Talk about a magic system I’m in love with – The Foxglove King is luscious, decadent, and deadly. It’s a story about sacrifice, choice, and self-preservation. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
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.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
If you love the idea of poison running, magical courts, and necromancy, you have to pre-order The Foxglove King right now. I immediately fell in love with Lore and the death running through her veins. The ways she’s just trying to survive, to escape detection. Yet soon she finds herself in a scheme, a plot to unravel a mystery, that she can’t see the end of. With a firm attention to differences in class, The Foxglove King is a world of poison where it can not only give you moments of strength and a high, but also prolong your life.
Yet for all those who can’t talk or influence their way out of it, it’s a death sentence to get caught. For Lore, she is all too aware of the privilege into which she’s been dropped. A piece of the world building which I adored was the religion. This idea of channeling Mortem as blashpemy…until you need it, until you find a way it ‘serves’. I quickly was swept away by The Foxglove King and keep reading chapter after chapter. Every character has these puzzle pieces, their own motivations and ambitions.
(Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links. For more information you can look at the Policy page. If you’re uncomfortable with that, know you can look up the book on any of the sites below to avoid the link)
It’s full of characters in cages they’re born into and rebel against versus the ones we throw ourselves into without choice. If you love characters who aren’t afraid to make decisions that benefit themselves, that ensure their survival, this is for you. The Foxglove King is a story which will enchant you all the way to the end. Full of betrayal on ending on some earth shattering revelations, we will all truly be counting down the days till the end. Find The Foxglove King on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org, & The Book Depository.