I loved the Foxglove King and this book was a fantastic sequel following Lore as she gets used to life as not only the vessel for a goddess but also a future Queen.

There is so much tension in this book as well as twists that I was unprepared for.

We had a lot less of Gabe in this book as Lore and Bastian learn to discover who they are to one another. I’m desperate for the next book already.

Thank you NetGalley, Hannah Whitten and Gollanzc for the arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Middle books are always hard and I thought this was a duology, my own fault for not checking, so I thought the whole time that it was weird that it wasn't wrapping up in the way most books that are ending do.

Overall, I enjoyed learning more about the characters and the gods and how they all fit together, but it still suffered from the middle book syndrome as it is sometimes refered as.

Spoiler alert:

I got a little tired of the "Woah is us" we have gods in our minds and the but I love everyone vibe... I am all for a good polyamorous relationship. But we only get our main character Lore who goes back and forth and it feels like she is going to have to choose but then we get told that Gabe and Bastian do care for each other, but love is a stretch. In both books they barely have any interaction and then seem to be pitted against each other for Lore's affection.
Also the book titles really don't make sense as poison barely plays any part in these books ... First one she was a poison runner and people were taking it as a drug. But this one hemlock is mentioned once being in a garden.

I didn't not like the book but I did not love it as much as I wanted to after the first book. I do want to see how it ends but won't be rushing to read it.

The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten is the second book in The Nightshade Kingdom trilogy. Whitten notes in the acknowledgements that sequels are difficult to write and she found this sequel particularly difficult to pull together and unfortunately it shows.
This book was far longer than it needed to be: it didn’t seem to know where it was going for the first half and delivered three chapters of unnecessary flashbacks in the second half after introducing four extra characters very suddenly.
Our group of main characters showed gradual progression, but their decisions were hard to justify and overall they felt like puppets who were only there to do whatever it took to further the plot. This story manages to simultaneously have a world that is too big and too small, and the same small nuggets of information were hammered home in every chapter until the framework of the story splintered.
Die-hard fans of this series will enjoy the continuation of the entertaining dynamics between some of the characters, but overall this felt like a bit of a flop.

Bastian has taken the throne and Lore is his right-hand person. They are trying to make things better for all their people but not everyone is happy with the changes. Bastian, who seems mysteriously different, is making dangerous decisions while the Kirythean Empire is breathing down their necks. Something dark is whispering to Lore about her power, about a buried truth. She must figure out how to protect everyone before that dark power is unleashed.

It's been about a month since the crazy that happened at the end of book 1 and we claim our comfortable seating in Lore's life again. Seeing that world through her eyes is always interesting, a narrative so subtly observant and intensely visual. Intimate and raw with emotion. Always colored with an appetite for wit. The writing breathes a hinted note of ethereal in its figurative speech, words spun together in often breath-stealing descriptions.

The relationship between our fave trio is more fragile now. If you thought that lovely mess of a situation was resolved you've got another thing coming. And that tension? Yowza! I have always liked the depth which this author gives to her characters, that they are never just one thing. You may not always agree with their decisions, the desire to shake some sense into them is quite strong and often, but you certainly care.

I was quite taken with how the story was built, brick by compelling brick, foreboding its mortar. I must admit it did require a little time to really grab me, lagging in the beginning, in my opinion. When we got more of the voice and started to understand it better, was when the story really started to soar. The suspense became palpable. The intrigue is amped with the court, political and downright self-serving machinations. I really enjoy trying to figure out what is going on along with the protagonist. We do get several shocking revelations and answers.

This is about believing in yourself, finding faith again and trusting in one's feelings. It is about controlling fate. Power and balance are important ingredients of this marvelous sequel vibing with pleasant unpredictability, gut-wrenching intensity and general awesomeness. It changed everything, bringing the storytelling to new heights.

An excellent read that picks up immediately from the end of the last one.

I love the expansion of the lore and the backstory. We get more of the worldbuilding as we find out more about the gods in this sequel.

We also see the effects that the rituals have on all of the main characters in the book, including the emotional toll it takes on Lore, especially.

A solid read, and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

The Hemlock Queen is a solid sequel to The Foxglove King that also sets the scene for the Nighshade God which is due out in 2025.

It picks up the narrative immediately after the events of The Foxglove King and finds Bastian, Lore and Gabe grappling with their new roles - Bastian has ascended to the throne as the new Sainted King with Lore at his side as his Deathwitch, whilst Gabe is now the Priest Exalted. Their desire to cut the rot from the heart of the court and improve the lives of the citizens of Dellaire prove more difficult than they expected, as not everybody is happy with the changes and the Kirythean Empire is circling.

Lore is also struggling to deal with Gabe's betrayal, her confused feelings for both Gabe and Bastian and her dangerous dreams as she increasingly realises that something is very wrong, particularly with Bastian. But the truths buried deep will change everything once they come to light, for "The truth is a wound as often as it is a comfort."

Like The Foxglove King, I enjoyed this book, liked the characters and found the themes of love, betrayal, posession and history repeating itself to be well done. I especially liked the cyclical nature of the unfolding story for "The pattern of the world is cycles, things beginning and ending and beginning again." The world building expanded and deepened, we learned more about the Gods and I appreciated that we got more of Alie and Malcolm too. I did feel that Lore made a few mistakes although her circumstances were certainly challenging and at one point the narrative appeared to be reaching a natural conclusion but then there was a whole other act to follow, which made the book seem a little overlong. Nonetheless I enjoyed it and the true ending certainly sets the scene for a great third book which I will definitely be reading.

4 stars.

Many thanks to both Netgalley and Orbit Books UK, part of the Little, Brown Book Group, for amazing copies of this book - apologies my review is slightly late!

This is one of my favourite books of 2024 so far. The second instalment of the Nightshade Crown series we pick up shortly after the subverted ritual to usher in the god Apollius to power. However rather than dying Lore, Bastian and Gabriel have all survived and defied the prophecy as declaimed by Anton the previous Priest Exalted. Power in the kingdom now has shifted with Bastian as the Sainted King and Lore elevated beyond her expectations to Deathwitch and possible consort of the Sainted King.
Gabe has taken the role of Priest Exalted however the rift set by his betrayal of Lore at the end of the Foxglove King leads to uneasy relations between our three lead characters.
The story moves our characters along at a fine pace and their development with their change in status, power plus living with the consequences of thwarting the prophecy make for compelling reading. The author introduces more back ground to the Gods and their origin and we see the original tragedy being re-enacted by the characters as they become avatars of the banished or dead Gods. As Lore and her friends try to free themselves from the entanglements of being the Gods avatars a climatic ending leaves the reader wanting more. Absolutely cannot wait for the next book!
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC, all views are my own.

The Hemlock Queen takes place immediately after the events of The Foxglove King and it honestly felt like I hadn't been away from this world and it's characters. This book had me eagerly turning the pages, needing to know the fate of our characters who I have grown to love so much.

Lore is an amazing main character who has developed so much from the first book. She's a fighter and a character you cannot help but root for. We got to see a lot of her connection to Bastien in this book and how far she would go for him. Some of his scenes were heartbreaking and I honestly felt so sorry with how torn he seemed to be. Whilst we didn't get to see Gabe as much in this one his connection with Lore was still as strong as ever and I'm interested to see how the relationship between the three progresses.

I really liked how we got a lot of history in this one and we got to learn a lot more about the magic system and the gods in this one. While I managed to guess a few things that were going to happen in this one it didn't stop me from enjoying this one. I cannot wait for the next book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Hemlock Queen picks off right where The Foxglove King left us hanging on a cliff, but the adventurous, tense scheming is now replaced by political fineries, Lore trying to find her place by Bastian‘s side against the obvious disdain of the population, and a fascinating interference by the Gods.

The book is just as well-written and captivating as all of the author‘s previous books, and I could barely put it down. The characters are developed further with the added layer of the Gods‘ backstories and the world building is expanded. Whereas the characters were what kept me hooked in the first book of the trilogy, here it was the plot that kept me invested, because although there was some character development for our original cast, I felt like it was overshadowed by the Gods.

I‘m not sure I like the way the romance subplot has been developing. At the beginning of the book I was extremely frustrated by Bastian because he seemed to be going through a Tamlin-like character downgrade (with the distinction that I saw it coming from a mile away for Tamlin), but thankfully that was resolved well after a while. Either way, I missed his flirty, bantering side a lot in this installment. We don’t get to see a lot of Gabe either, and instead Lore mostly clings to the idea of him in her head, the version he was before the betrayal. I understand that there’s still some of that in him, but personally I wouldn’t be able to see past the betrayal. Overall the romance seems to devolve into some sort of polyamorous love triangle situation, but at the same time it doesn’t feel very deliberate - more like the author can’t decide which pairing should be endgame and tries to find a way to keep both options open.

This installment ended on another major cliffhanger after a seemingly perfect plan went wrong, and I am not sure how the author plans on coming back from that. There seems to be no way out other than killing off at least one of the main characters, and while I think that would be quite interesting, it’s not how books usually end. Either way, the author mentions in her note that she was wary of the middle-books-in-trilogy phenomenon, but I must say that this is one of the few middle books that I liked almost as much as the first book.

All in all, I‘m looking forward to the finale of the series and any other books the author is planning to write.

