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beckyo's review
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Incest, Miscarriage, and Torture
caidyn's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
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
4.5
4.5/5
Oh, this book. I like it a lot better than the first one. I think the writing is easier to read and it's just easier to understand all in all. This book doesn't cover a huge span of time like the first one does. It's all about the fall of the Boleyns and the rise of Cromwell. So, it's very focused and I enjoyed it. There was so much more heart to it and I can feel how much Mantel put into the book. She says she wants to dig Cromwell out, since he's such an illusive figure, and I do feel that she did a great job at it.
The book does rely on some tired tropes. Like Jane Boleyn's relationship with her husband, George. I loved that Mantel included [b:Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford|1206219|Jane Boleyn The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford|Julia Fox|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320429275l/1206219._SX50_.jpg|2053669] as a source in her acknowledgements because it's a book that takes a very different look at her. Same with her talking about things she drew from and read about Anne Boleyn's last days.
All in all, a second book. I cannot wait to read the final book because I've been waiting for years now.
Oh, this book. I like it a lot better than the first one. I think the writing is easier to read and it's just easier to understand all in all. This book doesn't cover a huge span of time like the first one does. It's all about the fall of the Boleyns and the rise of Cromwell. So, it's very focused and I enjoyed it. There was so much more heart to it and I can feel how much Mantel put into the book. She says she wants to dig Cromwell out, since he's such an illusive figure, and I do feel that she did a great job at it.
The book does rely on some tired tropes. Like Jane Boleyn's relationship with her husband, George. I loved that Mantel included [b:Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford|1206219|Jane Boleyn The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford|Julia Fox|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320429275l/1206219._SX50_.jpg|2053669] as a source in her acknowledgements because it's a book that takes a very different look at her. Same with her talking about things she drew from and read about Anne Boleyn's last days.
All in all, a second book. I cannot wait to read the final book because I've been waiting for years now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Sexism
Moderate: Blood
nadia's review against another edition
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this reread! After I found Wolf Hall more a struggle to get into than I remembered, this one was a lot easier. And when I dug up an old blog post I wrote back in 2014 (over 8 years ago), I had the same experience:
I found the writing easier to follow in this book and I’m not sure whether that’s down to me being more used to Mantel’s style or that the nature of the material meant that it was dealt with with less subtlety and more drama. I wasn’t complaining. Whilst the book started rather slowly, as the story proceeds it turns into a real page-turner.
Having gone through this twice, I reckon the writing, while still excellent, is, on the whole, more direct in this one!
There will still parts where I had to reread paragraphs a few times to grasp the meaning, and some aspects did some rather dull, but those were few and far in between.
Keeping track of who's who was still relatively difficult on the whole, especially without a paper copy to easily flick back and forth, but having reread Wolf Half very recently definitely helped!
Finally I'm ready to for The Mirror & the Light!
P.S. Review from 2013 was 4⭐️ ; I probably would have given it 4.25 if StoryGraph had existed!
P.P.S. I'm currently enjoying watching the BBC adaptation of the two books with some friends. It's really good!
P.P.S. I'm currently enjoying watching the BBC adaptation of the two books with some friends. It's really good!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Miscarriage and Infidelity
Minor: Incest
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