“Someone pays for the mistakes we make... Either we do, or we leave it to those who come after us.” #ForTheThrone #HannahWhitten

Genre: #Fantasy #Romance #DarkFantasy #Retelling

Books: 2 / 2

I loved #ForTheWolf and this book has been one of the most anticipated reads of this year.

Rare occasion when the second book is much better than the first one. Author has really thought through Wilderwood and Shadowlands with all the creepy creatures living there.

If the first book was mainly about Red and all her sacrifices then the second book is mainly about Neve, Red’s sister, who at the end of the first book left for the Shadowlands.

I absolutely fell in love with Neve as a character, mostly because the decisions she was making were her own and conscious.

Second book explores two worlds, why they have appeared and who holds powers within them. Solmir want’s Shadowlands to perish and for this he needs help from Neve, not without the sacrifices of course.

Shadowlands, I had a feeling and vibe of a very dark fairytale here. There was just something special about all those Old creatures, loosing humanity and finding Neve’s own power and answers to all the questions.

The ending of this book was brilliant, it surprised me, I was not expecting it, but at the same time, author hasn’t left anything unfinished.

Brilliant duology, perfect for retelling and dark fairytale fans.

I can’t wait to read more books written by this talented author.

What a brilliant sequel!

I absolutely loved being reunited with Red and Eammon again but was so eager to see more of Neve and Solmir, especially after the end of the first book. Neve is so fierce and I absolutely adored her conviction and stubbornness, something which occasionally causes more problems than it solves, and of course Solmir. The once King who we get to know very well throughout this book and I was so happy with his arc! To be honest, everyone's character arc in this book was satisfying and made me incredibly happy. Something which the epilogue accomplishes in only a few pages after the epic conclusion.

The plot was amazing. It followed directly on from the first book, something I greatly appreciated and finished the story off very well. It was dramatic, fast-paced and wickedly engaging. I was desperate to find out what was going to happen next and just like the first book I loved the extra POV chapters to fill out the story more. These allowed us to know more of what was going on outside of the main quest and gave us a much bigger picture of the general world. As well as enabling us to get to know the cast of characters better. And the ending was just brilliantly electric! I was annoyed I was reading it in public as I couldn't really react to what was happening properly.

And the writing was outstanding. Just like the first book, it was atmospheric and twisted and the romance was absolutely perfect. I cannot wait for Hannah Whitten's next book as I know that it is going to be incredible.

*thank you to orbit and netgalley for providing me with a proof copy of this book!*

i think this book would really benefit from a reread, so i can pick up on a lot of the subtleties that i missed the first time.

i find the way this book wrapped up the duology to be really interesting, some aspects of it were done in ways i found so surprising and fresh.

i wish we had spent more time with red and eammon in particular; it felt very one note in the way that everything was about saving neve. i found it pretty tedious by the end of the story, and some of the repetitive nature of the plot had me struggling a little bit.

it's taken me a long, long time to read less than 500 pages, and i have to be honest and say i'm a little disappointed after giving the first book five stars.

at the minute, i'm settling on a 2.5 or 3 star rating, because i simply didn't have the greatest time reading it and i'm very sad about it.

For the Throne continues (and concludes) the story of twin sisters, Red and Neve, both in different ways locked into inescapable destinies. Red is now happily settled in the Wilderwood with her Wolf, but Neve is trapped in the upside down, shadowy monochrome world of the Shadowlands. Neve must journey through this horrific landscape to find the enigmatic Heart Tree, which might somehow, with luck, and a huge dose of sisterly love, show her the way to return to the world above. On the way there are monsters and gods to contend with, and no one to help Neve - unless she can be persuaded to place her trust in her enemy Solmir.

Most of the story takes places in the creepy world of the Shadowlands, following Neve and Solmir - and what a scary, disturbing world it is! Fortunately there are brief respites, and flashes of colour, as Red works from her side of the barrier to reach Neve.

