Her characters speak with a modern sensibility, which makes the story accessible and often heightens the tension. But it’s also clearly the start to a series, so both of these questions could be resolved in follow-up books.

But the story does an excellent job of also setting up Gabriel, a young man who has been shaped by a great tragedy in his past, and now must struggle with dueling loyalties to Lore and to the religion and its leader who gave him refuge during that tragic event. Mortem was dormant in everyone—the essence of death, the power born of entropy, just waiting to flood your body on the day it failed—but the only way to use it, to bend it to your will, was to nearly die. Her fingers clawed into his hair, and his arm cinched around her waist like he might lift her up, carry her to their mattress on the floor, make her forget that this was something finite. Even more outrageously, they also use their wealth to guarantee themselves good spots in the afterlife, while the poor are condemned to eternal suffering due to the outrageous costs of a proper burial. The Foxglove King is beautifully written, lushly cinematic, unsettlingly mysterious--an unputdownable story of humans and gods.Michal gave the room a narrow-eyed survey before spotting his boot beneath a pile of sheets in the corner. The author takes the time to describe the culture and customs of the city's inhabitants, from the elites’ elaborate clothing to the gritty underworld of the poison runners.

It’d piss her off once she noticed, but the patrons of the Foghorn and Fiddle down the street wouldn’t care. 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. Despite her story, which is filled with tragedy, pain, and betrayal, her wit keeps the reader laughing. Lore heard Elle heave a sigh, as if her brother’s job were a personal affront, the thin walls making it sound like she was right next to Lore instead of all the way on the first floor. Weak sun radiated over the back of Lore’s neck as she stood at the entrance to a dilapidated building a few blocks from Michal’s row house.The Foxglove King is a decadent and deadly feast of a novel, brimming with romance, intrigue, and twisted magic’C. She could try to hop a ship, try to trek out on the winding roads that led into the rest of Auverraine, but it’d be pointless.

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. Right now, her job was making sure the man she’d been living with for a year so she could spy on his boss didn’t get evicted. Pierre didn’t seem to spare any thought for why she’d exited the house barely dressed when mornings near the harbor always carried a chill, even in summer. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around March 7, 2023. I think it’s interesting that this is now the second series that Whitten has written where her magic system involves magical forces directly interacting with the body, often resulting in mildly horrifying temporary changes to one’s physical self.The blurbs on the made me think I was going to get a book closer in tone to Krystle Matar’s Legacy of the Brightwash, but I would say that it is even less dark than Whitten’s Wilderwood Duology.

This didn’t bother me too much since I don’t mind a little info-dumping in my fantasy books, but other readers might be turned off by it. While there are some darker moments involving necromancy, on the whole the tone of the book is fairly standard fantasy fare. Whitten nicely develops both of Lore’s potential love interests, crafting them as flawed yet viable objects of Lore’s attentions. Dripping with dark opulence and sizzling intrigue, The Foxglove King proves Hannah Whitten is a literary force to be reckoned with.BookPage is a recommendation guide for readers, highlighting the best new books across all genres as chosen by our editors. In the row house across the street, Lore heard the telltale sighs of Madam Brochfort’s girls starting their daily squabbles over who got the washtub first, and any minute now at least two straggling patrons would be politely but firmly escorted outside. There is enough substance to keep you engaged without feeling overly heavy or overwhelming as you are enjoying the summer vibes (and for my Southern Hemisphere friends it also works as an autumn read as well! I'm obsessed with The Foxglove King-a perfect concoction of intrigue, magic, thwarted love, and writing as delicate and deeply affecting as the petals of a poisonous plant. This stunning fantasy from Whitten ( For the Wolf) opens 500 years after Godsfall, when death goddess Nyxara died and all other gods followed, leaving Apollius, god of life, as the singular deity worshipped in Auverraine.