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pkc's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-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
5.0
This book was just insanely good. I really enjoyed Wolf Hall, but found it especially challenging. It takes a great author to hear those critiques and very subtly tweak their prose so that the critiques are addressed but the tone and timbre remain unaffected. Cromwell is such a brilliantly written baddie, but Mantel never seeks to make him look truly wicked. In fact, he’s so cunning that sometimes, I was inexplicably coming around to his way of thinking before giving myself a shake. Mantel’s command of language brings unconventional beauty to some truly dark moments and I can’t praise this book highly enough.
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting