The Mirror and the Light
3rd in the series
by Hilary Mantel
Henry Holt and Company, 2020
Adult Historical Fiction
8 cups of tea out of 11
Summary: *Can you spoil this if you know the history surrounding Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell?* These are the last years of Cromwell’s service to the king. There’s and execution of one wife, the death of another, and marriage of the next.
Likes: Mantel uses the deep POV and historical details to put the reader in that time period. Yet it never feels bogged down. I read this fairly quickly. The relationship between Cromwell and the king is complicated and that is illustrated well as his power increases and then deteriorates. I also like how much personal reflection we get from Cromwell and his brain is a complicated place.
Dislikes: A lot of people have the same first name and usually it took me a few paragraphs of context to figure out which one was being referred to or speaking.
Overall this conclusion to the trilogy was very interesting. I can recommend this whole series to people. I think it’s Mantel’s best written stuff.
The Green Tea Librarian 
It’s cool that this was some of best written stuff! It’s great that it never feels bogged down.
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