This book was dark, lush, and full of atmosphere—classic Hannah Whitten. The worldbuilding was rich and immersive, with that eerie, gothic vibe she does so well. I loved the morally gray characters and the slow-burn tension, both romantic and otherwise. Some parts felt a little drawn out or hard to follow, but overall, it kept me hooked. A solid read with a haunting tone that sticks with you. Definitely recommend if you like dark fantasy with emotion and edge.

I loved the conclusion of The Nightshade God. I thought the story wrapped up so nicely and the ending was beautiful. This world is rich and unexpected - I enjoyed the characters and their relationships throughout the trilogy, but appreciated the realness of it all despite it being a fantasy world that exists outside of reality. I love that Lore becomes lore herself.

⭐️ 3 stars

This wasn't the dramatic ending I wanted for some reason. Don't get me wrong, so much happens in this book and there's a lot of payoff that I was pleased to get, but for a final book in a trilogy...This dragged for me. Perhaps it was the length and the book would have been better served to be shorter but I'm not exactly sure that's the answer either. My main critique is that the relationships between the actual main characters (Lore, Bastian, Gabe) took a backseat in many ways to the relationships of the gods of the story. I know they mirror each other, parallel each other in so many ways blah blah but...I just ended up not really finding either throuple that particularly compelling because their relationships were battling poorly for the spotlight. Towards the end, I simply decided the story was too bloated for my tastes. That being said, if you were head-over-heels for the other books in the trilogy (which I wasnt. I felt more middling), then I doubt it would be an issue for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC of The Nightshade God!

The final installment in The Nightshade Crown series continues Lore and her friends' quest to keep Apollius from overtaking Bastian and the world. The friends are scattered across the kingdom but still work together to find the lost pieces of the Fount that they have been told they will need to overthrow the vengeful god. But what if instead of returning their powers they work together to make the world better? When the time comes will they be able to relinquish what they have been given or will they suffer the same hubris as the first gods?

First of all, it is imperative you read the first two books in the series to know what is happening. I struggled to remember the events in the previous books and was a bit confused at the beginning. Overall this is a solid fantasy series with a unique magical system and excellent worldbuilding. The first book in the series was amazing but then, for me, it went steadily downhill in the subsequent books. I was a bit disappointed for most of this book as when the characters are split, we lose a lot of the dynamic of the prior books. Lore loses a lot of her personality when she does not have anyone to verbally spar with. Gabe struggles to find himself, and honestly I always struggled to really define Gabe's personality beyond being a religious zealot and then once that is taken away from him, he is just adrift. The ending; however, took me completely by surprise and was an interesting way to resolve the series.

3.25 - 3.5 stars

The Nightshade God didn't quite live up to the high expectations set by its excellent predecessor and enjoyable second installment. I was really hoping for a strong finish to the series, but it ended up being a bit of a letdown. The addition of multiple perspectives, including Gabe, Alie, Bastian, and various gods, was a welcome and necessary change, especially with the characters undertaking separate quests. Yet, I found parts of these sections quite dry and felt they simply padded the page count. The pacing was incredibly slow, and meaningful action was notably absent until the very end, which then felt surprisingly anticlimactic. I also felt some relationships within this final book were forced, lacking the natural growth I'd hoped for across the trilogy. Overall, while I enjoyed the individual character journeys, I craved more adventure, a stronger romantic thread, and a more definitive conclusion.

Whitten's penchant for dark, gothic storytelling is on display in the conclusion to the Nighshade trilogy, and she really hit it out of the park with this one....I mean, completely blew me out of the water. The pacing was perfect, as well as the way that our characters' storylines intertwined despite spending the majority of the book apart. 10/10 for narration. This book left me selfishly wanting more despite being perfectly pleased with the conclusion to our storyline. Whitten has cemented her place as an auto-buy author for me, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. Thank you for the opportunity to receive and read this ARC!

I was disappointed in this book. I really liked the first one, the second one I started to lose interest. this book I honestly skimmed 80% of it. The only chapters I card about where the last three.I think her writing style isn't for me.

Hannah Whitten is a genius.

I first fell in love with Whitten after reading her For the Wolf duology. I was intrigued by her dark style, her unflinching and bare style and her fearlessness to test boundaries of the romantasy/fantasy genres. However, the duology did leave me a little unfulfilled, as the writing was a bit murky and I often had trouble following along.