4.5/5 stars.

Hannah Whitten is fast becoming one of my favourite fantasy authors, I loved the foxglove king and this sequel is dare I say, even better than the first, I loved the character development and high stakes plot, theres a great blend of fantasy and romance, neither over bearing, and Hannah's world building is unmatched, anyone else wanting all 3 to end up together? 👀

I was so excited to read this! The dark gothic and fantasy vibes just pulled me in just by the cover and didn't disappoint. After the plot twist at the ending of book one, I was so glad I already had the second book to dive into. Bastian is such an intriguing character, the dark and eerie atmosphere just suits him to a tee. I found the pacing of the book a bit slow but it catches up in the end. The religion themes were interesting and the struggles Bastian and Lore both face brought a good contrast.

Special thanks to Little Brown Group UK and Netgalley for providing me an advance copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book suffers from what I call “the second book in the trilogy syndrome”. This happens when you have a great start, fantastic finish and an okay center, necessary to drive plot forwards, but not an A+ student overall.
The start of the book was very slow and the narrative moved at a glacial pace, however, in the last third of the novel it picked up and I found the ending very strong.
I appreciated the presence of a love triangle as oppose to a “love V” pretending to be a love triangle and the theme of divine possession was my favourite.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc of this book! My opinions are my own.


Protection.
A cage, a leash, control by a more palatable name.

After finishing book one in this trilogy only shortly before the second book came out, I was surprised and very happy to be given the chance to read the arc of book 2 as well! I enjoyed the first book, The Foxglove King, a lot, although I hadn't quite recovered yet from the plottwist at the end. Nonetheless I immediately dove into the second installment of the series, because I couldn't wait to find out more about the story and its magic!

The second book pretty much takes off where the first book ended. Bastian has now become the Sainted King, with Lore at his side as his Deathwitch. Together (though not... together) they must navigate the politics of their new reality, while - literally - working their magic to prevent a war and to keep at bay forces they don't yet fully understand.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, maybe even more than the first one. I loved learning a bit more about the religion within this world, and to get to know the characters a little better. But the thing I loved most was the perfect atmosphere Hannah Whitten paints - it's a little dark, a little eerie, with wanting and doubting and choosing and feeling all woven through.

The downside to reading book 1 and 2 so close together is that I am now fully committed to this series and that I will still have to wait for book 3 to find out how it ends. Wish me luck?

The Hemlock Queen is the sequel to The Foxglove King, a book I enjoyed a lot last year. At the end of that first book Bastian has become king and, going against prophecy, Lore still lives. In this sequel we continue on with how they are faring afterwards. Because of course that was not the end.

We start shortly after the ending of the first book. Bastian is king, Lore is next to his side while Gabe is now head of the guards. But something seems to be off. Bastian seems to be off. And Lore is hearing a voice in her head. Everything in her shouts that they should stop channelling mortem. But Bastian keeps pushing. The gods, their gods, seemed to want to make a reappearance into real life.

After having read this book, I'm not sure how I feel about it. The book started of very slow and at 33% I was getting a little bored. The set-up of this book is incredibly slow and while I understand that when it comes to the base plot of showing the decay of Bastian, something more could have been happening here.

Partially this is because Lore is very hands off in this book. While in the first book she was very active and forward. She is passive and unsure of her place in court. People are gossiping that she is in Bastian's bed. She isn't but they share appartments. I can understand what she is coming from. Her life was never easy and her first time at court was hard. Now she is at court and has all the luxury and safety she can ask for. But it doesn't make for a great read when our main character isn't really responding to any of the signs around her. She is worried a lot of the time but nowhere does she take action or share her worries with others. Yet she feels affronted when her 'friends' didn't trust her or share any of their worries with her.

The plot idea in itself is fine but the execution leaves some to be desired. Its not a bad book either. I still read through the last 50% rather quickly. I was still invested up to a certain point. I'm still looking forward to the third book, and I hope that the execution of the story picks up again.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley.

I was on the fence about book one but was intrigued enough to continue reading the series and I'm glad I did. I feel like this series is definitely more *vibes* than anything else but it works for me and I imagine many other readers. The relationship between Lore-Bastian-Gabe is one I'm now heavily invested in and I need it to work out between them.

The first part of the book is a little slow as Lore is traumatised from the events of the last book (3 weeks earlier) and she's a much more passive character than in book one. However, Lore slowly comes back to herself and the tension ramps up as Bastian struggles to hold onto who he used to be.

I will definitely be reading the final book and look forward to its release!

