Hannah Whitten’s The Foxglove King begins with Lore, a young woman with the ability to raise the dead. Raised by a cult, she escaped and has been living the past decade hiding her abilities and evading notice. These days, she makes a living running illicit poisons. But when her secret power is revealed, she’s taken by a group of warrior-monks to the king. There, he gives her an ultimatum: use her magic to uncover why entire villages on the country’s borders are being annihilated or die. Not much of a choice if you ask me. Now, she must navigate court life, politics, religion—and the past she thought she left behind.
Whitten debuted with the Wilderwood duology, and The Foxglove King kicked off her new trilogy, The Nightshade Crown. It features many of the same elements that won readers over in her previous books: female characters with dangerous abilities, immersive worldbuilding, romance, and a gothic atmosphere. Needless to say, the combination left people wanting more.
Because of the different elements, the following recommendations come from a wide cross-section of the fantasy genre. Some are romantasies. Some focus on the necromancy aspects. Some feature similar conundrums faced by Lore. With any luck, at least one of them will strike your fancy.
A Feather So Black (Fair Folk Book 1)
Fans of Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince and Hannah Whitten’s earlier novel, For the Wolf, will enjoy Selene’s take on faerie lore and Tir na Nog. Fia is a changeling left behind when the Fae stole the High Queen’s daughter. Reviled for her faerie blood, Fia is nevertheless raised as the queen’s daughter and trained to become a spy. When a hidden gate to Tir na Nog is discovered, Fia is sent to find the long-lost princess, Eala.
But this is no straightforward rescue mission. Eala has also been cursed to take on the form of a swan, returning only to human form a few times a month. Now, Fia must find a way to break the curse while navigating her complicated feelings for her companion and childhood friend, Rogan—who is also Eala’s bethrothed—and Irian, the fae lord holding Eala captive.
The Court of Broken Knives
Anna Spark Smith brings a literary sensibility to grimdark fantasy, most especially in her Empires of Dust trilogy. The Court of Broken Knives, the first installment, introduces us to Sorlost, the capital of a vast, decadent empire. But nothing lasts forever, and the empire stands on the verge of invasion. Only one nobleman can clearly see the empire’s rapidly approaching future and takes it upon himself to prevent this dire fate from happening. If he should happen to end up on the throne as a result? All the better.
He hires a mercenary band for a dangerous mission: cross the desert, infiltrate the city, and assassinate the emperor. Sounds simple, right? It would be, if it weren’t for the mercenary troop’s newest recruit: a dangerous, unstable young man with a penchant for killing and a deadly secret. The Foxglove King’s Lore might not be as unstable and bloodthirsty as Marith, but she certainly has a life-changing secret.
Heartless Hunter: The Crimson Moth: Book 1
Readers who enjoyed the politics of The Foxglove King will find much to like in this court fantasy. Set in a world where a revolution upended the social order, the once-ruling witches now live as outcasts and are hunted down mercilessly. Rune, one of these surviving witches, hides who she is behind the mask of a vapid socialite—most of the time, that is. At night, Rune assumes the identity of the Crimson Moth, a vigilante who rescues imprisoned witches.
For her latest mission, she begins courting Gideon Sharpe, her best friend’s brother and a witch hunter. But she’s not the only one with hidden motives. Gideon, as a witch hunter, suspects her of being league with the witches and, almost improbably, of being a witch herself, so he accepts her advances and pretends to reciprocate. But it’s just an act, right? These two enemies couldn’t possibly develop feelings for each other.
Nightwise
Taking a sidestep into a more modern setting, Belcher’s Nightwise offers up a gritty urban fantasy that delivers some of the classic hallmarks of the subgenre. Laytham Ballard is a bit of a legend in the supernatural world. Much like Lore, he committed a stunning act of necromancy at the tender age of 10. And ever since, his deeds have only added to his notoriety. Now, as an adult, a dying friend extracts a promise from him: track down a Serbian war criminal and make him pay. Problem is that the war criminal is a powerful sorcerer himself and has influential friends that make it seem like he never existed at all.
One Dark Window
In the mist-shrouded kingdom of Blunder, Elspeth Spindle survived a fever as a child. Normally, these types of fevers indicate a certain infection that results in being killed. Elspeth, however, managed to escape detection, in no small part due to a monster living in her head. Ever since, her life has been one of hiding and not standing out. Then, her fortune changes when she crosses paths with a highwayman. Because the highwayman is no ordinary ruffian: he’s the King’s nephew, captain of the very men responsible for killing infected people like Elspeth… and part of a vast conspiracy to save Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. If you want a moody, gothic vibe similar to Hannah Whitten’s books, this is the one for you.
The Curse of Saints
As the Queen’s Spymaster, Aya swore an oath to protect those she fights alongside. Even if they’re bitter rivals like she is with Will, the Queen’s Enforcer. But when Aya and Will are sent to a neighboring kingdom to investigate rumors of dark magic, she may end up being the one needing protection. For while Aya has god-given abilities, no one expected her to unleash a power that hasn’t been seen in centuries. Now, she and Will must discover who, or what, she is before she’s reduced to a weapon in a war she doesn’t want to fight. If you liked the dilemma faced by Lore in The Foxglove King, this novel is right up your alley.
