Unfortunately, I’ve decided to DNF this book. I gave it a few tries, but I really struggled to connect with the writing style. The premise had me hooked, and I was expecting to enjoy it, but it turned out differently than I anticipated. It just wasn’t for me, though I can see how other readers might find it interesting.

Grateful to the publisher via netgalley for providing an advance copy for review.

names took a bit to get used to, but once I adjusted, I was hooked.

I loved the character growth, especially in Boleyn and Seymour, whose POVs drive the story. The concept of Henry’s power being tied to his six wives to protect Elben was fascinating, and the magical elements—especially the dragons—were unique and compelling. The crones were genuinely terrifying!

The dynamic between the queens was rich and layered, with complex relationships and backgrounds. Their bond brought a strong found-family vibe, complemented by the humorous and heartfelt side characters.

I also appreciated the inclusivity—diverse ethnicities, LGBTQ+ and non-binary representation, and a powerful thread of feminine rage throughout.

No me cabe duda de que cada nación mira con especial cariño a su propia historia mientras desprecia un tanto la de los demás. Es por esto que la premisa de Six Wild Crowns que se basa un poco (pero muy poquito) en la historia de Enrique VIII quizá sea de más interés para el mundo anglosajón que para nosotros, que vemos más la historia del primera cabeza de la iglesia anglicana como un vividor aprovechado de insaciable apetito sexual que iba quitándose de en medio a sus esposas como el que se sacude el polvo del camino. Afortunadamente o no, porque la sinopsis en ese sentido es bastante engañosa, la relación de este libro con la historia tal y como creemos conocerla es tangencial, como mucho.


Se dice que el rey deberá tomar seis esposas que guarden simultáneamente seis castillos para que el poder mágico defensivo de su Dios proteja el reino de Elben. Así que cuando Enrique toma por esposa a Boleyn, completa el sexteto que le proporciona el poder necesario para defender su reino. Boleyn está localmente enamorada de su marido, culmen de la masculinidad, pero su carácter inquieto la llevará a explorar la magia del mundo y lo que descubrirá iniciará un conflicto de consecuencias inesperadas.

Six Wild Crowns es un libro que pretende alentar la sororidad, pero lo hace de una forma un tanto basta. El harén de Enrique está relativamente aislado y no se relacionan entre ellas, ya que daría mala imagen, o eso es lo que se supone, ya que la realidad sobre la fuente del poder y las consecuencias de su uso es bastante más oscura. La representación femenina de esposas es bastante variada, desde la joven e inocente a la más mayor con gran experiencia, la que utiliza sus argucias para evitar las visitas nocturnas del rey o la que directamente cree que es tonta y actúa en consecuencia. Pero que todas estén subyugadas por el poder del patriarcado es dar un mensaje demasiado directo sin ninguna sutileza.

¿Los dragones de la cubierta? Publicidad engañosa, ya os lo digo yo, es que tienen una presencia tan testimonial que la verdad, mejor que Holly Race los hubiera obviado del todo.

El libro, a pesar de los variados puntos de vista, resulta un tanto monótono. La intriga cortesana es demasiado previsible y el tono en general resulta bastante aburrido. Aunque Olivia Dowd como narradora del audiolibro cumple con su función, el material de partida tampoco da para mucho más. Y, para más inri, el final es un cliff hanging literal, que no sé si merecerá la pena resolver.

Set in a vividly imagined kingdom, six queens are magically bound to six palaces by ancient magic to maintain the realms safety.
The kingdom of Elben feels entirely real and each queen’s domain, from the reserved elegance of Seymour’s palace to the seductive, dangerous charm of Boleyn’s, feels distinct and vividly imagined. There isn’t an information dump of world building and lore, instead it is revealed organically through character interactions and subtle shifts in power.
Holly uses cutting dialogue that’s clever, intimate and often packed with double meanings so you feel every choice, every hesitation, every heartbreak. The writing is beautiful but it never feels overly flowery or soft. There’s a constant mix of tension, emotion, danger and desire that’s always simmering just under the surface making it difficult to put the book down.
I very much enjoyed the main characters, Boleyn and Seymour, two queens on opposite ends of the power spectrum who find themselves caught in a dangerous alliance. At first, their connection is rooted in survival and wary alliance, but as the story unfolds, it becomes layered with vulnerability, desire, and slow-burning trust. Their relationship is layered and complex and I love that Holly gave both women a mix of agency, vulnerability and power. The push and pull between duty and yearning is so well done, and the way their relationship unfolds within the oppressive structure of a patriarchal monarchy makes it all the more poignant.
Six Wild Crowns is a fresh feminist perspective on historical archetypes and is a must-read for historical fantasy girlies looking for courtly drama, magic, rebellion, and political intrigue. I read the first chapter of this book and I knew it was going to be a five star read for me! The shade in this chapter cemented Boleyn as my fave! I haven’t stopped thinking about it and I’m already desperate for the next in the Queens of Elben series.

Ooh I was really looking forward to this, I adore a bit of Henry and his poor wives! Well they are not so poor here, I mean sure they're not having the best time but they are portrayed so powerfully in this alternative telling. I loved them all and their individualality. The relationships between the wives were excellent and vibrating with tension. The lore on the magic and where it comes from and who it's originally intended for was so good. The pace and writing were great, the description lush and clear. I had a great time and sincerely hope there is more to come!
Thanks to Little Brown Book Group and Netgalley for the arc, all thoughts are my own and left voluntarily.

This book had such a cool premise: a reimagining of the Tudor queens in a fantasy setting with magic and dragons? Holly Race's writing style is engaging, especially when she's diving into the court politics and the intricate relationships between these powerful women.
The way she delves into the character development of the queens, giving them agency and exploring their bonds of sisterhood against a tyrannical king, was a definite highlight. It’s a fascinating take on well-known figures, and I appreciated the strong feminist commentary woven throughout – examining power dynamics and what it means for women to unite against oppression.
While the concept was brilliant, the execution felt a little uneven in places. There were moments where the pacing lagged, and I found myself wanting a bit more depth in certain magical elements or plot points. It’s a solid and ambitious read, but it didn't quite hit that "can't put it down" level for me. Still, if you're looking for a fresh, feminist fantasy with a historical twist, it's worth checking out!

I really thought the writing for this was good but I didn’t connect with this one and it is such a bummer. I found my attention constantly drifting. And while our main character was interesting, it could not hold my attention and I gave up around 40%. I think I will give this a try on audio and see if I can finish it that way!

Six Wild Crowns is a bold and inventive fantasy novel loosely inspired by the six wives of Henry VIII. It breathe new life into an old tale you may think you know with political machinations, interesting magic system, intrigue, treachery and even the occasional dragon.

Race’s writing is lush and vividly conjures the world up around you. The magic system is interesting, particularly as the story evolves and changes. I enjoyed the worldbuilding and especially the varying settings with each queen possessing their own castle. These are such a fun reflection of their character and background, hinting at their nature. It feels both expansive and claustrophobic, as everything hinges on the whims of the king. When the king is seen as god, the boundaries do not exist and nothing is safe.

I liked how Race gradually built this up with both Boleyn and Seymour’s viewpoints. They are two vastly different women in the way they play the game and it is so tantilising to hear both of their voices. However, never trust an initial impression here. They are both determined to survive no matter the cost. Though they may have hidden their intelligence behind a simpering smile, make no mistake, they contain daggers. This three-dimensional characterisation extends to the other wives we get to meet, all of whom contradict the standard interpretation of them as historical figures. It feels so fun and refreshing, especially as their story has impacted the collective consciousness over and over again with a renewed focus in the past few years.

This book is primarily focused on court politics with the intimate power plays through the smallest of gestures all the way up to brazen defiance. It is wonderfully imagined with fascinating titbits of information scattered throughout (give me a Cleeves spinoff immediately). Race hints at more to come, particularly in terms of other territories and the rising tensions on an international scale.

Six Wild Crowns is history as you’ve never seen it before – taking these threads and running head first into this epic and empowering tale. I cannot wait to continue this story.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me, i was pretty bored while reading it. I'm a massive fan of all things Tudors so I was highly looking forward to sox wild crowns but it just felt a little flat to me.
The only character that had a personality was Boleyn, the rest all felt the same

3.5⭐. Thank you NetGalley & Little, Brown Book Group UK for the ARC.

SWC has an AMAZING concept: for every generation, the current king requires six queens at any single time as foretold by their patron deity, in order to wield divine power to protect the land. One of the latest line of queens, Anne Boleyn, discovers the foundation-shattering truth behind this magic, and seeks to unite the other queens to ensure all their survivals. It is because of this strong premise that I hung on till the second half of the novel, when the plot finally swings into gear. Honestly, the second half is so much stronger than the first that I'm very intrigued to see the payoff of that very gutsy ending.

Given that they are the two POVs of the book, Anne Boleyn & Jane Seymour got the most development and growth, and I thought they were both great individual characters. Anne displays complexity in being ambitiously manipulative yet capable of compassion, and having genuine feelings for Henry despite how vile he truly is. I do appreciate the character Clarice explaining Anne's complicated relationship with Henry with a simple line: "She loves him. People forget a lot when they're in love. But she still moved against him." Meanwhile, Jane eventually develops the courage to wrestle control of her life, after spending the entire book downplaying her own intelligence and cunning. She also gives her abusive brother his comeuppance, and who doesn't enjoy that.

That said, I rounded down the .5 of the rating rather than up because I have too many gripes with how certain things were handled.

My first nitpick is the novel's insistence on calling the queens by their family names: Boleyn, Seymour, Howard, Parr. The novel explains it that firstborn daughters are called so to "make sure everyone knows who their fathers are even after they take their husbands' name". (It then gets ridiculous since two of said queens are referred to as Aragon and Cleves, which are the names of PLACES they're from.) I get that this was one of the ways that author Holly Race wanted to emphasise the deeply patriarchal society, but this naming convention could've been limited to how others refer to the queens, rather than their POV. I also recognise that Race might've wanted to differentiate the shared names like Catherine, but this could've been mitigated by using Katherine of Aragon and Kateryn Parr, which are spellings the two women have historically signed their names as. Hell, tweak it to Ann of Cleves even, to differentiate from Anne Boleyn.

Next, I'll preface that I love the reimagining of Jane as queer. I don't even mind one-sided yearning nor the fact that the object of her affections, Anne, isn't even sapphic herself. What annoyed me is that yearning built on insta-lust is boring. Jane is smitten by Anne from the start because of how beautiful she finds the latter. That infatuation develops into a ride-or-die kind of love fast, which baffles me because Anne hasn't been particularly warm to Jane just yet nor have they bonded. I do like how their dynamic eventually develops into deep friendship.

(I didn't expect to see non-binary rep in a fantasy Tudor book, but here we have it. 👏)

This book is also pitched as having ~legendary dragons~, when the dragons that appear the most are smaller ones that act like glorified pets for the queens. Not even the kind where they could ride, which would've been badass, but smaller ones that fulfill the role of cats & dogs in a contemporary setting. Remove the dragons and nothing noteworthy would change. (Jane gets a wicked cool panther though, which I liked.)

There's definitely some attempt into delving into political intrigue / court politics but they felt shallow.

And what annoyed me most is Kateryn Parr's characterization. Race goes out of her way to flesh out Catherine Howard and Anne of Cleeves (who is a lesbian here!!), giving them agency as the plot unfolds. And in the limited scenes we get of Katherine of Aragon, she at least displays some assertiveness to attain her goals. So I don't get why Kateryn is relegated to merely following whatever Katherine decides. The only wife to historically survive Henry, and she can't make her own decisions? Where is HER strategic thinking? She is also the queen that got the least interaction and page time, but I get that juggling six queens to develop is a huge task.

I almost forgot to mention that I also didn't like that Anne commited adultery. Even if it's justified and yes Henry is the Worst. Given how the novel has gone out of its way to try to be subversive, this feels like giving into what the real Henry historically slandered her with.

Overall, excellent concept, some execution fell short, but I'm still down to pick up the sequel so this did the job!

This was a really interesting take on the wives of Henry VIII set in a magical version of England with dragons and old gods. I thought the depiction of Seymour was fantastic, giving her a far feistier and cunning personality than how history has portrayed her and Boleyn was intelligent and caring, rather than simply devious. All in all, I enjoyed this a lot and will be picking up the sequel to see where the queens go from here.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Six Wild Crowns felt very unique. I wasn't sure how historically accurate it would be before going in (and I didn't mind either way), but I was overall glad to find that the story was only very loosely inspired by Henry VIII and his six weeks wives.

I enjoyed the politics, court intrigue and character dynamics. The magic system is not widely explored in book 1, but this felt right based on how the story unfolds and the characters own knowledge of how the magic works. However I did hope for more dragons!

Looking forward to the next book in the series.

Do you know when you can’t get into a book no matter how hard you try? I tried at least 3 times and struggled more than 2 chapters at a time before I had to take a break.
I wanted to love this, the idea of fantasy meets Tudor history with dragons and court politics ticks a lot of my boxes but the style of this book made it hard for me to finish.
I struggled with the writing style, the descriptions and names (all issues of my own and I know any other reader might be fine with these aspects and love the book - this is just my personal experience.
Thank you to Holly Race, NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for the opportunity to read this.

Oof, I did not vibe with this one at all, I've tried to start it multiple times and just couldn't get into it.

Basically, the prose is overly descriptive making all the scenes drag and it takes ages for anything to happen.

No, really, it opens with Boleyn about to marry the king and it takes 3 chapters until she actually marries him. And except Seymour becoming her lady in waiting, nothing else happened within those 3 chapters. Just descriptions and infodumps about political relationships.

Also I wasn't a fan of Seymour being "the stupid girl" so she can be used as a plot device to explain everything to the reader extra thick.

If you like immersive, atmospheric, ornate bordering on overwrought writing style, you might like this book. Also if you're a fan of Tudor era in vibes, because this isn't really a historical fantasy, it's in its own world, but there's plenty of descriptions of dresses, interiors and even "old language" (I don't know is it faithful to Old English, I barely know modern English).

Thank you Netgalley, Orbit and Little, Brown Book Group for the ARC.

DNF @ 5%

I never normally dnf a book so early on but I could tell this wasn’t going to be for me right from the start.
I came across three issues that I wasn’t a fan of:
1. The 6 wives of Henry are all alive and currently married to him.
2. The author refers to Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour as if their last names are their first.
3. The second chapter is Seymour’s and repeatedly mentions her feeling her period blood clotting in her underwear 🥴
I chose this book on NetGalley to review as I was really interested in hearing the original story from the wives POV and expected some fantasy based twists but going from points 1 and 2 I feel as this is a completely different story and there is just no need for point 3.

Set in an alternate version of historic England, King Henry VIII is just about to marry Anne Boleyn to join his other five wives. In this fantasy world, the King of England MUST have six wives at all times to strengthen the magic that is available only to him as the divine ruler and conduit of the divine, Cennunos. At least that's the story the royal family has passed down from male heir to male heir at any rate.

This was sych an interesting twist on the old story of Henry's six wives - living and sharing their husband as sister wives each with their own territory and motivations going on. The addition of dragons and fairies as well as the magic bestowed upon the king really altered the world of the well known story.

Told in the POVs of Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, each queen is referred to only by surname (probably to reduce confusion with the abundance of Annes and Catherines, but this worked really well in enabling me to keep track of everybody really easily - especially with Anne Boleyn's sister Mary and the Princess Mary, referred to as Princess Tudor, I just felt like that small detail just worked.

Although some details have been completely flipped there is a real sense of dread for the outcome of the book as Boleyn was one of Henry VIII's wives who sadly did not outlive him in real life and this is put to good use in the story to ramp up the tension as you don't know how closely the book will follow history.

All in all I loved it! I've always found Henry and his wives fascinating but the six Tudor Queens really stand apart in this and I cannot wait to see what happens in the sequel.

Unfortunately this one just wasn't for me. I kept trying, but I just didn't find I could get along with it. I kept picking it up & hoping something would click, but then I'd switch to something else, so have decided I need to DNF.

I can see from other reviews that this is getting a lot of love so I'm sure it's a me problem. It may be that I'm not a fan of a Tudor retelling as this is one of my favourite periods & as a fantasy novel this doesn't follow the script.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via NetGalley. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to read this book early.

Six Wild Crowns delivers a refreshingly original take on Tudor history, blending magic and politics in a version of England called Elben—where Henry Tudor rules alongside all six of his queens, alive at the same time. It’s an imaginative and bold concept that instantly pulled me in, and the execution exceeded my expectations.

The writing is beautiful and evocative, with a style that completely immerses you in the world and its characters. One scene that truly stood out was when Boylen gives birth to Elizabeth. It was such a powerful, epic moment—so beautifully written and emotionally intense that it completely overwhelmed me. It just hit in all the right ways. I honestly had to pause for a second because it was that stunning.

The magical framework woven into this alternate history feels rich with potential. Elben is a land full of political tension, courtly intrigue, and subtle enchantments, all crafted with care. The author has a gift for creating atmosphere and tension while giving each character emotional depth and authenticity.

This was a standout read for me—elegant, inventive, and emotionally rewarding. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next in this world.

HELLO Tudors, court intrigue and sapphic yearning!

I was excited about the idea of this book because I love historical fantasy, all things Tudor, and I'm going to see the musical Six in May, so I thought an alternate past in which Henry is a bisexual polyamorous husband who needs marriages to six very different queens to bind his magic? Sapphic longing between Seymour and Boleyn? What can go wrong?

This book was a pleasant surprise! A historical fantasy that mixes the Tudors with magic, dragons and gods. The characters are well-developed, with interesting personalities that set the tone for this story full of intrigue and betrayal. A great experience!