEMLOCK QUEEN is Hannah Whitten’s exciting sequel to THE FOXGLOVE KING, and I am here for it! Picking up a few months after the shocking ending of the first novel, the action and angst starts right away as Lore questions who she can or cannot trust. I love Lore. I love everything about her and seriously hope she gets her happily ever after at the end of the series. For now, however, Ms. Whitten tortures Lore with a severe lack of allies and even more severe lack of answers. In a classic example of “not all characters are heroes”, we see a massive change is Bastian that only confuses the situation. Add to that Gabe’s distant smoldering, and it’s enough to drive a girl wild!

THE HEMLOCK QUEEN sets up the final book quite nicely, even as the ending is every bit as infuriating as THE FOXGLOVE KING’s ending. There isn’t as much action in this second book, but there is a lot of skullduggery and searching for answers. By the time the story draws to a close, we have set lines of demarcation and no idea how Lore, Bastian, and Gabe will resolve anything. The wait for the final book is going to be interminable, but I know it will be worth it.

I was super excited to start the Hemlock Queen as I had the arc to the foxglove king as well, which I rated 4.25 out of 5 stars.

I do wish I’d reread the first book before reading this for a refresh. The start of the book does catch you up on the bare gist of book one but I felt like I didn’t remember enough of the nitty gritty details as I’d like.

I didn’t enjoy The Hemlock Queen as much as I enjoyed The Foxglove King. Though I know the plot moved forward, it didn’t feel like much actually happened in this entry of the series. Definitely suffered from second book syndrome for me.

Gabe is EXACTLY my type of male character so I know he’s who I will continue to root for in the love triangle. However, I felt we got so little of him in this book, that is caused the narrative to suffer a bit. The love triangle itself has definitely upped its ante, despite everyone not having declared their feelings vocally yet.

I continue to enjoy that Lore’s family isn’t a forgotten plot line, just dropped and never thought of again as happens often in fantasy books.

One issue I had in the beginning is I remember Lore having more agency in book one. For the first section of the Hemlock Queen, I felt like she was almost swimming through a depression or something. She just felt more restrained and subdued. She just always did what Bastian told her to which felt very out of character. Bastian also felt aggressively out of character in the beginning 30% of the book. though both these things were explained further into the book, I feel like it made me struggle to get into the story initially, when these characters I had really liked were acting completely different.

I went back and forth with feeling invested and then not wanting to read it at all. I enjoy the characters and the plot but I found where it was going kind of predictable. I also didn’t like how everyone affected was someone Lore knew well. It felt forced for the story.

I was happy to finally learn more of the God’s backstory but it came so late in the story, that it really lowed the trajectory of the end of the book for me. Also the ending action felt very disappointing in how it ended up being entirely pointless.

Overall, I still like and plan on continuing the series but this book was not as enjoyable for me as the first.

3.75 stars

Phew, I've got some real mixed feelings on this one, which honestly disappoints me a bit. Lets get into it:

The Foxglove King was one of my absolute favorite reads of 2023, and I was so eagerly awaiting the sequel. I loved the gothic feel, the unique magic, the mysterious connection to the gods and the deeply flawed but still realistic main trio. The Hemlock Queen felt like it capitalized on the things I enjoyed... but didn't build on them for quite a long time into the story.To be more specific, I found myself really drudging through about the first 60%, wondering where it was going and why it didn't seem to be getting there faster. I eventually even found myself feeling frustrated with things I previously liked, like the will-they-won't-they romance dynamic between Lore & Bastian, as well as Lore & Gabe (although that felt like less of a focus in this book.) I Found myself frustrated with the frequent references to how much Lore "loves them both," but how little they all seem to show it, as well as the relationships relying too heavily on the mystery of all three of them connecting to the old gods in some way. It ultimately felt like the first half focused almost exclusively on the changes in Bastian's personality, and not much else.

Entering the last 40%, things picked up drastically. We had a lot of reveals about the old gods, their connections to our characters, how they came to be, and how their allegiances to one another shaped and later changed. I adored this, and still wish it had happened all throughout the book instead of in a few dumps in the last 40%. From there, A lot of quick decisions are made, and all of them have drastic impacts on the plot. Again, I really enjoyed the way these things moved along and felt surprised and intrigued all over again about how well-developed this world is, especially regarding the religion and the complexities of the gods as imperfect beings.

Ultimately, I think this just had really bad middle-book syndrome for me. The last half was so good that I will definitely be returning to the series in the future, I just am feeling a bit less enchanted by it than I was after the first book. Thank you to Orbit & Netgalley for the eArc!

