My book reviews for The Nightshade Crown trilogy by Hannah Whitten, including The Foxglove King, The Hemlock Queen and as of 31st August 2025, The Nightshade God.  Please be aware that the reviews for books later in the trilogy contain spoilers for previous books.

In this gilded, gothic, and romantic new epic fantasy series from New York Times-bestselling author Hannah Whitten, a young woman's secret power to raise the dead plunges her into the dangerous world of the Sainted King's royal court.

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.

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

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For me, The Foxglove King simply did not live up to Hannah Whitten’s previous work. In the Wilderwood Books, I didn’t just feel that she went against the grain with her characters and their development, but she had me engaged in their stories from the first moment I met them. In The Foxglove King, I didn’t warm up to any of the three main characters and felt that they were all quite stereotypical.

The main character is Lore, a mysterious woman working as a spy before her hidden death magic is revealed, and she is swept up by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks and the only ones legally sanctioned to use death magic. Blackmailed by the King and his brother, the Priest Exalted, to work for them and spy on the King’s wayward son, Lore has no choice but to do as they say. She is accompanied by a monk, a former duke and the lone survivor of an attack when his family betrayed the King. Gabriel is told that to introduce Lore to Court, he must return to take up his title, a title and a past that he thought long left behind when he lost his eye and joined the Presque Mort. Attending to Lore, so she can hook up with the Prince, is the last thing he wants to do.

As the two of them embark on their mission, they find themselves getting closer to Prince Bastian, although not quite in the ways their masters intended. There’s more happening beneath the visage of a decadent court and frivolous parties, and even the deaths that Lore has been told she has to look into aren’t quite what they seem.

I’m not someone who dismisses tropes straight away; however, I can’t help looking at the plot of The Foxglove King, especially having read it and seeing trope after trope piled on top. That is even more disappointing when I know that Whitten can write so much better. One of my biggest dislikes is when a synopsis alludes to something just to sell books, and then it never actually happens in the book. All I’m going to say is that calling it “romance” is a huge exaggeration. There are feelings that build up, but if you’re looking for actual action, then this isn’t the book for you. It’s the slowest of slow burns.

The other aspect of the book that was most off-putting for me was the religious theme throughout. Religion in a fantasy book can mean so many different things. It could be based on a real-life religion, or it could be something completely fictional. In The Foxglove King, it essentially means Catholicism, and religious zealotry is rampant. While there was a hint of this in Whitten’s Wilderwood Books, it was minor, and I got a strong Pagan feel from them. I think that was why it was such a surprise to me that this was the path she chose to go with this series.

With all that being said, Whitten’s world-building, especially her magic system in The Foxglove King, is absolutely amazing. I adore what she has done with Mortem and live for every scene with it. There is so much going on regarding the three characters that is sort of said and hinted at that Whitten has sucked me into the world of The Nightshade Crown for at least a second book. Maybe this one wasn’t quite for me, but it has promise, and I’m curious to know what happens next.

In this epic sequel to the Sunday Times bestseller, The Foxglove King, the glittering and dangerous world of the Sainted King's royal court is forever changed by Prince Bastian's ascension to the throne - and the dark forces gathering beneath it.

The corrupt king August is dead. Prince Bastian has seized the throne and raised Lore to his right-hand side. Together they plan to cut out the rot from the heart of the royal court and help the people of Dellaire. But not everyone is happy with the changes. The nobles are sowing dissent and the Kirythean Empire is beating down their door. Even Prince Bastian has changed. No longer the hopeful, rakish, charismatic man Lore knows and loves, instead he's become reckless, domineering and cold.

With Bastian's coronation fast approaching and enemies whispering on all sides, Lore must figure out how to protect herself, her prince and her country before they all come crumbling down and whatever dark power has been creeping through the catacombs is unleashed .

