A tricky one! I was tremendously excited to hear the story from Henry’s point of view, after reading and watching many accounts of his life through the lens of so many other people. I find with Weir as a fiction writer that sometimes, her work tries to be entertaining but unfortunately veers more toward the non-fiction style of listing events and trying to cram in as much minute detail as possible. This was a good read, but it didn’t give me the depth and personality I expected. Henry came across as a hapless duckling, easily steered by others and absolving him of all guilt for the terrible things he did. I came away from this unsure of what I got. I also feel his life from Jane onward was incredibly rushed, quickly flitting through key moments. Henry remains an enigma and probably always will.

I find the Tudors really interesting so I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to read this one.

It follows the life of Henry from being a young boy till he reaches the end of his life and departs the world of the living.

It goes in historical chronological order and it weaves known facts with fiction to tell 'Harry's' side of the story.

I thought it was a long book for a biography about a man who is portrayed to be controlled by other people. It felt like a long book and it was a long book but it covered a huge amount of time.

Still it you are interested in the Tudors then this isn't a bad book to read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the copy. ✨✨

A bit of an odd choice for IWD I hear you say? Absolutely not, because Alison Weir has dedicated an entire series to each of the six wives of this ‘most dread’ monarch. I genuinely didn’t think this book would produce much more information than I already know about the Tudors (I’m a bit of a fan/nerd) but believe me I was hugely surprised.

Based from his viewpoint this time we see how each of the wives were portrayed in his eyes, we see how they manipulated, used and loved him, to disastrous consequences. I was fascinated by this book and it’s an excellent addition to the popular Tudor historical fiction genre.

Alison Weir gives us a more rounded and professional view of Henry, in which she does not attempt to sugarcoat the truly awful things he did, but neither does she go to the other extreme by branding him as a complete monster with no redeeming qualities at all.
Love her books ands this was fantastic.

Overall, I thought Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown was a well-written, if a bit long and slow, read about this infamous, era-defining king. I enjoyed seeing things from Henry’s perspective, and I think Weir did a great job of making him a believable and well-rounded character. However many of the plot points I had already seen in more detail in Weir's previous Six Tudor Queens series.

The Heart and the Crown gives a voice to Henry VIII and allows him to tell us in his own words the dramatic tale of his life,of his personal rather than Court life.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Very informative, definitely a good read for gaining knowledge on Henry VII with historical accuracy and a plot line.

This narrative provides an incredibly realistic and humanizing portrayal, shedding light on the political power struggles during the depicted era and highlighting Henry's evident lack of preparation in navigating the intrigue-laden and scheming environment of court life.

The historical accuracy embedded in the narrative is noteworthy, a testament to Weir's expertise in Tudor history. The revelations about this historical period, particularly regarding the numerous miscarriages suffered by Henry's wives and the profound emotional toll it took on both them and Henry, were eye-opening.

Despite my overall enjoyment, the extensive length of the book, exceeding 600 pages, led me to anticipate a swifter pacing in the narrative.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a galley in exchange for an honest review.

A great historical book as to be expected from Alison Weir.
I have already read her Six Tudor Queens series so had a good grounding of the Tudor period.
This one centres on Henry VIII so from a different perspective but just as enjoyable and gives a peek of the great king. I would recommend to any reader who enjoys the Tudors,

I generally LOVE Alison Weir's books, and never normally notice the length of them. Unfortunately, I definitely felt it with this one. I feel it was both dragging in places, and skimming in others.
While enjoyable in general, it felt lacking - although this may be in part to my own obsession with the Tudors in general.
I'm still not sure about it.

Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown is the second book in Alison Weir’s new Tudor Rose trilogy: three novels exploring the lives of Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII and Mary I, three generations of the Tudor family. It also works as a companion to her earlier Six Tudor Queens series, which told the stories of Henry’s six wives.

This novel is quite unusual because it’s the first I’ve read by Weir to be written from a male perspective. So many of today’s historical fiction authors are choosing to focus on historical women, particularly those who have been forgotten or neglected, I feel that famous male figures like Henry VIII are currently less ‘fashionable’ subjects. As there’s also been so much written about him in the past, I wondered whether this book would have anything new to offer.

The novel takes us through Henry’s life in chronological order, beginning with his childhood and his unexpected change in status after the death of his older brother and then moving on to look at his six marriages, the religious changes that took place during his reign and all the political intrigue of the Tudor court. His relationships with advisers such as Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell – and his court jester, Will Somers – are covered, as well as his rivalry with King Francis I of France and finally his declining health and his death in 1547.

I remember mentioning in some of my Six Tudor Queens reviews that Weir’s depiction of Henry was surprisingly positive throughout that series. All six of his wives are shown to have some genuine love and affection for him and his cruel actions are usually excused as being the fault of somebody else. She portrays him in a similar way in this book, showing how easily he is manipulated by people around him and trying to make him a more sympathetic character than you would usually expect, while not ignoring his obvious flaws – his jealousy, insecurity and hot temper. Weir does a particularly good job of showing how important it was to Henry to have a legitimate heir to carry on the Tudor dynasty founded by his father and the panic that he felt every time he suffered an illness or accident, knowing that if he died he would be leaving the future of his kingdom at risk.

Another unusual thing about this book is that I somehow found it both too long and too short at the same time! I read it on my Kindle, but the paper version has over 600 pages, so it’s a big book and not one that can be read very quickly. On the other hand, the six novels in the Six Tudor Queens series were all nearly as long and this single book on Henry has to cover a lot of the same information, so I felt that it didn’t really have the same level of depth, particularly where Henry’s later wives were concerned. About half of the book is devoted to Henry’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon and the ‘Great Matter’ that arises when he attempts to have the marriage annulled so he can marry Anne Boleyn. This means his relationships with his other four wives are squeezed into the remainder of the book, along with major events like the sinking of the Mary Rose, which is covered in just a few paragraphs.

Overall, I found this an interesting read, if a bit dry at times, but I don’t really feel that I learned anything new from it – and, as I’ve said, a lot of the material is repeated from the earlier six novels. If you don’t have much knowledge of Henry VIII and the Tudors, though, I think this would be a good alternative to non-fiction to start you on your journey and introduce you to this period of history. Be aware that the US title of this book is The King’s Pleasure: A Novel of Henry VIII.

A brilliant read and one I really enjoyed. I found myself completely drawn into the story and enjoyed the writing style.

As a big fan of Alison Weir, I was over the moon to receive an advanced copy of Henry VIII: The Heart and The Crown.

Once again Alison Weir delivers a brilliant Tudor history book. Henry in his own words. I was hooked from the first page and couldn't put it down. Alison Weir at her best.

Man or monster: a nuanced portrait of Henry VIII
If anyone can take the accepted story of Henry VIII and turn him into a sympathetic character, without any whitewashing, it’s Alison Weir. Without 21st century sensibilities intruding, she shows us Henry throughout his life and reign: from the little boy lost, grieving for his beloved mother to the golden, radiant yet frustrated youth kicking against his father’s constraints, to the insecure monarch competing against his European counterparts, to the bloated man well past his prime with a ghastly, ulcerated leg.

She makes sure we understand that Henry had a huge burden on his shoulders: to continue the Tudor dynasty founded by his father, while so many York claimants are still alive, while God seems to have set his face against him in denying him a healthy, living son for so long.

Alison Weir’s six-part series on Henry’s wives showed how successfully she could switch the perspective as each wife came to the fore and took up the story. Here, she delves beyond Henry’s monstrous ego to reveal the talented, educated man within, one who attracted artists, philosophers and scholars to a court that under his father was dour and utilitarian.

Everything is here: the young man dreaming of chivalric feats, the heartbreak of so many lost babies, the break with Rome, his many lusts and loves, his constant fear of the plague and actual decline, the machinations of power-brokers like Thomas Cromwell… the author is a born story-teller and, despite Henry’s vast wealth and absolute power, at times we even come to pity him..

This novel was a real page-turner. I raced through it, but at the same time I didn’t want it to end. It is a compliment to the author that I could not wait to start reading it a second time, as soon as I’d finished it.

Another brilliant book about Henry you can never hear or read enough about him. I love the tudor period and Alison Weir just makes it come alive as if you are actually there living it.