There is perhaps a lot of trudging along through the Shadowlands' wastes, but at the same time this gives Neve time to reflect on some of her earlier decisions, and on Solmir's character and intentions - for the first, acknowledging that they may not have been as right as she believed, for the latter - well - that he may not be as out and out evil as she'd assumed. In both regards, Neve has a lot of personal growing to do.

All in all a gripping mix of magic, horror, and sisterly love.

2.5 ⭐️⭐️ rounded up to 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to Little Brown Book Group/Orbit and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.

Unfortunately for me this sequel did not live up to the first book in this duology.

I found the characters to not be as fleshed out, the villains weren’t very villainous, I didn’t feel the sense of danger or urgency I should have as I didn’t really get to know the Kings, their motives weren’t fully realised or interesting and they didn’t end up really playing a part in what was a very anti-climatic climax.

I think the idea of this world, and magic is really interesting, but again for me this wasn’t full realised in the text. I strongly believe the first book should have been a shade longer and a stand alone.

The author can write and did have some interesting ideas and characters so I would pick up their next book to see if the issues I had for in For The Throne are overcome with more experience.

For the Throne is the follow up novel to For the Wolf, which I high very high expectations for as For the Wolf was one of my favourite books of last year! Just as atmospheric, lyrical and touching as the first, Hannah Whitten continues to cement her place as an up and coming SFF author to watch out for!

Continuing to follow the story of Red and Neve (with Neve the focus of this book) we pick up right where we left off after book 1 with Neve trapped in the mysterious underworld with the evil Solmir and Red on the surface trying to free her. We also get the POV of Rafe, Neve's childhood friend who is tied up in kingdom politics.

I really enjoyed this book, although not quite as much as For the Wolf (creepy forests and forest magic will always have a special place in my heart and there wasn't as much of that in this one). The plot continues to build from book one and I thought this was so beautifully paced that everything just flowed beautifully, it didn't feel too fast or too slow even though a lot happened and we got plenty of emotional touching moments. I thought everything concluded really well and it was a very satisfying ending.

The duology has excellent themes, especially those of sisterhood and sacrifice. The lengths Red and Neve are willing to go to for each other is so emotional and makes me want a sister lol. Whilst they are separated for a lot of this book you still really feel the love they have for each other and how their care for the other drives every action.

I wasn't a big of a fan of the romance in this one between Neve and Solmir, it was good and well written and I had nothing wrong with it exactly, I just wasn't completely obsessed with it like I was with Red and Eammon. However I do think if you are a fan of enemies to lovers and the sarcastic dark love interests you might like this one more! (Personally I'm a sucker for cinnamon roll grumps like Eammon).

I did really like getting to know more about Neve and seeing her character grow. I would say she is a bit of a darker character than Red, she has had a lot more responsibility and witnessed more horrors, as well as having been manipulated by the evil characters in book 1 - which makes her character very complex and compelling to read about. I also LOVED Rafe's story and his POVs were honestly probably my favourite. He is such a sweetheart and I loved seeing him grow and stand up for himself, as well as finding a bit of romance uwu.

A lot of this book takes place in an underworld/hellscape environment, which I loved for the spooky vibes but also from the descriptions I couldn't picture anything but the elephants graveyard from the lion king T_T

In summary I would highly recommend this duology and the sequel definitely doesn't disappoint. Creepy magic, an stunningly written forest environment, sisterhood and romance, all combine to create a beautiful and memorable reading experience.

This is the second and final book Wilderwood duology. I believe it is an adult fantasy story and it follows two sisters, Princess Neve and Redarys, known as Red. I thought this was a good sequel but I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book. The writing is good, the characters are well written and the world is an interesting one. If you liked the first book, it's well worth checking out this second book.

I didn't love this book as much as I did the first one, but it was still a really good read.

Neve has been separated from her sister Red, and is desperate to get her back. Travelling through the Shadowlands with a man she hates, she starts to learn more about herself than she thought she would.

I really enjoyed that we still got to hear from Eamonn and Red in this book, it definitely broke up some of the chapters where you spent a long time just travelling through the Shadowlands with Neve. The atmosphere in this book is outstanding, and really compelled me to keep going.

My only complaint is that the end of the book seemed to be really quick and felt a touch rushed, but it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment.

For the Throne continues on directly from where For the Wolf left off so if you don’t quite remember what happened in that book it is worth re-reading or catching yourself back up before picking this one up. While there isn’t a direct catch-up written in, it is pretty obvious from the way Whitten writes the narrative what has happened and through the character’s dialogue you learn what happened. Neve is in the Shadowlands, a choice she consciously made, and Red and Raffe watched her make the decision.

The first book was Red’s story, whereas this one is Neve’s and likewise it is an echo of the first book in that this time it’s about saving Neve rather than Red. As with the previous book the main character’s narration is dominant, and the other sister’s narration runs parallel. While we follow Neve’s journey through the Shadowlands, we also follow Red’s attempts to find a way to get Neve out of the Shadowlands. This time there’s a third narrator; Raffe who acts as the reader’s eyes in Valleyda just as Neve did in the previous book. He plays a much larger role in this book, throw into the position of keeping up the ruse that Queen Neve is ill rather than missing in the Shadowlands. It was great to see more of him as a character and his narration is a wonderful change of pace to the two sisters.

Neve is the dark to Red’s light, and with much of For the Throne set in the Shadowlands Whitten was able to delve into a much darker space. While the Wilderwood had its Grimm fairytale elements of horror, the Shadowlands is pure gothic horror. I got some very strong Lovecraftian and H. R. Giger vibes from it. These vibes mixed with Whitten’s luscious style result in some dark and disturbing descriptions that are also just so delicious. It’s like eating delicious ice cream that gives you brain freeze; tastes so good, but it has that wicked edge to it.

I like Red as a character, however, it’s Neve that I found easier to understand and connect with. The dedication for this book reads “for anyone who grew thorns instead of flowers – you had your reasons” and that really resonated with me on many levels. This is a book about exploring the decisions we make, the truth of our feelings regarding them and taking ownership of them, especially the darker aspects of ourselves. In For the Throne Whitten explores how we create our own identity, the one that we are happy with, that we can answer to. Neve has to come to terms with her actions and their consequences, and decide how they are going to let them define her.

Once again I was blown away by Whitten’s storytelling and visual descriptions in For the Throne. I loved the world-building in both books, and how she brought everything full circle to fit together. I don’t think I’ve ever read such a well written duology, and I’m looking forward to reading Whitten’s next book The Foxglove King!

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.

The Wilderwood has been contained but at what cost. Red is determined to do whatever it takes to rescue Neve from the shadowlands, the place filled with the old gods of legend, and where the Kings of old are plotting to return to the world and take over. Luckily, she isn't alone. Trapped alongside Solmir, the one person she refuses to trust, Neve has to learn to traverse this world of magic and mayhem if she is to help him bring an end to the shadowlands and the Kings once and for all. But not everything is as simple as it seems, to do this Red and Neve will need to travel to the mysterious heart tree and maybe just become monsters themselves if they are to save everyone that they love.

For the Throne is a stand out sequel and ending to Whitten's duology, and I think I may have preferred this to book one thanks in large part to it being told from mainly Neve's POV. In book one I really empathised with Neve. Her decisions, though not always well thought out, always came from the best of intentions, her determination to save her sister from the fate that a few minutes gave her, but in this book she absolutely shines as a character. She grows into her own person, and although her need to save Red and those she loves is still there, she gives herself the chance to become something more, to think and feel for herself, about herself, and she quickly comes to realise that while Red was made for the light, she was made for the darkness. Her conviction and outright bravery, even in the direst of situations was definitely something to behold, and I loved seeing her come out of her shell and grow into the person she was destined to be.

Though Neve was by far the main POV we also get chapters from Red who is dealing with the new form the Wilderwood has taken, learning to test new boundaries and trying to find out what has happened to her sister, as well as Raffe who is trying to hold the Kingdom together with a missing Queen. I loved the inclusion of some of my favourite characters from book one, and especially enjoyed the new ones we get introduced too. Whitten keeps our group small, there's a tight knit group of MC's and some side characters that make small appearances, but this just means that we get a true deep dive into our characters and ensure that we fall in love with every single one.