This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

Content Warnings:

In The Foxglove King, Lore and Bastian survived a prophecy that would have seen Lore dead and Bastian’s body taken over by a god. Bastian is about to be crowned King, Gabriel is now Priest Exalted and Lore, a former poison smuggler, has been elevated to Bastian’s right hand. As Bastian begins to rule the Court, Lore starts to notice changes in his behaviour and fears the worst. Something is whispering in her ear, and she’s beginning to wonder what or who is whispering in Bastian’s ear…

The Hemlock Queen is everything I hoped that the previous book would be, and I loved every moment of it. The character development was much better for a start, and the overall plot was more interesting to me. It’s a lot less religion-based and leans more towards mythology and folklore, which is what I tend to expect from Whitten. It was a wild ride of suspense and emotion, and I can’t wait for book three!

The Nightshade Crown is in the hands of a ruthless god. Lore will stop at nothing to defeat him and save the troubled prince and tortured priest ensnared in his wicked plot, in this final installment of this lush, romantic, New York Times bestselling fantasy series from breakout star Hannah Whitten.

Lore has failed. She couldn’t save King Bastian from the rotten god speaking voices in his mind. She couldn’t save her allies from being scattered across the continent—their own lesser gods whispering to them in their dreams. She couldn’t save her beautiful, corrupt city from the dark power beneath the catacombs. And she couldn’t save herself.

Banished to the Burnt Isles, Lore must use every skill she earned on the streets of Dellaire to survive the prison colony and figure out a way to defeat the power that’s captured everything and everyone she holds dear. When a surprise ally joins her on the Burnt Isles she realizes the way forward may lie on the island itself. Somehow, her friends must help her collect the far-scattered pieces of the broken Fount—the source of all the god’s powers—and bring them back together on the Burnt Isles, returning all magic to its source and destroying, once and for all, the gods corrupting the land.

But as Lore gets closer to her goal, her magic grows stronger… and to a woman who’s always had to fight for survival, that kind of power may be hard to give up.

Content Warnings:

After the end of The Hemlock Queen, I was eager to read the final book in the trilogy and find out how our heroes would get out of the dire situation they found themselves in. With Apollius in control of Bastian’s body, Lore is arrested and imprisoned for treason on the Burnt Isles. Their friends, exhibiting the powers of the other gods, are in exile, trying to find allies to save Bastian and Lore, and prevent Apollius’ dream of a holy Empire coming to pass. 

There were multiple surprises in the second book, and The Nightshade God picks up from the shocking revelation that Apollius has been plotting with none other than the Kirythean Emperor Jax Andronicus, enemy of Dellaire and the man who tortured and maimed Gabe. Revealed to be Bastian’s half-sister, Alie finds herself forced into a betrothal with Jax and left to deal with Apollius alone at court. As a result, Alie is one of the narrators of this book, alongside Lore, Bastian and Gabe, providing a well-rounded account of events as they unfold.

I’ve had mixed feelings about this trilogy from the beginning, with book one not quite meeting my expectations and the second book exceeding them. The third book falls somewhere in between, mostly due to the ending. I can see what Whitten was looking to achieve, but it just didn’t work for me personally. It felt out of place with the rest of the trilogy in some ways, and felt as though Whitten was trying to do too much within the framework she created. Or perhaps, I just read things differently than they were intended. 

I read The Nightshade Crown trilogy for the plot; however, I also liked the romance and spicy scenes. Disappointingly, an MMF scene was tantalisingly hinted at, and did not come to pass. While it wasn’t a requirement for me to enjoy this book, I’m not a fan of having something hinted at and then having an author not deliver. The spicy scenes in The Nightshade God were fun, they just weren’t of the same calibre as the first two books, and personally, I expect the final book in the trilogy to up the ante considerably. 

The final battle was incredible and showcases Whitten’s writing beautifully. I felt every wound, every heartache, and I was hooked from start to finish. I think that is what made the actual ending so unsatisfying for me. I do recommend reading this trilogy, as it’s a wonderful theology-based fantasy series with well-written characters. It just didn’t quite hit the right notes for me.

Thanks for reading my book reviews for The Nightshade God trilogy by Hannah Whitten!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!

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