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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, and Miscarriage
Minor: Infidelity and Rape
chelsaat's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I’m not usually a fan of what one may call a “pretentious novel,” as so many reviewers like to call this book. But idk man, I really dug this!
Sure, there are a million characters, all named Thomas and Mary (I still have no idea the difference between Thomas Audley and Thomas Cranmer), but ultimately they are all side characters to Cromwell, even the king.
And boy did I like Cromwell!! I always love a story of someone overcoming their humble beginnings through wits and cunning. And I appreciated that he wasn’t a total asshole about it, either. Mantel’s Cromwell has a penchant for collecting fellow lost souls and building a little found family. He has a wry and frank observation of the human condition, especially when it comes to the Catholic religion.
(When he shot back at Thomas More about his hypocrisy at the end, I screamed. Man was holding a grudge for years only to make it known on the dude’s deathbed. Iconic.)
Plus the jokes! This thing is peppered with dry British humor that sometimes knocked me dead. Examples:
- "Already there are too many books in the world. There are more every day. One man cannot hope to read them all."
- “The trouble with England, he thinks, is that it's so poor in gesture. We shall have to develop a hand signal for ‘Back off, our prince is fucking this man's daughter.’ He is surprised that the Italians have not done it. Though perhaps they have, and he just never caught on.”
- “No ruler in the history of the world has ever been able to afford a war. They're not affordable things. No prince ever says, 'This is my budget, so this is the kind of war I can have.”
- “At New Year's he had given Anne a present of silver forks with handles of rock crystal. He hopes she will use them to eat with, not to stick in people.”
Other fave elements: Mantel's rendition of the Boleyn sisters. Anne is a cunning bitch and I couldn’t help but admire her. Lord knows I couldn't have had her patience. Mary is also smart, but much more of a tragic figure. (Henry VIII is actively disgusting, I hate him in every adaptation.) Cromwell respects their intellect, in fact he's the only one to really respect women in this book. I have to stan!!
Minus some points, because yes, I hated the overuse of “he.” It’s too twee and confusing! With so many characters you can’t be doing this, Mantel!
Pairs well with: The SIX soundtrack, admiring Natalie Dormer in The Tudors
Sure, there are a million characters, all named Thomas and Mary (I still have no idea the difference between Thomas Audley and Thomas Cranmer), but ultimately they are all side characters to Cromwell, even the king.
And boy did I like Cromwell!! I always love a story of someone overcoming their humble beginnings through wits and cunning. And I appreciated that he wasn’t a total asshole about it, either. Mantel’s Cromwell has a penchant for collecting fellow lost souls and building a little found family. He has a wry and frank observation of the human condition, especially when it comes to the Catholic religion.
(When he shot back at Thomas More about his hypocrisy at the end, I screamed. Man was holding a grudge for years only to make it known on the dude’s deathbed. Iconic.)
Plus the jokes! This thing is peppered with dry British humor that sometimes knocked me dead. Examples:
- "Already there are too many books in the world. There are more every day. One man cannot hope to read them all."
- “The trouble with England, he thinks, is that it's so poor in gesture. We shall have to develop a hand signal for ‘Back off, our prince is fucking this man's daughter.’ He is surprised that the Italians have not done it. Though perhaps they have, and he just never caught on.”
- “No ruler in the history of the world has ever been able to afford a war. They're not affordable things. No prince ever says, 'This is my budget, so this is the kind of war I can have.”
- “At New Year's he had given Anne a present of silver forks with handles of rock crystal. He hopes she will use them to eat with, not to stick in people.”
Other fave elements: Mantel's rendition of the Boleyn sisters. Anne is a cunning bitch and I couldn’t help but admire her. Lord knows I couldn't have had her patience. Mary is also smart, but much more of a tragic figure. (Henry VIII is actively disgusting, I hate him in every adaptation.) Cromwell respects their intellect, in fact he's the only one to really respect women in this book. I have to stan!!
Minus some points, because yes, I hated the overuse of “he.” It’s too twee and confusing! With so many characters you can’t be doing this, Mantel!
Pairs well with: The SIX soundtrack, admiring Natalie Dormer in The Tudors
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Incest, War, and Torture
yungblonde's review against another edition
Just couldn’t get along with the writing style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Death
Moderate: Child death
j_squaredd's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Murder, Child death, Death, and Child abuse
quickermorequickly's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Infidelity
Moderate: Antisemitism, Adult/minor relationship, War, Violence, Torture, Murder, Infertility, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Death, Confinement, and Body shaming
Minor: Incest
the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
The style of writing for this book takes a while to get used to. Everyone seems to have the same name so, as a reader, it takes a while to get all of the similarly named characters straight. As well, the style of writing and dialogue can be a bit hard to follow. There were several points in the novel where I had no idea what was going on and several side plots that were difficult to understand.
Maybe the book would be clearer if I had a stronger background in the history of the time but, as a history novice, I found myself confused a great deal of the time.
This being said, some of the characters were really interesting. I really enjoyed the insight into the personalities of Thomas Cromwell, Anne and Mary Boleyn, and Cromwell's family and wards. The dialogue was also very funny and entertaining at several points.
I don't plan to read the next book in this series, and I don't think I could honestly recommend this book to others. But if you are more familiar with this period of history, you would likely enjoy it much more than I did!
