Book Review: The King's Pleasure - Alison Weir

   

 

“The King’s Pleasure” by Alison Weir is about one of my most favorite historical figures, Henry VIII of England. I’ll admit to being a huge enjoyer of Ms. Weir’s non-fiction books about the British Royalty and I’ve read a few of her non-fiction books about the wives of Henry VIII too. So, with all that in mind, saying that I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of this book is a huge understatement.

Henry VIII is a difficult person to write about, in my biased opinion. A lot happened in his lifetime - not including the fact that he had six very different wives. So, I’m sure that for Ms. Weir picking and choosing what to include in this book was difficult. A huge majority of the book (about 80%) is devoted to his life up to the time of his third wife. The last ten years of Henry VIII’s life takes up the remaining 20%. I can understand why Ms. Weir made this decision, but I felt that his last three wives in this book didn’t have as much to contribute to the overall book.

What I liked - I’m a big fan of Margaret George’s historical fiction book about Henry VIII, so I was thrilled to see Will Somers make an appearance (although Ms. Weir has included him in one of her fictional books too). I liked the set-up of the Tutor court buildings, food, pageantry, and overall excess descriptions. A family tree was marked as “to come” in my pre-release, which I think will be helpful. I liked how Ms. Weir wove historical bits into her story, including some I looked up to learn more about (and refresh my memory). Overall, this was a hugely enjoyable book - and coming in at 512 printed pages, I’m glad it was so enjoyable. My one comment - and it’s an author’s choice - is how when someone is bestowed a title, they are mentioned as that new name henceforth. I usually end up checking online to see who is who as I can get a bit confused, especially with those bestowed multiple times (looking at you Thomas Boleyn).

Overall, if you enjoy Ms. Weir’s historical fiction books, especially her six devoted to Henry VIII’s queens, I would suggest giving this book a try as Henry VIII finally has his own version told. I applaud Ms. Weir for that - it’s not an easy task.