A review by emma_therabbithole
Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown by Alison Weir
5.0
There was a time of my life where I exclusively read historical fiction based on Tudor. It’s an era which has always fascinated me, and so I was very excited to read Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown.
All told from Henry’s pov it follows him from his youth shortly after his brother, Prince Arthur’s, death. The reader gets a front row seat to all his loves and dalliances, as well as the monstrous acts of beheading two of his wives.
I went into this with very little sympathy for him, but what Weir has done here is brilliant. She shows us Henry, the man. The good, the bad and all the shades between. A man with great, almost unimaginable power, but because of it, is vulnerable to manipulation and increasing paranoia.
His actions changed the path of this country for all time, and while this book does not condone or excuse his actions, it does give an insight into the background and why he behaved the way he did.
It’s been my bedtime book over the last few weeks, and I’ve loved every moment of it.
All told from Henry’s pov it follows him from his youth shortly after his brother, Prince Arthur’s, death. The reader gets a front row seat to all his loves and dalliances, as well as the monstrous acts of beheading two of his wives.
I went into this with very little sympathy for him, but what Weir has done here is brilliant. She shows us Henry, the man. The good, the bad and all the shades between. A man with great, almost unimaginable power, but because of it, is vulnerable to manipulation and increasing paranoia.
His actions changed the path of this country for all time, and while this book does not condone or excuse his actions, it does give an insight into the background and why he behaved the way he did.
It’s been my bedtime book over the last few weeks, and I’ve loved every moment of it.