As with book one, Whitten graces us with a well built, equally beautiful and horrific magic system. The magic of the Shadowlands may be darker than that of the Wilderwood, but it is equally as dangerous to those who wield it. Fueled by the magic taken from destroying the offspring of God's, Neve toes a thin line between needing to protect herself and making sure she doesn't loose her soul to the shadowlands for good. Alongside this we have Red and Eammon needing to test the boundaries of their new magic thanks to the changing of the Wilderwood and the polarity between the two, between darkness and light, seemingly good and bad was brilliantly done.

If there's one thing I love about these books it's Whitten's writing style, it's delicious and enticing and just effortlessly drags you into the story. She manages to make you feel the bleakness of the Shadowlands, the magic of the Wilderwood through her descriptive writing, while also using it to give us further insight into our two main characters. Her use of foreshadowing and plot twists was so beautifully done and she manages to write a book that is both something you want to savour and something you find impossible to put down. Whitten brings a lot of different elements and plot points to this story, Red's wanting to save Neve, Solmir's determination to kill the Kings, the need to destroy the shadowlands, the development of new relationships and the cementing of old ones, but she weaves them all together so incredibly seamlessly that you never feel overwhelmed.

Whitten develops a whole bunch of different relationships through this story. We see Red and Eammons love grow for each other, Neve & Solmir's delicious enemies to lovers, as well as plenty of other's both romantic and platonic that get addressed, but throughout this whole series there has been one relationship that has stood out above the rest and that is the love between Red and Neve. They would do absolutely anything to save the other, even if it meant death, and even though we get to see their romantic relationships develop throughout the story, we also see their desperation to get back to one another, no matter the cost. P.S. If you're an enemies to lovers fan you need to pick up this book because the tension and drama was just off the charts.

For the Throne was the perfect ending to this duology. Whitten has created something special with this series and I am incredibly excited to see what she has in store for us next.

A great sequel! I really enjoyed the first book and it carried on through this one, thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an arc of this book.

For the Throne is a brilliant sequel to the For the Wolf duology full of suspense, action, gothic fantasy and dynamic characters. A story of love, loss and power.

I absolutely loved the relationship between the sisters - Neve and Red. Even though this story mostly focuses on Neve, the book’s foundation is the love between them both. And as one of five sisters myself, I felt this pull deeply.

We are introduced to the shadowlands (a new setting where we find Neve) and I loved the immersive gothic vibes that was felt here.

The story also continues to explores its morally grey characters, as well as the enthralling enemies to lovers theme. And Neve and Solmir’s relationship was captivating (full of banter and antagonistic chemistry) and I adored seeing more of Red and Eammon, as more layers unfolded in their relationship
Hannah Whitten appears to have this magic to her writing - cheesy as it sounds, her riveting writing truly did draw me in as a reader.

I really did enjoy this mesmerising, atmospheric, gorgeous story.

Thank you for my advanced copy.

Red and Eamonn have contained the Five Kings in the Shadow Lands..for now. But Red has lost Neve to it. The Queen finds herself an unlikely ally in Solmir, the rogue King. They must travel across a perilous landscape to find the Heart Tree and claim the evil Kings’ magic for their own.

The Wilderwood Duology is complete! For The Throne, the sequel to the epic For The Wolf, continues the story of Red and her sister Neve and it does not disappoint!

In this book, we are brought into the Shadow Lands and I was excited to see how Whitten could change up the perspective and immerse us into the darker side of this world.

Perfectly paced with the right amount of action and introspection by the main characters, For The Throne is told from multiple point of views. I enjoyed reading the story from Neve’s perspective as she’s the character I really didn’t take to in the first book. I wasn’t attached to her character at all but she won me over in this story. Solmir almost stole the show from Neve on a number of occasions. The dark, brooding villain with a wicked sense of humour, is the perfect contrast to the young queen.

