Loved the detail in this book, a thoroughly enjoyable read. It was so good to read Anne Boleyns story from a completely different view, normally depicted as some man eating witch but she was more than likely a pleasant but ambitious young woman and I enjoyed reading about her in this light. This novel is hard to put down so settle in for the long run!

I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this book, the early years of Anne Boleyn found fascinating, however I ended up abandoning at about 60% through, something I have never done with an Alison Weir book, as it was just dragging on, I'm sure it was for Anne too! Perhaps a bit too in depth in this section of the book. I may go back to it but I felt like I was sat in a lecture rather than being entertained by literature sadly. Not one of my favourite Alison Weir books, but I will be back for more!

Informed by her trademark impeccable research, Alison Weir gives us her fictionalised account of the life of Anne Boleyn from her childhood to her tragic death at the hands of Henry VIII. .She details Henry’s pursuit of Anne, the political and religious consequences of his attempt to have his marriage to Katherine Aragon annulled and Anne’s eventual downfall. This is a long book and although I very much enjoyed the early sections covering Anne’s youth in the courts of Europe, I found the parts covering the “Great Matter” (Henry’s attempts to annul his marriage to Katherine) just a little too detailed. It felt as interminable to this reader as it must have done to Anne. Although I have enjoyed Philippa Gregory’s Tudor novels, I’ve sometimes found them a little light on historical accuracy. However, I found myself rather longing for some of Gregory’s sprightly inventiveness to enliven this book. I feel Weir redeemed herself in the final sections covering Anne’s downfall as these were much more enjoyable and the final pages recounting Anne’s execution were heartbreaking. Lovers of serious historical fiction will really enjoy this book.

This is the second book in Alison Weir’s new fiction series, following the stories of the Six Wives of Henry VIII. The first novel looked at Katherine of Aragon, concentrating on her as a young woman and wife. Of course, in this book, Katherine of Aragon appears too, as we are now looking at the story of Anne Boleyn; the woman who replaced Katherine – not as a mistress, but as a wife.

Like the previous novel, this is also very much a straightforward fictional biography. There is a real sense that Alison Weir is a master of her craft, and so knowledgeable of the time period that she easily makes you feel that you there, at Court, with the characters. This could bring new readers to historical fiction, in the way that, “The Other Boleyn Girl,” did when I first discovered the Tudors as a, much younger, reader.

Of all Henry’s wives, I personally find Anne Boleyn the most interesting. This takes her from a young girl of eleven years old, up to the end of her life. To many, Anne Boleyn is a feminist icon, to others, she is a scheming, ambitious woman, and many concentrate on her learning, intelligence and her religious reforms. I would say that Weir attempts to be fair in her writing – whether she is speaking of Katherine or Anne. She tells each novel from the point of view of the central character she is writing about and so gives us a fairly sympathetic portrayal of both. This is a difficult balance, but Weir is adept at balancing different characters and storylines.

We begin with Anne going to the court in the Netherlands as a young girl, and, later, France, before returning to England. She is always in competition with her sister, Mary, and closest to her youngest brother, George, This book is full of excellent characters – from George’s wife, Jane Rochford, to Wolsey, Cromwell and the Boleyn family; adept at advancing their place at King Henry’s court. Then, of course, there is Henry; capricious, difficult to read, changeable, emotional and unstable. The spider at the centre of a web that he knows he has ultimate control of.

Of course, you may not agree with all of Weir’s takes on events. Whether it is her early love for Henry Percy, her battles with Wolsey, the demands of her father and uncle or her feelings for Henry and Elizabeth. However, this is a fascinating, historical story and Weir tells it with flair. If you have not read the story of Anne Boleyn before, you are sure to learn a lot about a woman who gambled and, ultimately, lost. I look forward to reading the later books in this series and always enjoy Weir’s storytelling.

This is a very long and detailed fictional retelling of the life of Anne Boleyn: it's easy reading but at the same time is attentive to the historical sources. The problem is that Weir is not a natural fiction writer: she tends to the pedestrian ('whenever the Regent praised Anne's dancing skills, the songs she composed, or her skill with a lute, her cup ran over'), the simplistic ('she had given every appearance of being smitten with him'), and sometimes the hilariously mundane ('Madame Louise gave him a piece of her mind': that's Louise de Savoy and her son King Francois I!). Alongside that is an obsession with rape (poor Mary Boleyn is raped not once but twice by two separate kings) and murder, both of which would be positively libelous.

The backbone of the story in term of events and the re-use of sources such as Henry VIII's actual letters to Anne Boleyn seem to be somewhat at odds with the fictionalised characters, relationships and dialogue: there's a lot of Mills and Boon-esque descriptions ('pouting lips, and fair skin.. a tendril of flaming red hair') and while bodices are not actually ripped, all those rapes imply something similar. On top of that, we have a fictionalised calf-love between Anne and one of her courtiers where both of them gaze adoringly at each other for years, and we're expected to believe that during Henry's protracted courtship of Anne, not just does he not have sex with her but he doesn't have sex with anyone else either: '"You realise I have not bedded with a woman in years?" He looked at her in anguish, longing in his eyes'. But, then, on the other hand, another famous historical personage is a sex-addict: "It's as if I want to devour women; it's all I think about. day and night. I'm out of control, and powerless to change. I've - I've even forced widows and deflowered maidens".

As Weir says in her afterword, Anne Boleyn remains a historical enigma: we have few direct historical sources and many of those are themselves politically biased e.g. from Imperial ambassadors supporting Katherine of Aragon, the Emperor's aunt. Weir does, at least, know the sources and uses them in full, and also creates a young Anne Boleyn being educated at the courts of Margaret of Austria and the French court.

Ultimately, this fails to convince me that this *is* Anne: she's too petulant with her shrieking and her screaming and crying - from what we know, Anne was far more intelligent than this. Henry, too, is a weakened, emasculated figure, admiring 'her taste in furnishings' and crying when she's mean to him: "Really, you could be a little kinder. Katherine never in her life used such ill words to me." There were tears in his eyes'.

For all my giggles and misgivings, I romped through this in a couple of days' commuting: it may borrow imaginatively from chick-lit and romance, but the underlying bones of the story are based on the sources. I just wish the characters had had more stature and conviction about them: 3.5 stars.

A wonderful read! The research is amazing, masses of detail as in all Alison Weir's books. I have always been fascinated by Anne Boleyn and read all I can find on her life, this is outstandingly the best yet. If you love me the Tudors this has to be read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the chance o read it read in exchange for a review

This was an excellent novel. With brilliant main characters brought to life and so well written, this book is a real page turner. I would highly recommend this book.

The young woman who changed the course of history.

Fresh from the palaces of Burgundy and France, Anne draws attention at the English court, embracing the play of courtly love.

But when the King commands, nothing is ever a game.

Anne has a spirit worthy of a crown - and the crown is what she seeks. At any price.

Anything done by Alison Weir is worth looking at - whether it is a novel or non-fiction. This second book in the series was brilliant and I look forward to the other four.