Maybe the book would be clearer if I had a stronger background in the history of the time but, as a history novice, I found myself confused a great deal of the time.
This being said, some of the characters were really interesting. I really enjoyed the insight into the personalities of Thomas Cromwell, Anne and Mary Boleyn, and Cromwell's family and wards. The dialogue was also very funny and entertaining at several points.
I don't plan to read the next book in this series, and I don't think I could honestly recommend this book to others. But if you are more familiar with this period of history, you would likely enjoy it much more than I did!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pregnancy
asourceoffiction's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The writing in this book is just beautiful. While I would get a bit lost with the huge number of characters and the complex plot, I found I could still just let the world wash over me because of the stunning writing, and I'd get back on track.
Cromwell is an astonishingly complex figure and I loved going through this period of history with his eyes. As a character I found him really likeable but fiercely ambitious.
It was useful to know that Cromwell is often simply referred to as "he", which could have got a lot more confusing during conversations - but I love how it made the story feel so utterly like his own.
Cromwell is an astonishingly complex figure and I loved going through this period of history with his eyes. As a character I found him really likeable but fiercely ambitious.
It was useful to know that Cromwell is often simply referred to as "he", which could have got a lot more confusing during conversations - but I love how it made the story feel so utterly like his own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Physical abuse
Moderate: Murder, Child death, and Terminal illness
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
“If England lies under God’s curse, or some evil spell, it has seemed for a time that the spell has been broken, by the golden king and his golden cardinal. But those golden years are over, and this winter the sea will freeze; the people who see it will remember it all their lives.”
I was *so* surprised by this book. First of all I can’t believe I was even talked in to reading an enormous historical fiction novel about a white man set in Tudor England. 😅 Never something I would be interested in and yet everything I’d heard about this book from a lot of readers whose opinion I trust made me decide to give it a chance and wow am I so glad I did.
First of all, I have definitely found a new favorite author. The uniqueness of the writing style took me a minute to get into a good reading rhythm, but once I got the hang of it, I absolutely loved it. Mantel did an amazing job of having the reader see everything that was happening as though we were Cromwell ourselves. At times I felt the action of the story so viscerally I thought I could have been in the actual room where it was all taking place, watching every character and their mannerisms and the way they were dressed and hearing their speech and witnessing their subtle interactions with everyone around them, every detail accounted for. It was truly just brilliantly executed. Maybe even the best-written book I’ve ever read, tbh.
I was also very impressed with the very complex, human characters she created. No one was stereotypical or a cliche at all (which is my number one complaint about most historical fiction). And Mantel was not dealing with highly sympathetic figures at all and yet she was able to demonstrate their humanity in spite of both their situation and my preconceived notions of who they were as historical figures.
“Some of these things are true and some of them lies. But they are all good stories.”
I was also struck by her depiction of the stark contrast between the very fragile mortality and transience of life in early modern England and that society’s beliefs in the immortality of souls and personal legend. The speed at which the sweating sickness killed its victims, the constant threat of plague, war, and famine, were clouds that often seemed to blot out any hope of finding joy in such a world—and yet, life, at least somewhere and for some, went on anyway. All of this arranged alongside the whim of one man dictating everyone else’s lives—a man whose legend is most guaranteed to live on—created such an impossibly unstable house of cards you can’t see how anyone could possibly succeed in such a volatile situation. Which, spoiler alert—well nevermind. Wait until the sequels. 😁
This book also presented (imo) a slightly different image of England and English history than I was familiar with—a country and culture that I feel like I’ve always been given such a specific one-sided narrative about. There’s obviously *such* a huge difference between the extremely white-washed and even often sugar-coated “history textbook” narrative and the “reality” of history and since we are so often aggressively fed the former version, it is shocking sometimes to see an alternative proffered that makes the past seem not only more real, but more relatable, which is what I think Mantel accomplishes with this book.
I’m really looking forward to finishing this series (as soon as I can order the edition I want from the UK 😂) as well as exploring more of Mantel’s work.
“They could tell Boccaccio a tale, those sinners at Wolf Hall.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, and Torture
Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, and Miscarriage
akarusa_hime's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gore
Moderate: Miscarriage and Emotional abuse
caidyn's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Second time around, I liked this better. I still struggled at first with the writing because it's so different than the writing I usually read. But, the story is good. I think it's very realistic fiction, especially with Cromwell's viewpoint. It's also interesting how he views Anne Boleyn. It definitely falls under the belief that Anne was conniving and only ever thought of her ambition and maybe didn't truly love Henry, but it's still a perspective that is interesting and valid for maybe how Cromwell did see Anne.
Anyways, it's a very interesting read and I can't wait to get to the sequel later this month because I remember liking it a lot better than this first one.
Original review:
This was a hard book to get into. The writing as well, facts straight, and story tight, but it was just the writing. Switching tense and always referring to Cromwell as "he". It was hard to follow at times in that way, but it was still a book I enjoyed for the history and unique point of view.
Anyways, it's a very interesting read and I can't wait to get to the sequel later this month because I remember liking it a lot better than this first one.
Original review:
This was a hard book to get into. The writing as well, facts straight, and story tight, but it was just the writing. Switching tense and always referring to Cromwell as "he". It was hard to follow at times in that way, but it was still a book I enjoyed for the history and unique point of view.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Grief
Moderate: Death and Child death