This dark fantasy has the perfect combination of themes and tropes that you need for an exciting read- friends to enemies to lovers, world-building, multiple story arcs, anti-heroes and redemption, the strength of the sisterly bond, kinship, found families and, of course, gothic, dark romance.

Whitten’s books have become one of my favourite fantasy reads and the ending was flawless (no spoilers but be prepared for a few tears!).

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the arc. For The Throne is out now.

For the Throne is the sequel to For the Wolf and set close to the ending of that. With the Kings having been kept in the shadowlands, a new problem arises for Red and Woldf Her sister has gone into the Shadowlands. And with her is Solmir, the guy who betrayed her in the above world. While Red is doing everything in her power to bring her back, Neve is finding a whole new problem in the Shadowlands. It is dying...

The sequel follows Neve more though we remain following Red. Added to that is the point of view of Raffe, Neve's suitor in For the Wolf. I could honestly have done without the added point of view of Raffe in this. It was to point out how his feelings changed for Neve. But I don't think we as reader nessecarily needed that. He didn't add too much else. He was almost always within the story of Red.

Sometimes the point of view of Red also did not add that much extra to the story. It bogged down the story somewhat and slowed down the pace considerably. It is these things that took away from this story being able to make a bang.

This really was a great end to The Wilderwood Duology. I loved how easily Whitten was able to take me back into the story. She has a way with words that just grabbed my attention from the start. Just from the way the Wilderwood was depicted in For The Wolf (FTW), I was eager to see how the magic of the shadowlands was going to be portrayed and I wasn’t disappointed!!

The story has multiple POVs but the story centers around Neve. Neve really grew on me in this book. We had a few POV chapters from her in FTW but I wasn’t attached to her character. But Neve really won me over in this one and I found myself looking forward to her POV. I loved seeing her journey through the Shadow Lands. In this book, we see her trying to come to terms with her actions in FTW and trying to be better.

Solmir was an interesting character. In FTW, he was the villian but now in For The Throne, he’s Neve’s love interest. From the beginning of this book, you can see that there’s more to him than what meets the eye. I really enjoyed seeing him and Neve bond and I actually really loved the ending for him and Neve - I just felt like it was a very fitting end.

I got really excited when I saw that Red was having her own POV. I really loved her character in FTW so I really enjoyed seeing her try to fight for Neve. I also really loved how we got to see her relationship with Eammon. They really are a perfect couple and you see how fiercely Eammon loves her.

What I loved the most about this book is the sisterly love between Neve and Red. I loved how strong their bond is and how no matter what, that bond between them doesn’t waiver.

This duology definitely deserves more hype! Thank you to netgalley and Little Brown Group UK for sending me this eARC.

I was such a fan of Hannah Whitten’s first book in the series, For The Wolf, and was very excited to learn there was going to be a sequel….especially given the cliffhanger! I couldn’t wait to hear more of Eamonn, Redd, Lyra and Fife so grabbed the opportunity to read and review this new novel as soon as I could.

I must admit though that I did struggle a little with For The Throne initially.

I had binge read the first book – being hooked on Redd, her friends and their magical forest - but had difficulty getting into this one, as I found Neve (Red’s twin sister) to be a less compelling character.

As the story developed, both Neve and Solmir began to grow on me though and the story of two sisters on opposing sides of a legendary battle, desperate to return to each other, turned the later 2/3rds into a page turner.

For The Throne is set largely in the eery Shadowlands as we root for Neve in her attempt to return to the real world.

The author builds so much tension as we encounter creatures, Gods and fallen Kings, as well as a mysterious dream voice talking in riddles.

The narrative had a lot of romantic misunderstandings, miscommunication and pining…..perhaps a few too many couples by the end (not everyone has to be paired up). But all in all, a satisfying end to the story.

This is a perfect sequel and an amazing end to such a wonderful duology. I was hooked right from the beginning. I loved seeing the characters once again and fell in love with them all over again. I'm sad the duology is over but I can't wait to read more from this author!

