*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Title: The Nightshade God
Author: Hannah Whitten
Publisher: Orbit Books
Publication Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780356521572
Synopsis:
Banished to the Burnt Isles, Lore must use every skill she earned on the streets of Dellaire to survive the prison colony and figure out a way to defeat the power that’s captured everything and everyone she holds dear. When a surprise ally joins her on the Burnt Isles she realizes the way forward may lie on the island itself. Somehow, her friends must help her collect the far-scattered pieces of the broken Fount—the source of all the god’s powers—and bring them back together on the Burnt Isles, returning all magic to its source and destroying, once and for all, the gods corrupting the land. But as Lore gets closer to her goal, her magic grows stronger… and to a woman who’s always had to fight for survival, that kind of power may be hard to give up.
Whitten hits it out of the park in this stunning conclusion to The Nightshade Crown series. This final book is the epitome of beautiful story weaving as we find protagonist, Lore, separated from her friends and loves, banished to the prison that is the mining camp on the Burnt Isles. In her isolation, she is unable to help Bastian who is now king and at the mercy of the god Apollius, or Gabe and Alie who now also find themselves as hosts for the gods who have fallen so far after the destruction of the Fount.
Gothic, dark, and stunningly written, the book is paced well so that the story is constantly moving, the action doesn’t stop, and the reader finds themselves connected to even the most minor of characters, revealing Whitten’s talent to construct a thorough and thoughtful tale. This whole series has been building slowly, a fire stoking and growing with every passing page. Now, it reaches this penultimate conclusion in a stunning swirl of violence, love, arrogance, bravery, and emotion. I haven’t cried at reading a book yet this year and Whitten takes the honour of leaving me in a teary mess on the couch as my heart cleaved in two in the final fifty pages.
There are many different perspectives, yet Whitten is able to weave them together with unique voices that build on one another, rather than taking away from each other. It’s hard to bring in different POVs without taking the reader out of the story, yet each unique voice is able to uncover different pieces of the puzzle that help wrap this story up in a masterful conclusion. This tale sees humanity pitted against the unfathomable strength and power of the gods, yet it reveals the resilience of the human spirit and the beauty of mortality.
This is one of the best series that I’ve come across in recent years, up there with the likes of Rachel Gillig or Kristen Ciccarelli. These are all authors who are carving out a place in the gothic fantasy genre that emphasizes how breathtaking this genre can be.
If you haven’t picked up this series, please, please do. It’s worth the read and an absolute stunner of a fantasy book.
Happy reading!
Worn Pages and Ink 