Sorry kids, no feet.

I really liked [b:Wolf Hall|6520929|Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)|Hilary Mantel|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1424222537s/6520929.jpg|6278354]. I was a little worried about starting Bring Up the Bodies. Generally when I really like the original, I find myself extremely disappointed by the sequel. This was not the case with Bring Up the Bodies. In fact, I hesitate to call Bring Up the Bodies a sequel. Yes, Bring Up the Bodies picks up almost right where Wolf Hall left off but, unless you know nothing about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, you don't really need Wolf Hall. Side note: If you have a limited knowledge of Henry VIII, I would recommend starting with something other than Wolf Hall.

I don't think action packed is a description that comes to mind when people are describing Bring Up the Bodies. I'm using action packed to describe it. Obviously I'm not talking about the kind of action my literary friend Uhtred (see [b:The Last Kingdom|68527|The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Stories, #1)|Bernard Cornwell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1407107780s/68527.jpg|881821]) engages in, I'm talking political action (Maybe like the kind Bill Clinton engaged in. Yep, I went there.). This book covers September 1535-May 1536. Those of you who know something about the Tudors, know that May 1536 was kind of a rough month for Anne Boleyn. I think it's this condensed time period that helps make this book so much better than the previous. There isn't the time jumping that took place in Wolf Hall. In this novel, Mantel stays in the "present". There are a few reflections by Cromwell but nothing to the extent of his reflections in Wolf Hall.

Mantel still put the reader inside Cromwell's head but not nearly as much as in Wolf Hall. Here we see more of Cromwell in action while he makes his rounds to bring a case against Anne Boleyn. I rather enjoyed the scenes in which Cromwell was questioning ladies-in-waiting or interrogating the various men in Anne Boleyn's wife. The reader is given a look at the lengths Cromwell goes to in order to make his king happy but not once does Mantel make Cromwell seem like he is acting for any reason other than because it's what Henry wants.