Tuesday Review: Henry Tudor Must Die

 

One queen exiled. Another headed for the gallows. Both hungry for revenge. England’s most infamous queens unite in vengeance against Henry VIII.

Anne Boleyn is going to die, and neither her cleverness nor her witchery can save her. So when her late rival, Catalina de Aragón, miraculously appears in her cell at the Tower of London on the eve of her execution, very much alive and offering a daring escape plan, no one is more surprised than Anne.

Lina doesn’t have Anne’s magic—but she has just as much hate for England’s wretched king. Severed from her daughter and stripped of all her influence, Lina breathes only for the Hellebore Sisterhood, a clandestine and powerful society with a vested interest in keeping both queens alive . . . and using their particular skills to advance womankind.

Anne and Lina’s old rivalries pale in comparison to a common enemy. And they're not alone. Anna von Kleve, Kat Howard, and even Catherine Parr all have their own bones to pick with the king. One by one, they capture their pawns, infiltrating the court and eliminating the men who plotted against them. Always inching closer to their true target . . .

I’m a huge Tudor history nerd, so the second I saw the premise of Henry Tudor Must Die, I was interested. Henry VIII’s wives, magic, a secret sisterhood, and revenge? There was no way I wasn’t going to read this.

And honestly, the concept was probably my favorite part. Catherine of Aragon showing up to save Anne Boleyn from her execution and basically saying, hey, want to come with me and get some revenge? Yes. I also really liked getting to see all of these women reimagined outside of the way history usually pits them against each other. Watching them slowly come together and choose each other was such a fun take on people and stories I already know really well.

Where this lost me a little was the pacing. With a premise like this, I expected things to be a little more chaotic and revenge-filled than they actually were. There were parts, especially through the middle, that moved pretty slowly, and I kept waiting for things to really kick into gear.

I still had fun with it, though. It wasn’t exactly the witchy Tudor revenge story I had built up in my head before starting it, but I loved the idea behind it and the way these women were given the chance to rewrite their stories. If you like Tudor history, alternate history, magic, and women deciding they’re done putting up with Henry VIII’s shit, this is definitely an interesting one.