Thanks to Orbit, Little Brown Books and Holly Race for this advanced copy of Six Wild Crowns!

A historical fantasy, based around Henry 8th and his six wives, centring on Boleyn and Semour as Henry’s newest wives, but bringing in many recognisable figures for anyone with a little bit of knowledge of English history.

I have to admit that the first quarter took me a little while to get into, and I deliberated giving up a few times. Not that it starts badly - it just wasn’t grabbing me.

But once I got past that first quarter, I found myself really immersed and finished the rest of the book in a day.

I’ve never come across anything like it in terms of plot and I thought it was so interesting! I did find some elements I could predict - but I don’t find that to be a bad thing. I also really enjoyed Holly’s writing and world building, and I’m already looking forward to reading the sequel!

Political intrigue, sapphic yearning, historical retelling and dragons? Sign me the hell up.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a fascinating fantasy reimagining of the six wives of Henry the VIII and it was wonderful to have each of them fleshed out more as opposed to simply being Henry’s wives. The world building was superb and easy to fall into, my only critique would be that there were less dragons than I expected which was a shame.

Thanks to net galley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I unfortunately had to DNF this one. I was roped in by the description of the book but found the actual story to be lacking in what I had signed up for. Not to say it was a bad book or bad writing, it just wasn’t what I thought it would be and I didn’t enjoy it.

This superb new twist on a historical saga takes us into Tudor times as we’ve never known before. The mighty, and magical, King Henry has married six queens - all alive and living in separate castles - and through alternate POVs Boleyn and Seymour narrate the story.

Conflict and tension dominate the story in this character driven novel where enemies and alliances are central to the plot. The magical elements are superb and the inclusion of magical defences, mythical creatures and dragons make for a great pageturner that I devoured in a weekend.

I had no idea how the story would unfold and the climax and ending are expertly constructed. Im very much looking forward to books 2 of The Queens of Elben.

📚 review 📚
six wild crowns - holly race

divorced, beheaded, died. divorced, beheaded… you know the rhyme. it’s a story you’ve heard before but never told like this.

six wild crowns is an alternative, fantasy history of the tudor reign, featuring all the names you’ve heard before, cardinal wolsey, thomas more and thomas cromwell, alongside dragons, kelpies and tame panthers!
rather than the tudor england we know and love, our story is set in the kingdom of elben, ruled by henry viii and his six queens, each, as tradition, dictates must reside in their own castle to help protect the magical shield that surrounds the realm. everyone in elben knows that the queens are needed to support their glorious king… however, queen boleyn has learned something about the true history of the land and she needs her fellow queens help if she’s ever going to put henry back in his place and return the magic he wields to its rightful owner.

of all the books about the tudor queens i’ve read this one is the only one that doesn’t dismiss seymour as being the boring one. she is as kickass as boleyn, even if she doesn’t always believe it. cleves is clever and cunning, aragon fiercely loyal, parr sensible and howard not as air headed as you might think. though this is a fantasy and plays a little fast and loose with historical fact, it does capture the paranoia of the tudor court, of how tenuous henry’s grasp of the crown really was and how his wives should never be reduced to a rhyme. it has all the fun and frivolity of a fantasy with the intrigue and machinations of a historical fiction.

six wild crowns is the first in a series and is released in june (there’s a fancy special edition from waterstones if you’re interested in preordering!) thank you to @netgalley for the early copy.
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Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown/Orbit for this early copy of Six Wild Crowns.

If you’re picking up Six Wild Crowns for “a court teeming with dragons” and "Seymour acts as spy and assassin" within all the juicy intrigue promised in the synopsis, let me save you some time: those things are barely in the book. The premise makes it sound action-packed and full of magic and backstabbing, but honestly, it’s way more low-key than that.

Since this was an ARC, I expected a few errors, and there were four spelling mistakes in the first six chapters. After that, I didn’t notice any more, so hopefully, those will be cleaned up in the final version.

About the whole Henry VIII and his six wives thing, it sounded like such a fun idea, right? But it felt like a gimmick. The wives are definitely there, but they don’t really have the personality or defining traits that made their historical counterparts so interesting. If you’re a history enjoyer like me, you’ll probably agree that it barely scratches the surface of what it could have been. Honestly, it feels like the whole Henry VIII connection was thrown in to grab attention, it's a great marketing tool, but it doesn't go beyond much more than that.

Holly Race could definitely improve when it comes to writing emotions and interpersonal relationships. Characters' feelings would shift out of nowhere, and I was often confused about why certain people were suddenly close or in love. Love is thrown around a lot, but there’s not much to back it up. The only emotion that sort of was written well enough was fear, but even that wasn’t enough to explain the characters' motivations.

Oh, and can we talk about Henry VIII being portrayed as handsome? I couldn’t stop laughing. All I could picture was the famous painting of him, overweight, wearing male-pantyhose, not exactly a heartthrob. It’s such a weird image to overwrite.

Overall, the idea was cool, but the execution was just meh. It didn’t live up to what it promised. I won’t be picking up the rest of the series.

I've never read a book on the Tudors and the six wives of Henry VIII that is so original and compelling. It is set in an alternative mythic Britain where the king receives magical strength from Cernunnos the ancient forest god. The six queens, all known by their family names, such as Boleyn, Aragon and Seymour, live in six castles which bolster the king's power. There are elements of the real events that took place - Aragon is the rejected queen, Howard the silly child, and Boleyn, and Seymour, the main characters, are recognisable as their historical selves. This is also a story of female power and how it has been repressed and subverted by the king - how the natural power of the land and the queens who are supposed to protect it, have been manipulated and used by him, how Boleyn recognises that and, ultimately, how she enables the others to take back that power - if they choose. The story ends on a cliffhanger and I hope that part 2 comes out soon because this was an absolutely gripping, wild and brilliant read.

