Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing the conclusion to the Nightshade Crown Trilogy, The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten. Be sure to check out my reviews for books one and two, as well, before reading on to see my thoughts about this finale!

The Nightshade Crown is in the hands of a ruthless god. Lore will stop at nothing to defeat him and save the troubled prince and tortured priest ensnared in his wicked plot, in this final installment of this lush, romantic, New York Times bestselling fantasy series from breakout star Hannah Whitten.

Lore has failed. She couldn’t save King Bastian from the rotten god speaking voices in his mind. She couldn’t save her allies from being scattered across the continent—their own lesser gods whispering to them in their dreams. She couldn’t save her beautiful, corrupt city from the dark power beneath the catacombs. And she couldn’t save herself.

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.

***Thank you to Orbit Books for providing an advance copy of the book. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

The Nightshade God is a hard book for me to review because I want to talk about ALL THE THINGS. However, I also don’t want to spoil the book for anyone. Hence the conundrum. In many ways this wasn’t the finale I wanted or expected, but it wrapped things up well all things considered.

First things first, the plot of The Nightshade God was a bit meh. The beginning and the end held my interest, but the middle 50% of the book really did drag. I liked getting to explore the new locales at the start. Then things took a turn into one of the most boring MacGuffin chases I’ve ever read. For so much of the book, I just kept wondering what the point of Apollius was. He wasn’t doing much except chilling in the palace and having lots of sex. lol. Thankfully, things picked up in the last quarter of the story, and the final showdown I’d expected from the start finally took off. The ending was definitely a choice, but it did manage to pack some intense emotional punches.

Even though I didn’t always love the plot of The Nightshade God, I still enjoyed my time with these characters. They were all so interesting with some juicy internal struggles. Of course, I ate up all of the interactions between Bastian, Lore, and Gabe and was so happy the story took them THERE. Alie also grew into a new favorite as she continued to navigate the deadly court and grew into her own power. The lives and personalities of the gods were also something I enjoyed learning more about, and they interacted with the characters in a myriad of interesting ways. My only complaint about the characters is that they were split up. I missed their group dynamic so much.

The thematic content in The Nightshade God had a lot going on. The narrative tackled a wide array of topics, some of them in more depth than others. It continued the theme of religious deconstruction from the first two books. All of the characters had to come to terms with learning that the central tenets of their religion were a lie. Their god turned out to be a monster with an insatiable lust for power and control who did everything imaginable to avoid the existential dread of death. My favorite theme of the book, though, centered on how to make a better world. In a universe that is harsh and indifferent, people make all the difference. The story illustrated that being led by fear and a desire for power/control over the chaos of life leads to increased suffering, whereas interacting with the world through the lens of hope and kindness makes things better for everyone.

All in all, The Nightshade God was a mostly satisfying conclusion to this trilogy. The characters and themes kept my attention even when the plot felt like it was treading water. There were some moments that had my jaw on the floor or a tear in my eye, but they were a bit overshadowed by how slow the MacGuffin chase progressed. I definitely recommend the series, though, and think it does work well as a whole, both in terms of character arcs and themes. Therefore, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

There you have it! My thoughts on The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten. Have you read this series? Let me know your thoughts on the finale down in the comments!