A review by thepurplebookwyrm
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

All that I said about Wolf Hall applies to Bring Up the Bodies. What I'll add is that: Cromwell continues to be a fascinating 'shades of grey' character. That whilst I understand he wasn't a sociopathically Evil Man™, I still want to go back in time and rip Henry VIII's cock and balls off. That it's kind of depressing to realise, for the billionth time, just how far back sexist and/or misogynistic double standards and powerful men acting like absolute shitheads go (and I mean: it goes much further back than the 16th century, of course, but anyhoo). And that whilst Anne Boleyn wasn't exactly an Innocent Princess™, or even a much of good person, she was still a victim of sexist double standards and a powerful man acting like an absolute shithead, and I felt kinda sorry for her (and the men who got the chop alongside her).

Onto book three! And Henry the Lech perving all over poor Jane Seymour...