For the Throne (Wilderwood #2)

Hannah Whitten

Adult High Fantasy

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.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

“Red might be willing to walk into the mouth of a monster, but Neve was going to find a way to make the monster choke.”

(4 / 5) Book 2 of the Wilderwood duology and it couldn’t have ended better! Neve is lost in the Shadowlands, a dangerous place full of creatures and dark magic. Red is grasping at all straws to get her out safely, without harming others she loves.

Neve and Red are separated and searching for each other while confronting dark gods, magic and creatures or people out to kill them. While book 1 focused on Red, book 2 highlights Neve. The POV go back and forth between the two and you get an idea about their thoughts, fears and obstacles barring their paths. I love their relationship and even though they are not together, the main theme of the book is their love for each other and what they’ll do for it.

Neve in the Shadowlands with Solmir was dark and immersive. Creatures, magic and powerful dark gods are threatening their lives and they learn to rely on each other. What started as an obligatory truce becomes much more. Solmir is revealed to be a giant cinnamon roll character with a dark and crusty outside with kindness and heart inside.

Red travels through the Wilderwood and beyond, picking up the pieces she needs to free Neve. Eammon accompanies her and we see how their relationship has grown. Her version of the world has expanded and they are slowly grasping their new reality.

“I haven’t been powerless a day in my life, and I won’t start now.”

Both women are strong characters who take matters into their own hands. While the men in this story compliment the women, they never overshadow them and the women shine through as strong, loyal and determined. Bring on the strong women!

I really would’ve liked a summary or recap of book 1. This book is so unique and immersive that it has a different feel than almost every other book I’ve read. So much happened in book 1 that it took me quite a bit to find my bearings again with the story. Whitten is very atmospheric in her writing and while that envelopes you in this world, it was also hard for me to picture.

Audio review: Truth moment here; I started both book 1 and book 2 by reading them and found the writing to be difficult to picture. Each time I ended up getting the audio about halfway through (thank you Macmillan Audio!) and started again from the beginning. Once listening to the audio, the world took shape for me and I was able to follow along better. Now this could definitely be to an amazing narrator or the small replay of the beginning. Either way, the audio was what brought the world to life for me. The narrator had the perfect voice for this dark and troubled world. She put just enough feeling into her voice and was able to portray their emotions so well.

General content summary: F words: 14, intimacy with few details (multiple), large spider, earthquakes, large creatures, a man breaking a woman’s neck, alcohol, physical fight with breaking bones.

From the author’s website (serious hand claps for the author for posting these!): blood/gore/general violence, mutilation (one instance), moderate sexual content, parental neglect/abuse, religious trauma/abuse, giant insects.

 Thank you to Orbit Books and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copies!

The book releases June 7, 2022.

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