Thanks so much to Orbit for letting me read this book!

As an avid fantasy reader and someone who is deeply fascinated by history I was instantly intrigued as soon as I first heard about this story. Six Wild Crowns is an enchanting tale told through the eyes of two notorious figures of history reimagined in a vibrant fantasy world.
I was instantly sucked in to ways in which Elben and the world functioned, from the traditions surrounding the king and his queens to the little lap dragons. I also loved seeing our two protagonists evolve over the course of this story and seeing them slowly come to the realisation that they and the world around them weren’t the same as they initially thought was immensely satisfying. Additionally, I really enjoyed the way this book talked about the different dynamics that women are taught to have among each other, and I don’t really want to get into spoilers so I think the most important thing I can say to anyone who might read this is, get a copy of this book and explore this wonderful story yourself.
Personally, I had a great time reading this book and I cannot wait to see what the future of this story is going to look like.

they said dragons, sapphic yearning and tudors and I ran

this book was very much my cup of tea, a bit slow in the beginning but a true page turner as the story unfolded
I love the world this story takes place in and my dear queens!!!
so excited for the other books to come out

This was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and managed to devour quickly.

This was an interesting take on the six wives of Henry the eighth and I loved every minute of it. This was full of twists and turns and certainly had an ending that I did not expect.

We follow the story of Boleyn and Seymour throughout most of the book however it is interesting to see how they interact with the other queens and how each has their own personality.

I would definitely recommend this to others who enjoy history with a twist of fantasy and a unique story.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

Sadly I thought I would like it more than I did. I am not very knowledgeable about Henry VIII so the not exact history points didn’t annoy me.
I thought it would be more WLW than mentions of SA or even almost SA scenes. I get it that it has to be mentioned but I kinda hoped for more romance and slow burn. I even considered dnfing the book about half into it however as I continued I ended up really liking it and the somewhat plot twist of the prophecy.
The time skips were also very confusing sometimes

Well this is certainly a new take on Henry VIII and his six queens. The world-building is interesting although a little slow at times and the story is an exciting re-telling of history with some echoes of what we know and a whole new magical element added. Overall a good read with a fast-moving second half but I don't think I'm invested enough to read the next in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book. A gorgeous 4 star read book from me. What an exciting plot, vivid storytelling and relatable, rich characters. I could put this book down – absolutely loved it.

Thank you for approving the request for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Historical fiction and fantasy. Yes please.
To be honest, anything with Henry VIII wives and I'm going to thoroughly enjoy it!

Dragons, romance, fantasy, politics,
What more could you ask for??

This is was I would hope for in a fantasy land if they were all alive at the same time. The amount of world building great and wasn't too much where you spend the first 100 pages waiting for the action to start so I definitely appreciated that!

I'm so excited for this to be released so I can buy it- already recommended to a friend!

This book right here omg!!! So so good! I rated it 5 stars because I couldn't put it down for a bit. The characters are fantastic and the storyline is immaculate.

There are many positives about this fascinating blend of a book!

This is an incredibly well-written book filled with lush descriptions, political intrigue and detailed worldbuilding and magical elements. I fell in love with the hook immediately and anyone who's a history buff, or a gay Anne Boleyn lover like myself, will adore it. It gives us such interesting female characters, too.

However, I wasn't vibing with the pacing. I know historical books can have a slower pace. Still, I found myself drifting over pages sometimes as the action was minimal and the descriptions very heavy with exposition at times.

And as a personal preference, I don't particularly enjoy 3rd person present tense. It didn't work for me with this book, sadly.

I enjoyed the idea of this, Tudor queens with a more modern fantasy twist. I was instantly gripped and enjoyed most of this book.

As things progressed I found myself hoping for more well-developed characters and it started to fall a bit flat. The plot was interesting and the world building was promising but I don't think I will rush to read the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

SPOILER FREE Wow I absolutley loved this read. FORGET (almost) everything you know about the Tudors and imagine a world where Henry VII needs 6 wives at one time who live in different places for him to channel magic in to which the barrier/Magic border (bordweal) to protect the kingdom. there is Sapphic Romance, Dragons and magic, references to historical people and so much tension. HIGHLY reccomend if you fancy a toe dip into historical inspired fantasy! Thank you Netgalley and Holly Race for letting me have this ARC, all opinions my own

Wow, what amazing world-building skills Holly Race has! She effortlessly transplants the Queens we think we know from school history lessons into a fantasy landscape and somehow makes them more real in the process. Boleyn was a brilliant flawed narrator and Seymour has such a journey ahead of her - looking forward to seeing some of the other queens grow and develop too, especially Howard and Cleves. The six castles were also brilliantly conjured and I wish they were all real. Can't wait for book two!

Also, I may be setting up a Justice for the Dragons pressure group at some point :D

"Six Wild Crowns" is the first part in a fantasy series inspired by the six wives of Henry VIII.
I've always been interested in their lives and I love fantasy, so this novel really felt made for me.

I enjoyed the overall plot, but the timeline was a little unclear in places and some of the characters weren't all that well developed. Still, I really enjoyed this novel and can't wait for the next part in the series.