Reviews

Mantel’s ‘The Mirror and the Light’ references to Henry VIII being the ‘mirror’ and ‘light’ of all kings, exploring Cromwell in his height of power but as a consequence facing a height of political enemies. It is by far the longest of the Wolf Hall trilogy as Mantel forces the rest of Cromwell’s story into one book, ‘Bring

up the Bodies’ only concluding with the death of Anne Boleyn. Hence, I had to put in significant effort to read all 38 hours of the audiobook before my hold expired.

In the nature of Cromwell’s history, much of the book continues to just document courtly affairs and the constant search for Henry VII’s next wife, many long periods of conversation getting very repetitive and uninspiring. Aside from chronicling courtly affairs, Mantel also included a multitude of flashbacks to previous courtly affairs of the last two books that really added nothing other than dragging out the book further. Ultimately, due to the set up of the previous two books and the repetitive nature of the series there was hardly any character development across 900 pages worth of prose and due to knowledge of the history not much plot intrigue.

That comes across as really scathing but in reality ‘The Mirror and the Light’ was no weaker than the other two books in the series aside from the fact I have therefore read it all before. I can however credit Mantel for her historical efficiency in covering all the courtly events of Cromwell’s life, from having studied the man before I can’t think of any stone she left unturned. Also, despite knowing Cromwell’s inevitable fate and hence the trilogy’s conclusion, having spent so long with him it was still a challenging and emotionally impacting conclusion which was evidently written so much more powerfully than many mundane scenes across the series. That being said, I still stand by my comments regarding ‘Bring up the Bodies’ that it isn’t worth reading past ‘Wolf Hall’ as much of the rest is the exact same, though the conclusion was a highlight of the series, hence my parallel rating to ‘Wolf Hall’.

angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

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5.0

Great book. Great series. I imagine Mantel will pull off the Hugo Award equivalent of Jemisin’s series. Three Hugo Awards for Jemisin’s series. And I’m thinking three books in Mantel’s series and three Booker Awards. Phenomenal insight into the court of Henry VIII. So sad for Cromwell. You know how it’ll end but you keep hoping for a different outcome. Insanity in power. Murders as political moves. Inside the mind of people who truly think they are better than others based on birth. A fascinating portrayal of bullies who grasp power and control of a nation(s) through heavy-handed violence and maintain that control in the same way.

jrmarr's review against another edition

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4.0

A worthy end to an epic trilogy. While this book is long, and there are passages that don't seem to lead anywhere, Mantel has a knack for drawing you into a world and painting it so richly. These stories should be a mess of names, events, connections and relationships, but she draws everything together and finds ways to help you see through the complications.