The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten

TL;DR: A deeply disappointing sequel.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much!

Plot: Immediately after book one, and we quickly find out nothing was free will?
Characters: For such fierce characters in book one these three felt so drab and dull.
Setting: The city just sat there. It felt like a prop. Other parts of the setting worked a hair better but not by much.
Romantasy: If we’re going throuple I do wish we’d gotten way more between our guys. Not to mention the ‘it’s fate’ of it all.

Summary:

The corrupt king August is dead. Prince Bastian has seized the throne and raised Lore—a necromancer and former smuggler—to his right hand side. Together they plan to cut out the rot from the heart of the sainted court and help the people of Dellaire. But not everyone is happy with the changes. The nobles are sowing dissent, the Kyrithean Empire is beating down their door, and Lore’s old allies are pulling away. Even Prince Bastian’s changed. No longer the hopeful, rakish, charismatic man Lore knows and loves, instead he’s reckless, domineering and cold.

And something’s been whispering in her ear. A voice, dark and haunting, that’s telling her there’s more to the story than she knows and more to her power than she can even imagine. A truth buried deep that could change everything.

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.

Thoughts:

The Foxglove King was a romantasy I was shocked I enjoyed, but I did! I had found memories of it and it showed a lot of cool promise. Unfortunately it seems to have stepped into book two and fallen flat on it’s face.

Our three main characters, of which I enjoyed in book one, became incredibly wet blankets. Wet get the whiney internal monologue of Lore, back and forth over these two men. The men themselves have very little personality between ‘his one eye’ and ‘it wasn’t him’.

The dump of worldbuilding towards the end was a nice addition but it didn’t save the story. Also the idea that these three are just reincarnations of gods that previously lived really kills the romance for me, I’m not going to lie to you. Simply insisting ‘this is real’ doesn’t change the fact that you’re following a reincarnation script my guys.

Not a great middle book and I don’t think I’ll be continuing. Sad day.