Then, along came The Nightshade Crown series.

If the For the Wolf duology was an acne-speckled teen with oversized glasses and braces, the triumphant finale to The Nightshade Crown triology, The Nightshade God, is a bona-fide beauty queen with a degree in astrophysics. And medicine.

From the first page to the last, The Nightshade God keeps the momentum from the harrowing finish of the previous book, The Hemlock Queen. The epic worldbuilding is further developed in TNG, as are the characters. I loved the tension and love between the three main protagonists, Lore, Bastian and Gabe, and even more the POV switching around. I found myself barely able to breath during some of the more climactic bits and wondering just how the hell Whitten was going to draw this all together.

But I shouldn't have worried. The end is satisfying and perfect and all I can do now is patiently (or impatiently, as is more truthfully the case) for her next book to come out. The world of dark fantasy belongs to Hannah Whitten, and I surrender to her rule.

I did enjoy this book, but it does not live up to how much I loved The Foxglove King. The additional POV's of Gabe, Bastian, and Alie were a nice touch and I loved seeing the different journeys they were all on individually, however I felt like the characters were not as connected as I wished they were, and therefore the ending fell a bit flat for me (in a way where I really wish there was MORE to read). The Gods play a bigger role in this book compared to the others which was interested to read about and get more of their back story, however it did take away from the main characters we have been focused on for the past two books. However, as a whole I really loved The Nightshade Crown Trilogy and Hannah Whitten's writing.

Thank you to Net Galley and Orbit for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Nightshade God is the final book in The Nightshade Crown trilogy, which follows Lore, a former poison runner who is unknowingly the avatar of the goddess Nyxara and ascends in power only to fall from grace. This installment begins with her imprisoned on the Burnt Isles, sentenced to work in the mines for her betrayal of King Bastian, who is possessed by the god Apollius. As with the previous books, The Nightshade God also follows Gabe, Alie, and Bastian, giving the reader a look into events in multiple locations.
Lore of course is on an ash covered prison island for the first part of the book and her time is largely consumed with staying alive and trying to find a way to escape to find the Fount. Gabe is with a larger group including Malcolm and Lore’s parents in the nation of Caldien, where they hope to find sanctuary and plot against Apollius. His POV chapters remain some of my favorites because he is a holy hot mess at all times. Gabe is throwing a fight and getting his ass kicked for money at the beginning of The Nightshade God and he’s always so self-flagellating that I feel a bit bad for him (and everyone he’s around). Alie remains in Dellaire, having found herself unwillingly engaged to the Emperor Jax, who she finds surprisingly tolerable which is its own problem. I love her sneaking about trying to undermine Apollius where she is able and honing her own magical abilities. Bastian gets few chapters of his own thanks to Apollius’ mental imprisonment but when he breaks free I admire his tenacity.
Though our characters are separated by many miles, they are all working toward one goal - the repair of the Fount and the destruction of Apollius. Gabe, Alie, and Malcolm (who doesn’t get his own POV) each struggle with the gods inside their heads and their growing influence but they must use their powers to survive. Each group must also track down a piece of the Fount and bring it to the Burnt Isles. Fortunately they are inextricably linked through a dream world and the disparate groups are able to communicate and coordinate, even if it is somewhat sporadic.
The grand finale of this trilogy was overall quite satisfying and plenty impressive. While the displays of magic were undoubtedly memorable, my favorite part was the very end and the epilogue which I’m still thinking about over a week later as I type this. It was bittersweet, which worked well as I don’t think Lore, Gabe, and Bastian could have had a truly happy ending with everything they had been through. Somehow that would have cheapened their struggles and felt conveniently forced. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this series perhaps even more so than I did Whitten’s Wilderwood duology and I look forward to seeing what writing project she’ll undertake next.

Hannah Whitten you’ve done it again… and saving the best for last??? THE. ENDING. Wow. Truly the end of an era with this trilogy! Save yourself the trouble now and buy yourself several bottles of wine and a Costco sized case of tissues. You will need them. I have so much that I want to say but I refuse to accidentally spoil anything for anyone! All I can say is WOW. Just WOW. BRB going to reread the whole trilogy over again because I just can’t get over how she managed to pull off everything in this final book!
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by early access to this title.

