My Facebook friends know how greatly I anticipated this book. I am still in awe of Wolf Hall and how Hilary Mantel managed to humanize such an opaque, ruthless character, and to make a story I've heard in no fewer than two documentaries, five films/miniseries, and two other works of historical fiction feel fresh again. The sequel did not disappoint.

The timeline is shortened here to the last nine months or so of Anne Boleyn's life, as opposed to the decades we had in Wolf Hall. Mantel provides several reminders of the events and relationships through which we first grew to like Thomas Cromwell. He is still a family man, still loyal to his long-dead patron, and still carrying a chip on his shoulder from his low-born origins. We have to keep all of these in mind has he puts into place the events that will lead to Anne's downfall and five other executions. The beginning of the novel recalls a chess game, and most of the action is told from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell as master strategist. And for all his machinations, he really doesn't come off looking much more or less evil than the courtiers around him. In Hilary Mantel's version of the Tudor court, everyone sees everyone else as a means to an end. Thomas Cromwell just happens to be much more effective at achieving those ends.

I also very much appreciated the amount of attention and development given to the Seymour clan - necessary, as there is a third novel planned, and also very much welcome, as Jane Seymour is always either a ninny or an angel. I'll be counting down the months until the next installment.