OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: 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.

FORMAT/INFO: The Hemlock Queen was published on April 9th, 2024 by Orbit Books. It is 464 pages long and told in first person from Lore's point of view. It is available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The king is dead, long live the king. After surviving the machinations of his father and the Priest Exalted, Prince Bastian has ascended to the throne, with Lore and Gabriel at his side. But even as Bastian sets about reforming the court, Lore can't help but feel uneasy. She and Bastian defied prophecy, but at what cost? Was the promised end of the world a fiction, or is it taking its time arriving? With Bastian's demeanor changing more and more each day and a voice whispering in Lore's mind at night, Lore begins to get the sense that she and her friends may have unleashed more than they realized.

The Hemlock Queen is an aching fantasy full of longing for connection and a stubborn refusal of destiny. Lore, Bastian, and Gabriel all want to be with each other in some fashion or another, but ironically, the more circumstances push them together, the more they have to struggle to stay apart. In The Foxglove King, Lore's position as a blackmailed spy against Bastian kept her from fully trusting both him and Gabriel, even as she fell for both men. Now as Bastian ascends to the throne, she finds herself mistrusting both of them once more, even as Bastian lifts Lore to prominence in the court.

That sense of pining, of the heartbreak of being physically close to someone while still having to guard your heart against them, is where The Hemlock Queen thrives. Lore's slow realization of what is happening at court causes her to bear secrets all on her own, without anyone to confide in. She's isolated even in the heart of a group of people that she loves, looking for a way to fix something that might not be fixable - or at least, not in a way that she likes.

But this also leads to the book's weakness, which is that the characters spend way too much time with their heads in the sand, refusing to address the problem that is becoming more and more self-evident as the story goes on. It takes nearly 2/3 of the book before there is a collective acknowledgement of what is happening, leaving the middle of the book to drag as Lore refuses to truly engage with the crisis or to work with her allies to find a solution. It gave me the feeling of watching her go "La la la, I can't hear you" with hands clapped over her ears. Despite the tragedy of it all, I ended up being a bit frustrated watching Lore refuse to put a name to her fears.

CONCLUSION: Despite dragging its feet a bit, I was still swept away by The Hemlock Queen The tragedy of melodrama repeating across the centuries was engrossing, heighted by the sensations of isolation and paranoia. The Hemlock Queen is a wonderful follow-up to The Foxglove King, and I cannot wait for the finale.