Review--The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten

 

In this romantic new fantasy series from author Hannah Whitten, a young woman's secret power to raise the dead plunges her into the dangerous and glamorous world of the Sainted King's royal court.

When Lore was thirteen, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the ten years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city.

Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter, and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Lore fully expects a pyre, 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 and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.

Lore is thrust into the Sainted King’s glittering court, where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted. Guarded by Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk, and continually running up against Bastian, August’s ne’er-do-well heir, Lore tangles in politics, religion, and forbidden romance as she attempts to navigate a debauched and opulent society.

But the life she left behind in the catacombs is catching up with her. And even as Lore makes her way through the Sainted court above, they might be drawing closer than she thinks.

 

The Foxglove King brings about a new fantasy series by the one and only, Hannah Whitten. This time we leave the world of sort of fairy tales behind and have just a "regular" fantasy but still an interesting one. The worlds Hannah creates are very intricate and detailed, and her characters are always amazing and are what keep me coming back!

Lore was always the girl who did what she had to survive, she adapted to her surroundings and always tried to stay out of sight of her enemy. Lore has a certain set of powers that allow her to raise the bodies of the dead into a sort of living state, basically, she turns them into zombies but since she doesn't like this power and what it does to people, she doesn't use it...unless she has to.

When Lore gets herself into trouble and ends up working for the Priest Exalted and the king in trying to uncover just what diabolical plans Prince Bastian has going for the kingdom. The two believe he may be a traitor to the crown and they want Lore to find proof. At her side is one of the other priests, Gabriel. Gabe is actually the one who arrested her when her powers unleashed itself in front of authorities.

Now Lore and Gabe must pretend to be brother and sister on a visit all while Lore must find a way to get closer to Bastian and find out just how far his betrayals go. But all is not what it seems in the kingdom.

Going in, I pretty much knew there was going to be a love triangle between Gabe and Bastian and I have to admit, I'm not sure what "team" I'm on at this point! The ending really threw us through the ringer and each man has his potential as to why he should be the "one" and why he shouldn't be it either! Lol. I do feel like Gabe had the strongest lead for the story just because it seemed like Lore spent more time with him and Bastien was known to be quite the romantic, of sorts. He gets around basically!

There was a great deal of mystery going on in this one. Secrets were running rampant in this story from Lore's own background, to the secrets she was trying to uncover, and the ones that were uncovered instead! The story really keeps you on your toes.

I must admit though, the one thing I struggled with yet again was the world-building. I guess because it's a fantasy and it seems so complex. I don't know. I just struggled to get through some parts of the book when things were being set up, explained or shown through actions. It just was a struggle for me to focus. I tried not to remember my past struggles with this author's books because I really do want to love them entirely, but yet, I found myself once again a little bit at a loss.

I did enjoy the characters though, but even great characters can make a story hard to follow because you can't figure out what their purpose is.

The pacing to the story was good. I mean, since I was struggling with the world-building, it was a bit of mess to get through. But I was still pretty invested with these characters and wanting to know where they would end up in the end!

The ending was still pretty surprising too! Lots of exciting things happening at the end of this one that will set the course for the next installment. Things were kind of left up in the air when it came to Lore's relationship choices, and the future looks pretty rocky at this point. I'm not entirely sure if I will continue this series or not since I find myself struggling on yet another of these novels. I mean, third time's the charm right? If anything, I might wait for the paperback the following year or I will wait for reviews to trickle in.But all in all, this was an intriguing and entertaining read, if a bit thick in the world-building area. Things just didn't come across clearly for me in that area and that's kind of a big deal when it comes to reading.

Overall Rating 3/5 stars