For the Throne (Volume 2) (The Wilderwood, 2)

I liked For the Wolf. Hannah Whitten sold me on the aesthetics, and I liked a lot of the story concerning Red's sacrifice and her world-moving relationship with her sister, Neve. That said, I ultimately found that story a bit repetitive and frustrating when it concerned Red, much preferring the politics and intrigue of Neve's interludes. I was eager to see how this would continue in For the Throne, and I am here to say I was sadly disappointed. For the Throne is essentially a complete continuation of For the Wolf. It doesn't stop to catch you up on the world or the magic, which admittedly I had forgotten a lot of in the gap between books. It also doesn't start with a firm hook--it just starts like the story never stopped, which made me feel a little turned around off the bat. Consequently, everything felt unmoored and unexplained. The worldbuilding didn't feel rich and interesting anymore, it just felt nebulous and convoluted. The magic wasn't well explained, which made me think it wasn't that well explained in For the Wolf either. So much felt half-baked or too big with not enough groundwork to make it make sense. Then: right when I'd get settled into Neve and Solmir's story, the book would rip me away and make me read about Red again (ugh) or, strangely, Raffe. I couldn't settle into the narrative, and I didn't remember why anything was happening (gods? kings? I don't know!). Ultimately started skimming, since the book could never convince me that anything made sense. Solmir has beautiful hair, though. I learned that much. The end felt a little juvenile, I have to admit. And a little underwhelming. For a story that is ultimately about two sisters, the book succeeds in that goal. But everything else felt wishy-washy and overlong despite most conversations feeling like they're mostly filler. I don't know what I'll pick up another Hannah Whitten book. Maybe this is my lesson to not get sold on aesthetics alone.

In “For the Wolf”, I had complaints about the depth of the characters and the prose, which could lean towards weak. In its other half, “For the Throne”, my complaint is solely that the first half of the book seems to move almost glacially slow. Not slow enough for me to lose interest or for me to become disengaged (simply because that pace was consistent (meaning it wasn’t an uneven pace) and because I knew it wouldn’t last), but enough for me to become somewhat frustrated and to be slightly disappointed. For some reason I expected this book to move faster than the first. I expected the Shadowlands to be, well, a little more chaotic. A little darker. A little more sinister. Thank goodness we had interludes from Red, Raffe, and the others every now and again to break up the bleakness. I don’t know what I would’ve done without them. Thankfully, the issues with prose and characterizations between “For the Wolf” and this book seemed to have been resolved. It shows how Whitten has grown as a writer, because we get more depth and layers to each character and some great passages evoking fantastic imagery. Whitten had a talent at showing and not telling when it came to exposition that was evident from the start, and it continues into this book, which I’m immensely grateful for. Hearing someone drone on and on about exposition in this book would’ve been intolerable. The immense talent at magic systems and world-building continues, also. Juxtaposition and eventual entropy? You’re speaking my love language. Philosophical questions about whether or not one can live without a soul, or even what a soul even is? Slay me. What does it mean to be human or god? Are gods even gods or are gods only gods in their own minds? I could think these thoughts the whole day through and be a happy camper. I enjoyed both books immensely, and I highly recommend you don’t give up on “For the Throne”, even if you have a hard time holding on through the first half.