The most unusual historic fiction book, in a sense that despite its obvious brilliance (Hilary Mantel is excellent writer) it felt like a task, rather than a pleasure - I was initially annoyed with the novel's density and verbosity - until I noticed that the book simply demanded attention. It didn't work if I read a chapter here and there, but it actually paid off if I focused and read properly, with attention. The more I dived into it, the more I enjoyed it, but it still felt like a hard work.
Mantel reconstructs the often-told chapter in a British history and bravely twists some perspectives upside down: until now, it was accepted that Sir Thomas More was a saintly chancellor and Thomas Cromwell an ambitious upstart in the orbit of notorious Henry VIII - Mantel toys with these perceptions and pose a question, what if More was actually a zealot, while Cromwell an silent manipulator? Along the way, she re-builds the whole court, together with hundreds of real life historical characters and its quite exciting up to the point BUT one must really focus hard on who is who and who said what. You see, Mantel loves using "he" often and gladly - there are many instances where this "he" is not clear and it makes you mad with irritation to question who "he" is, since there are usually several male characters involved simultaneously (at the end its just easier to assume "he" is Cromwell. Or Henry. Or one of the hundreds other Thomases.).
To be honest, at this point I feel like I already read too much about Tudors - there is a whole publishing industry behind Henry VIII and his wives - Mantel did a great job by changing the perspective and poking at the characters in the background: yes, we deal with the king and his first two wives, but its all about Cromwell and his manipulations that catches our attention. Strangely, it does not make exciting reading, because it is so damn difficult to get into it - I literary struggled trough it and not so sure that I want to continue with the sequels.
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