The Foxglove King (The Nightshade Crown 1) by Hannah Whitten

Lore has been living by her wits since she was a child, running poisons for the cartel that took her in, avoiding the attention of the law, and keeping her illicit affinity for death magic a secret.

When a job goes wrong and Lore is captured by the Sainted King’s warrior-monks, she expects death. But King August has a different plan. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening – or face the pyre.

Thrust into a lavish court where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted, Lore must navigate an intricate web of politics, religion, and forbidden romance and solve the King’s mystery. A mystery more dangerous and twisted than Lore can even imagine. (publisher)

Lore is a poison runner and a spy for her adoptive parents in Dellaire. Magic is a rare thing in the world these days, and some people have noted Lore’s powers. Lore can use Mortem, a kind of death magic. After a poison running drop goes wrong, she is brought to the palace and now must spy for the king. Entire villages are being wiped out, and the king suspects that his son Bastian knows something about it. Lore’s mission is to spy on Bastian and act as a cousin to Gabriel, an aristocrat who is now a monk.

I liked Lore, but as someone who’s been a spy for some time, she’s not a very good one. Like, someone has been spying on her since she was a child. And the two people she spies on in the book know about the spying…

I didn’t really mind the love triangle, but oh well. Too many YA vibes for me. I liked all 3 people but not as a love triangle. And I did like the concept of Mortem and the whole death magic thing and all the court intrigue.

I enjoyed the author’s previous books and was looking forward to this new series. And while it had its flaws, I just wanted to keep on reading and wanted to know what happened next. And I definitely want to know how the story continues.

3/5

Published: Orbit (March 9, 2023)
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley

For The Throne (Wilderwood 2) by Hannah Whitten

THE FIRST DAUGHTER IS FOR THE THRONE
THE SECOND DAUGHTER IS FOR THE WOLF

Red and the Wolf have finally contained the threat of the Five Kings, but at a steep cost. Red’s beloved sister – Neve, the First Daughter – is lost in the Shadowlands. But Neve has an ally, even if it’s one she’d rather never speak to again – the rogue king Solmir. Together they must journey across a dangerous landscape to find the mysterious Heart Tree – and finally claim the gods’ dark, twisted powers for themselves. (publisher)

Neve has ended up in Shadowlands, mostly because of her actions in the previous book. And she’s stuck there with Solmir, who was the villain in book 1. They both try to stop the Five Kings from escaping the Shadowlands, but they have different ideas about how to do it. There are also some trust issues since Solmir impersonated Neve’s betrothed.

In the first book, we got a few chapters from Neve’s pov but I wasn’t really interested in those. I didn’t warm up to her at all. So, I was a bit apprehensive about this book before starting. But I really liked Neve in this book. Like Red, she makes rash, and bad, decisions but she’s more calculated and her intentions are darker. In this book, she must come to terms with some of her decisions in the previous book and think about her motivations for doing those.

With Red and Eammon I was rather indifferent at times. I liked them but didn’t love them. I did love Neve and Solmir though. Probably because I liked Solmir more than Eammon. In short, Red and Eammon were the boring pair and Neve and Solmir were the interesting pair.

I didn’t really warm up to Raffe’s chapters with the princess whose name I don’t remember. And I thought he believed her lies too easy. Well to be fair, they all did.

I liked Red and Neve’s relationship through the books and that it was the thing that carried through the books.

4/5

Published: Orbit (June 9, 2022)
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley