I finally finished my 4th of July rolls, and will be rolling again this morning, but I have to set down a few thoughts about this book.

I'm not sure that I liked it quite as much as Wolf Hall, at least for the first 3/4, but holy cow, the last 75 pages or so was just amazing. Even though I know how Anne Boleyn died, the unfolding of it was breathtakingly, heartstoppingly suspenseful. How did Mantel make an event that everyone knows about so devastating?

I mean, I didn't even like Anne Boleyn very much, and she is a very complicated historical figure, but that was not a trial. It was a murder. She was murdered. There was so little evidence to suggest that she was guilty of any of the things she was accused of, and the trumped up, convenient nature of the entire thing - from poor Mark Weston to the rest of the men to Anne herself - is just appalling. Henry VIII was a piece of self-centered shit.

And Cromwell? Well, again, he's a complicated historical figure, but his part in that whole farce was unforgivable. Although, presumably, he'll get his in book 3.

If you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Especially if you are working for King Henry VIII.

I am starting this one - the last of my 4th of July reads!

Today is my roll day, so I'm going to start with my normal roll:

This takes me to space #4: 

Read a book that was published during the months of May, June or July, or that contains an item that would be used as a school supply or an article of clothing or an accessory pictured on the cover.

Fortuitously, the next Lynley book, Well-Schooled in Murder, was published in May of 2007! Yippee!

First of my extra rolls:

comes up doubles, and takes me the race car. I put it in my pocket, and roll again!

which puts me on:

15. Read a book with a tree (or trees) on the cover, or that is set in a mountain community.

A Fountain Filled With Blood is set in Miller's Kill, NY, a community in the Adirondack mountains, which fulfills this prompt! That's the one book that I am for sure going to read, so that's great that I can fit it in without using one of my novelty cards!

Roll for my second extra roll:

which puts me on:

20. Read a book that features a dog or which has a dog on the cover or that is set in an area known for its lakes or on a fictional lake.

At this point, I must move onto the next Russ & Clare mystery, called Out of the Deep I Cry, which is set in Millers Kill, in the Adirondacks, and area that is both known for its lakes and which takes place on a lake.

My third extra roll:

Puts me on the BL space, which means that I go to the Wheel Decide:

which tells me to "read a book that has been on my TBR for more than a year"

So many possibilities for this one, including Bring Up the Bodies, which is the sequel to Wolf Hall, and which I bought when it was published back in September, 2012, well over a year ago.

and then because I had doubles, I roll again:

Which puts me on Go, so I collect $5.00 and roll again!

which takes me around the board, past where I started rolling, to:

7. Read a book that has a house on the cover, or that is related to something unique about your community (for example, if your community has a strawberry festival, read a book with strawberries on the cover).

Playing one of my cat cards - I read The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-48357602

It's not the future dystopia of The Hunger Games, but it's not far off. Henry VIII requires an heir, and he must be rid of Ann Boleyn, and this is where it all starts going horribly wrong. Because the reader already knows how the story turns out there is a constant and oppressive suspense as one reads over all the details, and the details are rich. It doesn't feel like an historical novel, it feels like history, with all the bits thrown in that make it fun: the clothes, the plotting, the king losing touch with reality.

Maybe, because it's such a grim story, it shouldn't be so much fun to read. But it is.

Library copy