VIII

If I had to think of how to sell this book I would describe it as being along the lines of the Tudor TV series but toned down to be suitable for a YA audience I enjoyed every page and thought it was a prime example of how YA historical fiction should be written.I do get quite a bee in my bonnet whe it comes to YA historical fiction I get sent a lot of it for review because I am a history teacher and I have found of late that some of the stuff out there is just too weighty and too boring to enga [...]

I m still half asleep when I feel strong hands grabbing me.We all know the story of Henry VIII, the man who left a string of ruined women in his wake in his quest for a son, the huge man staring out from the famous portrait, the man who caused Britain to be torn apart in religious conflict to divorce his wife But at one point, that man was a boy A boy who was never supposed to be king, a boy who only wanted to be a knight, a boy who loved his mother What happened to that boy to turn him into the [...]

I don t use star ratings, so please read my review Description nicked from BN Hal is a young man of extraordinary talents, astonishing warrior skills, sharp intelligence, and a fierce sense of honor and virtue He believes he is destined for greatness His father wishes he would disappear Haunted by the ghosts of his family s violent past, Hal embarks on a journey that leads him to absolute power and brings him face to face with his demons I have an odd fascination with British history, and especi [...]

Castor takes the currently popular theory that Henry VIII was insane and runs with it to tell Henry s whole life for Henry s own POV.What is here is good put overall it feels as though it is missing some pieces The story skips over a few significant parts of his story in order to cram all 55 crazy years in there On the one hand, it makes sense towards the end as he really starts to go over the deep end, but on the other hand, it feels rushed and again, like parts were left out.What was good was [...]

I got this book free at ALA Midwinter.I have to say that I whipsawed back and forth and back again with this book When I first picked it up I was giddy, elated, crazy to have it in my hand I m a bit of a Tudor fan, you see, and this sounded so wonderful I could hardly wait to get home and crack it open Then I started it and it was first person Present tense Really Ack I m going to hate this book, I think But there was Elizabeth of York And that precious boy, talking in a voice that rang true Oka [...]

I wandered into Big W tonight, with 20 minutes to find a book After wading through the miles of wasted paper in their book section, I came up with this Dear Big W,YA fiction does not automatically mean paranormal romance.Sincerely,I want to read something GOOD.Finally I found VIII which, I ve now figured out, is the number 8 I picked it up, read the blurb, flicked open a few pages and decided to buy it.I m glad I did I really enjoyed this book I finished this in a few hours, accompanied by a bee [...]

I guess a lot of readers are fascinated by the Tudor family, myself included This is a great way to get an insider view of the dramatic sixteenth century in England, when one man s megalomania changed history Castor starts with Henry in his youth, when he was a handsome, skilled warrior, frustrated in his role as the second son Henry believes fervently that he is destined to rule as one of England s greatest kings At seventeen years old, he gets his chance.The focus on his youth, filled with jou [...]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book,not only for the wonderfully woven story but also for all it taught me of a period of history that I love The story was so accessible and the characters so well drawn The visions Henry kept seeing gave the book a real sinister and spine tingling tone which really captured the imagination A real page turner that I really didn t want to put down a fabulous read

I will also do a video review here at my channel youtube magicofbooks VIII by H.M Castor tells the story of a young boy named Hal who is haunted by the ghosts of his family s violent past Though his older brother is next in line to become king, Hal is planning his own course to restore the glory of England And he is destined to become one of England s most notorious kings King Henry VIII.Not many authors of historical fiction focus on Henry VIII Most authors focus on the six wives or people who [...]

3.5 5 the ending really lifted this one.Source Received an e ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.The Tudor period is one of my favorite times in history and once about which there is a plethora of material And yet this look at Henry VIII from childhood to death still seemed unique enough to stand out and be worthy of a read.After finishing, I feel like I received a lot from this book It is interesting to see how Henry s childhood shapes his future particularly with this first [...]

The copy for VIII states that it will do for Henry what Hilary Mantel did for Thomas Cromwell VIII is Wolf Hall for the teen and crossover market I don t dispute that VIII most certainly introduces the life of VIII, but I have definite misgivings about the novel.Key amongst these is the pacing of the novel Over half of VIII tackled the early life of Henry and his marriage to Catherine, after the death of his brother The remaining half showed the rest of his reign and the other five wives In a no [...]

I didn t know much about Henry VIII, apart from that he had six wives and he was fat I didn t know the order of the wives, only that they were divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived Now that I ve read VIII though, I feel like I know a lot I haven t read many historical novels, but I love them so much It doesn t matter what time period, any time will do for me VIII was probably one of the better ones I have read, because it was so informative and I learned so much about Henry VII [...]

I ve always had this weird fascination with King Henry VIII s story for some reason and loved to learn about his era and the Tudor family I m finally getting hooked on the Tudors on Netflix and also had already read three out of six of Philippa Gregory s Cousins War series White Queen so I was glad I was already familiar with some names at the beginning of VIII I really enjoyed reading in Henry s point of view in first person and neat to wonder what he was probably thinking and how he became who [...]

