For The Throne by Hannah Whitten Review

Title: For The Throne

Author: Hannah Whitten

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Orbit

Pages: 496

Release Date: 9 June 2022

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Hello fellow Booklovers, today I’m sharing my review for Hannah Whitten’s dark and richly detailed conclusion to the Wilderwoods Duology, For The Throne and it was honestly just as incredible as the first!

Infused with Whitten’s signature brand of stunning prose, blending horror elements with fairytale-esque world-building (and emotionally complex characters) I can guarantee that fans of dark, atmospheric adult fantasy are going to absolutely love it.

Synopsis

The First Daughter is for the Throne

The Second Daughter is for the Wolf...

Red and the Wolf have finally contained the threat of the Old Kings but at a steep cost. Red's beloved sister Neve, the First Daughter is lost in the Shadowlands, an inverted kingdom where the vicious gods of legend have been trapped for centuries and the Old Kings have slowly been gaining control. But Neve has an ally--though it's one she'd rather never have to speak to again--the rogue king Solmir.

Solmir wants to bring an end to the Shadowlands and he believes helping Neve may be the key to its destruction. But to do that, they will both have to journey across a dangerous landscape in order to find a mysterious Heart Tree, and finally to claim the gods' dark, twisted powers for themselves.

Review

For The Wolf was definitely a standout read for me in 2021–I absolutely loved creepy atmospheric world of gods, monster and sentient woodlands and the creepy otherworldly vibes were just fantastic! I loved it so much that I definitely had high hopes for it’s sequel and I’m glad to say it most definitely lived up to—and surpassed—all of my expectations.

The pacing of the first few of chapters does start off a little slow but soon picks up and we switch between Red and Neve’s POVs. We also get a bit of a refresher for some of the bigger events in book one, which will be helpful if you haven’t read For The Wolf in a while (though I’d still recommend rereading it before starting For The Throne).

I have to say I wasn’t the biggest fan of Neve or her actions in the previous book. However, her development here was soo well crafted that I honestly found myself more invested in her POV chapters than in Red’s (shocking I know given how much I love all of her and Eammmon’s scenes together.)

The Shadowlands (a creepy, inverted world that reminded me of the upside down from Stanger Things) was a really interesting new setting that really gives us a chance to delve deeper into thhe worlds lore surrounding the Gods and the Old Kings which I really enjoyed, and felt that I had a richer sense of this compelling, dark and magically gothic world. The Old Kings are more substantial here than I had anticipated, but I loved our fleshed out and villainous they were.

We do get some mirroring between the Shadowlands and The Wilderwoods but it’s the sisters (Neve and Red) who carry the most parallels in their story arcs. Like Red and Eammon before them, Neve and Solmir have a bit of a love/hate, enemies to lovers relationship which I absolutely loved, Solmir’s swoon worthy, bad boy monster vibe was perfection. He also helps Neve (and the readers) really explore the concept of monsters and what actually defines them.

The ending was full of gloriously plot twisty, edge of your seat action that I didn’t want to put down—and I was definitely satisfied with how things were wrapped up.

All in all, For The Throne is a wonderfully rich and beautifully written dark fantasy and the sneak peak into Whitten’s upcoming new series has me already eager for a copy! If you love dark fantasy then I definitely recommend checking this (and the first book, For The Wolf) out.

Also, thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the e-arc.

About The Author

Hannah Whitten has been writing to amuse herself since she could hold a pen, and sometime in high school, figured out that what amused her might also amuse others. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, making music, or attempting to bake. She lives in an old farmhouse in Tennessee with her husband, children, two cats, a dog, and probably some ghosts.

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