Once again Hannah gives a beautifully written fantasy!
This was a highly anticipated release for me and getting to enjoy it prior to publication just made me more excited.

It was always going to be a tough gig for Whitten to follow up last year's mesmerising For the Wolf - but she has written another story of the Wilderwood that is just as captivating, knotty and magical.

Caution: mild spoilers below for For the Wolf - don't go on if you haven't read that book, try my review of it instead. For the Throne really isn't a standalone.

In the earlier book, loosely a take on Red Riding Hood, the focus was on Redarys (Red), the Second Daughter of the Queen, whose fate was to be sent into the Wilderwood, to be given to the Wolf and done with according to his wishes. The First Daughter, Neve, in contrast, was reserved for the Throne. That book told how Red accepted, but subverted, her apparent fate; fell in love with the Wolf (who was also the Wood); came to understand that the garbled folk tales of Valleyda missed out a lot, and saved the Wood - and the World - from the evil forces of the Shadowlands. Neve, who featured less in For the Wolf, was determined to fix things. Tusting the old stories she set out to 'rescue' Red - and thereby caused a heap of trouble, ignoring Red's wishes and pandering to an Ancient Evil (I LOVE an Ancient EVIL!)

Neve ended up enchanted, asleep in a glass coffin in a monochrome Underworld. Thus begins For the Throne, which, if the first book was informed by Red Riding Hood, is clearly riffing off Snow White - Neve has her own dodgy prince with her in the Shadowlands, a realm of rot and decay inhabited by melancholy monsters and dead necromancer kings. Solmir was very much the villain of the previous book, but now he needs something from Neve - and she needs him, because only he can help her escape from the Shadowlands.

The book therefore follows something of the same template as For the Wolf, Neve's relationship with Solmir beginning with the same lack of trust as that between Eammon, the Wolf, and Red in the earlier book. But Whitten doesn't just give us a recap - great though it was, that would have been a disappointment. No, Neve's journey is quite different to Redarys's. We are reminded by the title that Neve was always meant to be a queen, and the way she approaches Solmir - and the other strange and creepy denizens of the Shadowlands - reflects this. Neve's actions in For the Wolf, disastrous as they were, flowed from her wish to be in charge, to control, and from the fact that she had the position to achieve to achieve this.

Now she has no authority, no power, no control. Yet she is the same Neve as before, albeit rather a chastened one, and she soon understands that something about her - what? - is necessary to Solmir, to the Kings, to their Children. Neve is still a Queen, but to survive - to escape the Shadowlands, rejoin Red and prevent a catastrophe - she has to find a different way to be a Queen. Tempted with glimpses of dark magical power - it fairly roils from the creatures and inhabitants of the Shadowlands - the possibility of corruption by way of that power and control lurks at every twist and turn of this fascinating and compulsive story. Neve's story is very internal, very psychological, projected onto her relationship with Solmir, which becomes equally complex. The dialogue between them is perfect, simultaneously negotiating their predicament and a burgeoning relationship, albeit one with Secrets.

We see much less, on the other hand, of Red and her group of friends and allies. From their perspective, Neve is lost and needs to be recovered, but they have little knowledge of how to do this. The repercussions of her vanishing are gradually spreading through Witten's little world of kingdoms and thrones, but they're overshadowed by different rumblings - earthquakes and disturbances, as though the very roots of the universe are failing. Amongst all this, Red does what she can, but is much less active here.

This is a nicely balanced story which, as I have said, is a lot more than a redo of the first book but still retains much the same balance between fairy tale and real, even gritty, atmosphere (and for "gritty", when it comes to some of the scenes between Red and Eammon, read "steamy"). As I have said, it really isn't a standalone. Apart from straightforward spoilers from reading this book first, there is a lovely interplay of development and personality, across the two books, between Red and Neve. Their outlooks and personalities have been shaped by prophecies and their supposed destinies, but there is much more to the two women than those factors - as Whitten triumphantly demonstrates.

Just as good as the first book, For the Throne complements and deepens its consideration of chartist, fate and prophesy, creating something in the duology that is a great deal more than the sum of its parts.