.I felt like this book had MAJOR pacing issues. While I liked having everyone’s POV, I felt like not bringing them all together until so far at the end was a big mistake.

I also just am having a hard time with how I feel about the meaning of it all, humanity, empathy, gods, religion, politics, power… it all feels like it missed the mark a little but also I am thinking about it a lot so maybe it didn’t at all?

I really loved this trilogy as a whole, lore will always eh special to me and I do love the ending for my trio. Ni wanted a bit more on page though heheh.

Thank you so much to Hannah Whitten and Orbit Books | Orbit for the eARC of this book. The first two of this series have been on my TBR for awhile now. I finally went through and read them along with this one. Man oh man these were fantastic! This book will leave you wrecked in the best way. Whitten builds such amazing vivid worlds with such amazing storytelling. I can't give this enough praise. Definitely give this a read!!

The ending of this book HURT. Crying that Lore literally went through penance for 500 years for things she didn't even mean to do. Death seems like it would be much easier. In the end, she self-sacrificed so much more than she (or we) ever thought she would.
It felt poetic to have her mother sacrificed as well, but hearing about everyone's slow deaths and her own loneliness broke me. Definitely a book I will be thinking about for a long time. Thank you Netgalley for the early read!

3.5⭐️
this was an interesting conclusion...
the plot of this felt lackluster and quite rushed near the end. whitten does a great job of reminding readers what happened in the previous book and setting up the scene for this one, but in doing so she had to rush the middle and especially the end.
plot points felt very contrived and forced in order to move the story along quicker
all this to say i REALLY enjoyed Alie's POV, she is just so fun to be read about!! and i really enjoyed the structure of the epilogue (did shed a few tears)

added a half star for the romance development (i love my bisexual kings)

thank you to Netgally for this ARC in exchange for my honest review :)

While I really enjoyed the first 2 books, I had an hard time connecting with this last one. The pacing was different. The dynamic was off and I am not exactly a fan of a three book slow burn(if I can call it that)

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the advanced galley. I struggled a bit to start the book, going back and forth between other books and putting it off. While I felt the majority of the book was interesting, it started to lose me as it got closer to the end. There was a lot of unnecessary back and forth between characters on decisions, and the epilogue felt a little bit of a cop-out to decisions made before it. I also felt that the characters didn't really develop over this last book, but I think the point of the story was made by the end.

It was a bit of a slog in the middle but the ending was so unexpected and beautiful. I was worried I was not going to be satisfied with it but it was a great one.

This perfectly wrapped up the series.


My love for Gabe and Bastian was so much stronger in this, even through the worst of it. And their love for Lore? Perfection


I truly loved the mythology and history behind Nyxara and Apollius. Such a cleverly written and well drawn out end.

The Nightshade God, Hannah Whitten’s final installment of The Nighshade Crown trilogy, picks up shortly after The Hemlock Queen left off with Lore, Bastian, Gabe, Alie, Malcolm and their allies scattered across the continent. In Dellaire, Bastian remains king but continues to be subject to the machinations of Apollius, Lore is in exile on the Burnt Isles, Alie is being forced into an arranged marriage with the man responsible for Gabe’s childhood injuries, and Gabe and Malcolm are hiding in Caldien. Can they come together to defeat Apollius before he becomes he succeeds in his quest to become the god of everything?

What a fantastic ending to a complex and compelling story! Over the last few years it seems like it has become common for authors of fantasy/romantic fantasy series to add in more and more POVs with each installment, much to my dismay. However, here it actually worked. Whitten did a great job weaving the perspectives of Lore, Bastian, Gabe, and Alie together so that they actually added to the narrative rather than distracted from it. Whitten also did an excellent job throwing in some unexpected plot twists--- I thought I had a general sense of how things were going to come together but there were several plot points that I did not see coming (one of which elicited an audible gasp from me when it happened). At its core, this is a story about power —those who have it and those who do not; its temptation; what we are willing to do or to sacrifice to achieve it; and its ability to corrupt even when it comes to people who are “good” or have seemingly good intentions. It also tackles religion and spirituality and how they can be used to justify hate and violence—which unfortunately continues to be a theme in today’s world. But it also ends on a surprisingly hopeful—and very satisfying—note.

Thanks to Netgalley and Orbit Books for the e-ARC; all thoughts and opinions are my own.