I first became enad with the story of Henry VIII when I read a book about one of his daughters, Elizabeth, in the fourth grade And yet, the only real mental picture I had of this notorious king was that infamous painting of him standing there in four hundred pounds of robes Not exactly charming.I read this novel in one sitting after my friend who has an opinion of books that I greatly trust told me, I have never gone from cheering for a character to wanting him to have a slow, excruciating death [...]

This is by far the most enjoyable book I have read for a long time The publishers say it is for the crossover market ie teens to adult, and it would certainly please either teen or adult It is in essence the life of Henry Viii as seen through his eyes That is twist enough, but the fact that he is haunted by his family history makes this a visceral and gripping story indeed Surprisingly scary Charlie Higson called it He is certainly right.The fact that Harriet is what I call a proper historian, a [...]

The beginning really captured me it was mystical, medevil but at the same time relateable In fact, I ve got no problems whatsoever with the first half, or the first book if you will But once I got into the second half second book, I felt as though it would have functioned far better as a sequel, and if I had the option of borrowing them separately, I may have been entirely satisfied with the first and not bothered reading the extension As it was, I found the second half to be less captivating th [...]

I loved all the history involved in this book about Henry the 8th I was fascinated to see how he grew up since we know what he did when he was king and how many wives he had I loved seeing how he was treated by his mother and father who both were affected by the War of the Roses The way him and his brother Arthur treated each other growing up and the love Henry showed Catherine after Arthur died really caught my attention If only Henry would have been happy with Catherine in the end and not so h [...]

I struggled with this book I enjoy the topic, but the premise was a little odd, that being that Henry VIII was haunted tormented by something only he could see, and which only appeared at certain significant times of his life But these times were significant in odd ways, not so much what history remembers about Henry VIII or what he might have wanted history to remember about him The significance is revealed at the very end of the book, and has the result of a cliff hanger Not enough history to [...]

My Mother kindly gave this to me when I was on a history kick, literature wise It s the story of King Henry VIII, who s life is well known to anyone who paid attention in basic History This book is simply retelling his life with an added twist called a prophecy I ll be honest, I didn t care for this book, I enjoyed it and the end was ok but Henry descent into how he is brutally known was less than interesting I ll probably donate this instead of adding to my read shelf

This is the story of the infamous Henry VIII, known as Hal for the YA market I didn t realise this was a YA novel but it did not prevent my enjoyment of it and it would probably be a three and a half star rating if I could Quite an entertaining account of Henry although I did feel it was slightly rushed at the end with the wives But hey, he did get through a fair few of them

I really enjoyed this new, haunting take on the familiar story of Henry VIII The first half was excellent covering Henry s early life but I felt as though the second half tried to cover too much ground and I d have preferred detail of his later marriages even if it meant a sequel

Forget the Henry VIII that you know, king and tyrant this is Henry VIII the spoiled brat.

3.5 Stars Interesting but not particularly riveting I also felt that it was a bit rushed, and wish time had been devoted to details and transitions.

Very interesting book, but the dialogue hurts Henry the VIII isn t going to say By the way or Seriously any than I m going to say thou or doth.

I got 200 pages into this and just had to set it aside I found the story repetitive and plodding Only for those who are fascinated by Tudor England and Henry VIII.

I honesty would give this novel a 2.95 out of 5 stars I recently just got a promotion at work, so I haven t been reading as much as I would like I bought this novel a while back in a Bookoutlet book haul I have always been very interested in history since Henry the 8th has always fascinated me, he s cunning, ruthless, his marriages and their endings are all so interesting I bought this novel because first it s history and second it s YA I m not sure if I just had too much hope for this novel and [...]

Not knowing much about Henry VIII aside from watched a History Channel documentary years ago and of course, skimming Tudor history in school this book was a fascinating read for me In it, Henry is insane a fact which drives his decisions and passions It s almost painful to read, in all actuality He is so selfish and soout there that you cringe but can t look away In the best stories, we find a lead character who is not good, and not bad, but somewhere in the middle We must untangle their lives a [...]

The only motivation I had to read this book was due to the fact that I ve owned it for about four years now and it has been taking up space on my shelf I started reading it with the thought that I wanted to get rid of it, but a part of me was hoping that I would actually enjoy this book Long story short, I didn t and I will be giving this away as soon as possible.I feel like this book was meant for someone who has some background knowledge on Henry VIII, because, as someone who doesn t, I was co [...]

The book starts out with Henry VIII as a young boy being whisked away to the Tower of London while his father is defending his throne against an impersonator of one of the young princes that were lost in the Tower years before It s a little awkward at first because the author writes the book in first person, and I am not used to reading large stories this way It took a bit of getting used to Also the book is aimed toward a younger audience, so the chapters can be extremely short With a book this [...]

I wanted to love this I really did I have a fascination with the Tudors that has led me to read anything King Henry VIII I only made it 79 pages before I realized it was sensationalized with the demon aspect and not, to my belief, historically accurate I also couldn t get past the writing style which for me was too choppy I like books with a continuous flow this book lacked that Thankfully, there are many people who did enjoy it I hope you can enjoy it than I did