This doesn’t happen very often to me, but I think I loved this second book even more than the first one.
The stakes are higher, the tension thicker and the longing more heart-breaking. Add to that the group of secondary characters that heighten the sense of loyalty and friendship by forming a perfect squad of bickering plotters, past echoes and destinies ever more present, and you get the perfect book for me.
Be warned, the slow burn might make you spontaneously combust at some point. I’ve said this before, but nobody writes longing like Hannah Whitten and the feelings between our three main characters are nothing if not intense longing, desire and desperate need to belong.
I would only add that Whitten has a way with words that leaves in awe every time I read on of her books and the way the emotions, the plot and the writing comes together made my heart feel like it could burst at any minute when I read The Hemlock Queen.
I would now give most of my organs to read the next book.

Title: The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten
The Nightshade Crown #2

Release Date: April, 11th, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Stars

After the death of the corrupt King August, Prince Bastian ascends the throne with Lore, a necromancer and former smuggler, by his side. Together, they aim to purge corruption from the kingdom of Dellaire and improve the lives of its people. However, not everyone welcomes these changes. Nobles sow dissent, the Kyrithean Empire threatens invasion, and Lore's old allies distance themselves. Moreover, Bastian's personality undergoes a drastic transformation, becoming reckless and distant. Meanwhile, Lore hears a dark voice urging her to uncover hidden truths about her power and the kingdom's secrets. With Bastian's coronation approaching and enemies closing in, Lore must protect herself, the prince, and their country from impending danger and prevent the release of a mysterious dark power lurking beneath the surface.

Hannah Whitten does it again with "The Hemlock Queen," delivering an electrifying sequel packed with tension and angst that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. The book's wild ending left me craving more, showcasing Whitten's talent for crafting a gripping story. If you're looking for an epic sequel that delivers on every front, look no further than "The Hemlock Queen.


Thank you to The Publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK | Orbit, The Author Hannah Whitten & NetGalley for an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review.

3.5⭐️
Picking up where The Foxglove King left off, The Hemlock Queen continued to build and explore the dark, gothic world that the author crafted in Book 1, expanding on the courtly politics and divine tensions. Though the main plot thread if this was interesting and exciting and I enjoyed unraveling and guessing (mostly correctly!) what was happening, I found the continuing love triangle between Lore, Bastion and Gabe irritating.

There were multiple hints to romantic/sexual tension between Bastion and Gabe which just didn’t feel backed up by the narrative and Lore’s constant dilemma and insistence that she loves them both felt whiny and quite frankly made her annoy me as a protagonist. I was team Bastion in Book 1 and that didn’t change and I think I would have enjoyed this more if Lore hadn’t continued her flip flopping between the men. For a lot of readers this wont be a problem and they’ll like the book even more because of it but for me it just didn’t work. I’ll still most likely read the next book as I’m intrigued what will happen next, especially after the cliff hanger ending.

✨”They only made a whole with three parts, and one was always missing.”✨

💀It can be said that the Hemlock Queen does not suffer from the "second book syndrome" because ,from the very beginning,it always proceeds with a fast pace that keeps you glued to the pages without giving you a moment's respite.
I found all the elements that I loved in Foxglove King and much more: the events pick up exactly where the first book left off starting with the events within the glittering and devious Court and then moving in other new directions and aspects.The world building will expand introducing us to new territories, new elements that will lead to even more intricate power plays and political intrigue and especially provides new information about the mythology

The characters all remain complicated ,flawed and well developed and although sometimes they make choices and have questionable behaviors, I don't feel like judging them because I understand the motivations that pushed them in that direction.

The love triangle between Lore,Bastian and Gabe still remains one of the few well-done and well-balanced that I ever read : in the first book Gabe had had more space ,while in this one Bastian stole the show keeping himself,however,always well balanced with the characters of Lore and Gabe.

The Hemlock Queen was one of the releases I was most looking forward to this year and (thankfully) it lived up to very high expectations! Let's just say it was a bit like reading Zodiac Academy in which everything happens, you suffer from beginning to end, and for every (rare) straight thing twenty more go wrong. Also it was everything I had loved before and more Managing to keep me glued to the pages even in the slower parts!
A book you were looking forward to reading?

Not sure where to start... Did I like it? Yes, a lot! But not quite as much as the first book.
This is mainly due to the fact that it took me a while to get involved again. Not that the story wasn't interesting, I was glad to find the characters again, only I didn't see where the issue was! Yes there were tiny problems they had to solve... But nothing huge! And afterwards you understand what she was building up to... And then it all comes down crashing!
So I went from "Well it's not going THAT bad for them!" to "oh no... No no no no!"

Be ready to a story full of gods, faith, power and deceptions.
It ended having me asking when the next book is coming out... And I really hope Hannah will be good to our poor hearts,,, because I'm scared of how it could end up!

*Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an e-ARC against an honest review.*