Thank you, NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Every Hannah Whitten book is a step above the one I read before it. This series is incredible. It's dark, it's romantic. This is a wonderful sequel to the Foxglove King. I cannot wait for the next and final book in the series.

So to start, I have to say I liked Foxglove King but didn't love it. I was hoping this one would sway me over the edge. I'm not sure why these aren't working for me to be honest - I love the characters (except when they're being annoying and angsty for no reason), I'm intrigued by the story/history. Overall, I'm just sort of ambivalent. I'll probably end up reading book 3, but this one didn't really sway me either way.

I ended up having SO MUCH FUN with this book.

On the positive notes I believe this book does a fantastic job in world building. The history of the gods and exploration of what all magic can do really built up the series and while I was hoping for a little more politics, we are set up to get that in the final book. The vibes were vibing for me, I was giggling, I was upset, I was ready to throw my kindle with that cliffhanger. I can't really explain why the vibes where vibing so hard since truthfully, I still felt the romances as a bit unbelievable but it's fine since even though I'm not sure how they fell in love I'm happy they are.

Thank you to Orbit & Hannah Whitten for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

✨ Publication date: April 9, 2024✨

The Hemlock Queen is the second book in the nightshade crown trilogy by Hannah Whitten. This book continues immediately after The Foxglove King.

Lore, Bastian and Gabe continue the battle between good and evil and church vs Kingdom as gods and mortals intertwine. Lore and Bastian lean into their new powers and discover how weaving the mortem and spiritum bring together both dark and light.

As the history of the gods reveal themselves and take shape throughout the story, Lore and Bastian must determine how much they can trust each other, their friends and their powers.

I had a tough time getting through this one. The pace was super slow for the first 3/4’s of the story. Lore who was such a powerful character in the first book, was so passive in this instalment. Lore’s constant internal monologue really took away from the strong relationships we saw were built in the first book.

This is a 3 star read for me, a little disappointed since I really enjoyed the first one. The author managed to pack a ton into the last quarter of the book and enough to have me wanting to see how the story ends. I hope the wrap up takes this story to the ending it deserves!

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#NetGalley #hannahwhitten #thehemlockqueen

After the events of the eclipse Bastian, Lore and Gabe find their own ways to deal with the aftermath. Bastian by throwing himself into his new role as the Sainted King, Lore by drinking too much to run from the dreams that plague her nights, and Gabe by shunning his two former friends. Now the Death Witch to the king, Lore finds herself a permanent fixture by Bastian’s side in his quest to heal the land, much to the bemusement of Gabe and their enemies at court. Gabe and the courtiers also worry over the seeming union of Lore and Bastian yet Lore feels anything but united when Bastian invites their nation’s enemies without consulting her. But Lore and Bastian are battling more than just mortal enemies. Can they keep their kingdom—and themselves—safe from the divine forces threatening to throw the land into chaos?

I really enjoyed the Foxglove King and was eagerly awaiting its sequel the Hemlock Queen. It is full of the same dark, unique magic system and romance of the first book!

while this book pace is a bit slower than the first, the story continues and paints a wonderful story full of lush world building and continued growth for Lore! With even more secrets coming to light, the hemlock queen has you falling in love with Lore’s story with each page turn. Bastian, Gabe and Lore each show up in unexpected ways & the added spice was the cherry on top! Highly recommend.

If the first book was amazing this one went beyond , who what a rollercoaster, knocked out of the park with this second part. Loved every second of it. The turns and twist very well done

Going into this sequel for sure was a joy. I absolutely adored The Foxglove King. It was a breath of fresh air to me after a couple of disappointing books. The world building and the character development felt all organic. Like a rose in natural bloom.
Lore is for sure one of my favorite characters of this book. She’s feisty, witty and relatable.
•Love Triangles
•Dark Prophecies
•Court Intrigue
•Magic
Just a few things I enjoyed about this book.
Y’all I can’t tell you how much I loved this book. It for sure stepped up its game from book 1 in a glorious way. The plot picked up at a break neck pace. I literally felt like biting my nails from how much rollercoaster ride the latter half of this book was. I eagerly await, the sure to be glorious, conclusion of this trilogy.
Highly recommend.


Thanks to the folks at NetGalley for a copy of this book. Y’all are the best. My review is a honest reflection of my feelings towards this book.

I will be unwell for days. Feral. This world is everything to me. I would die for Hannah at this point.
The way I need Lore, Gabe and Bastian would have me sent to the Burnt Isles.
This was a great sequel. I cannot wait for the third but also, I'm willing to because I don't want to say goodbye to my sweet baby girls.

Tension and yearning were top notch.