Another immensely easy read from Alison Weir. I’ve read all of her fictional offerings to date, including the Six Queens series, and it was with that in mind that I approached this title. Unfortunately, unlike those of his Queens, I did not find the perspective of Henry to be convincing, especially as it approached the problematic parts of his reign. I felt that the attempt to cast him in a sympathetic light, from his own perspective, was too logically approached. Henry justifies his actions/behaviour with too much logic, which I feel was almost certainly absent from his genuine motivations. Although I appreciate it is fiction, I’ve always enjoyed Alison Weir’s other fictional voices because of the sense of authenticity - that it could be the real person telling their own story. But that, sadly, did not ring true this time and I think this is her weakest novel yet.

I was a bit reluctant about this at first. Alison Weir has written so many books about the women around Henry VIII, of which he was most often the villain. I didn't know if I would be able to read a book with him as the main character. Well, Henry VIII is certainly a character, and of course I didn't like him that much. Still, this novel entertained me well and I'm happy to have read another Alison Weir book. I'm excited to see what else she's going to write in the future.

An introduction to the Tudor court for those who don't like non-fiction.

I've read and watched quite a lot of books, fiction and non-fiction, documentaries, and dramas, about this period, but I stopped listening to the audiobook version of this 20% of the way in, and my conclusion is, that this book isn't for me, but if probably for those who want a way in to Tudor history.

I didn't get along with the narration, it sounded like a dry documentary voice over, or the voice of an audio guide through a stately home, and unfortunately, the writing for me, took a similar tack - a series of names, dates, places, and events that lacked a connecting thread of emotion, personality, or theme. While the novel focuses on Henry, and is written from his point of view, it is written in third person, and there's an innate sense of distance from the events, the narrative voice feels like it's looking back on history and telling Henry's story, so I didn't really feel connected to Henry at all. I decided to give this another go, and read the ebook version, focusing on the later parts as I'd listened to the beginning of the audiobook, but my initial impression stayed the same.

The general feeling I got was that it wasn't doing anything new, the main events were all ones that I knew about before, but I didn't really get a new take on them, and Henry still comes across as selfish and childish, even in the first fifth of the book, the more positive parts of his reign.

There is a lot about his relationship with Catherine, though more focus is on lust and an immediate obsession with producing an heir than conveying or exploring any sense of affection, but what that means is that the focus is once again on the queen, rather than the less explored male characters, politics, religion, and sovereignty which likely took up more of Henry's time and attention than his wives.

One example of the way in which this felt more like a recapping of events than a retelling through the eyes of a more human Henry, is in the scene shift from the sinking of the Mary Rose, it was so abrupt, one minute Henry is standing watching the Mary Rose sink, and all those men, including some he was acquainted with, perish, seemed to have barely an effect on him, he seems sad, but then in the next line he's off hunting with his friends, and the event is never spoken of again, it was a point in time, a historical fact related, and Henry never dwells on it again. It is told to the reader because it is a famous point in history, not because it has any impact on Henry, his actions, or anything that comes later.

As I say though, this is probably because this book isn't for me, for anyone wanting to read about Henry without committing to non-fiction, this provides a more accessible version, and gives you an idea of the main events of his reign, and for those who want to read a historical faction overview of the reign, not just focusing on one wife or character, this does do that. But for those who already know a fair bit about Henry VIII and his wives, and are wanting a new take, this might be a bit disappointing.

A great book written by Alison Weir which continues the Tudor Rose series. I read the first book in the series, Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose, and I admire how Alison Weir has chosen Henry to continue the series. It is a perfect way to continue the series.
I enjoyed reading this fictionalised account of Henry's life. However, Alison Weir included historical accuracy woven into this.
Although, it did take a bit of building to enjoy the book so I have rated it 4 stars.

A huge thank you to Headline and Netgalley for this e-arc.

There was a time of my life where I exclusively read historical fiction based on Tudor. It’s an era which has always fascinated me, and so I was very excited to read Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown.

All told from Henry’s pov it follows him from his youth shortly after his brother, Prince Arthur’s, death. The reader gets a front row seat to all his loves and dalliances, as well as the monstrous acts of beheading two of his wives.

I went into this with very little sympathy for him, but what Weir has done here is brilliant. She shows us Henry, the man. The good, the bad and all the shades between. A man with great, almost unimaginable power, but because of it, is vulnerable to manipulation and increasing paranoia.

His actions changed the path of this country for all time, and while this book does not condone or excuse his actions, it does give an insight into the background and why he behaved the way he did.

It’s been my bedtime book over the last few weeks, and I’ve loved every moment of it.