Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

I enjoyed this book a lot, and liked it better than Wolf Hall because it's more tense, more densely plotted, and many of the events in Wolf Hall only make sense in this book. The spectre of Cardinal Wolsey persists, as Thomas Cromwell continually recalls and in many ways even re-lives him, and takes his revenge for the Cardinal's death. What I liked best was the original, striking, yet very Tudor parallels Mantel draws between people, objects and situations. The book is peopled with objects that always signify and establish webs of connections between people and events, it's haunted by recurring images and repeated gestures that are deployed in a masterful way. I personally am not overly fond of the narrative voice, but that's just me, and it works very well. This book is more vulgar and bold in its language than Wolf Hall, to the point where it's a marked difference, which I liked, but am not sure why that is. Again, Thomas Cromwell reminded me a lot of Tommy Shelby on Peaky Blinders, especially with his dry, satirical comments, his sudden flashes of ruthlessness, and his perfect control. The climax (Anne Boleyn's execution) was absolutely chilling and amazingly written. For some reason, the portrayal of Henry struck me as especially well-executed, I'll never be able to think about him differently, he is now forever in my head the way Hilary Mantel portrayed him. I'm now eagerly anticipating the last book, The Mirror and the Light, which is supposed to come out this year (but that seems unlikely seeing as it hasn't been announced yet).