For the Throne

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Manufacturer: Hannah Whitten
Brand: Fantasy, Dark Fantasy
Brew: Paperback
Steeping Time: 452 pages
Tea Service: Giveaway Win
Strength:

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.

For the Throne tore my heart into a thousand pieces and then slowly knit it back together again.

I adored For the Wolf and was so excited to dive right into For the Throne. Right up until the end, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this half of the duology or not. I was on the edge of my seat, openly weeping, unsure of how everything was going to end. I won’t spoil anything for you, but I will say that ultimately, even though it was an emotional gauntlet that left me crying in my poor husband’s arms, I loved every word.

Hannah Whitten is an incredible writer, and she has written a duology that I will forever hold close to my heart. I didn’t know exactly what For the Throne would hold, but I trusted her and am so glad I did.

Throughout For the Wolf, Neve was much harder for me to care for, and I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy For the Throne for that reason.

I connected far easier with Red and related to her on many levels. In so many ways, Neve is my opposite. It did take me a little longer to get into the flow of Neve’s narrative, but I eventually settled in and held on for dear life as we launched into one hell of a ride.

For having a bit of a slow start for me, the pace picked up pretty quickly, and it never stopped. It was a race to the end that kept me glued to the pages. The new characters we meet are intricate and captivating, and the old characters from For the Wolf aren’t sidelined or ignored. The story picks up soon after the end of book one, never missing a beat.

I love that we still get interspersed chapters of Red and Eammon, and that we don’t entirely leave their side. We get to see them in an even deeper relationship than in the previous book, and I am absolutely here for that. Their love for each other warmed my heart to no end, and I’ll never tire of seeing them care so deeply for one another. We also get a few chapters from Raffe, which I thought was an interesting addition. The storyline feels much more intertwined between all of these characters, even though Neve and Solmir stand firmly at center stage.

When it comes to Neve and Solmir, their relationship couldn’t be more different than Red and Eammon’s, but I was just as invested. Their story, just like the two characters themselves, is set in a world of greyscale. They are both morally grey characters who are complex and deeper than surface level. At all times, I wanted to both strangle and comfort them. And yet somehow, I stayed by their sides till the end, wanting to desperately know what choices they would make and where that would take them. They could be absolutely infuriating, but I loved them anyway.

As is much of the theme of this duology, everything about Red and Neve is a mirror image.

Light versus dark. Life versus death. I loved following the story of these sisters, learning that two people can be as different as night and day and still go to the ends of the earth for each other. Ultimately, this story revolves around two sisters who would give up everything to save each other. It’s a story about love, in so many different shapes and forms, and how powerful it can be. It is strong enough to destroy worlds, and strong enough to rebuild them.

For the Throne is a phenomenal end to the Wilderwood duology. It doesn’t leave any storyline unfinished, and I found it a satisfying conclusion to an incredible story. I also appreciate that Whitten let her characters breathe at the end. It gives the reader a little space to fill out the future.

If you enjoy fantasy novels with strong female protagonists, morally grey characters and situations, and multiple love stories for the ages, I highly recommend For the Wolf and For the Throne.

Have you read For the Throne? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about it! Want to read it for yourself? Click here to get a copy of your own.
Cheers,
Lydia