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A review by underthejunipertree
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
The capstone of this trilogy is decidedly more like a procession compared to its predecessors-- every chapter only paves further way to the book's end and makes no secret of it; only Cromwell does not know. The march is long and deathly. It is a feat to pull off suspense when history knows the ending already.
The Mirror and the Light feels more appropriately aged. Cromwell is at the apex of his power, but he is no young man anymore. The quick machinations, the wiliness that carried him so far do not retaliate with the speeds they used to. Cromwell had witnessed More abandoned, Catherine neglected, Boleyn beheaded with the keen eye of a devising survivor, but when the pattern crops up once again, Cromwell fails to spot the danger. The marriages had always been the paramount issue to the king; how could he not know when the crisis of Cleves arrives right at his doorstep? He turned too slow and brought us right back to the beginning. His fate may be sealed in the tomes of the Tower, but I wish he got up once more, once again.
The Mirror and the Light feels more appropriately aged. Cromwell is at the apex of his power, but he is no young man anymore. The quick machinations, the wiliness that carried him so far do not retaliate with the speeds they used to. Cromwell had witnessed More abandoned, Catherine neglected, Boleyn beheaded with the keen eye of a devising survivor, but when the pattern crops up once again, Cromwell fails to spot the danger. The marriages had always been the paramount issue to the king; how could he not know when the crisis of Cleves arrives right at his doorstep? He turned too slow and brought us right back to the beginning. His fate may be sealed in the tomes of the Tower, but I wish he got up once more, once again.