“…it’d only ever been a wound, a fault, a thing to fear and run from. Maybe now she could use it for something good.”
I’ve just finished reading The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten, book one in the Nightshade Crown trilogy. It’s a dark, lush, beautifully written tale about death, corruption and twisted magic. It’s a romantasy lovers dream and I absolutely adored every page.
When we meet our FMC, Lore, she is deep undercover, living as a spy for underground poison smugglers. She’s beautiful and manipulative, however, she has a compassionate and fragile side that she keeps locked away. She does what she needs to survive but is fiercely loyal to the few who protected her as a child and molded her into one of their own. She’s secretive, resourceful, flawed and more powerful than she’d ever thought possible. She does what she needs to survive and it’s often not pretty. I found her incredibly endearing and loved her brutal honesty and cunning.
“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.”
The romance that is delicately woven throughout this book was very well executed. Lore’s heart is pulled in more than one direction and I found mine being dragged along with it. The Foxglove King is written for a more mature audience than other fantasy series I have read recently which I really appreciated; I hope it continues to do so as the series progresses.
As a fan of Sarah J. Maas, Stephanie Garber and Holly Black, I ate this book up. It was original, seductive and morbid. The gothic world Whitten has created has endless potential and I felt slightly bereft soon after finishing this book – I need a sequel immediately. Whitten has me completely and utterly at her mercy.
The Foxglove King will be released on March 9th and is available to pre-order HERE.
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