Six Wild Crowns To ensure the magical bordweal remains intact to protect the island kingdom of Elben, its king, Henry, must marry six women to maintain the disparate parts of the realm. Each of these women strives to be Henry's favorite and be the mother of Elben's heir, and so they spend their days endlessly competing with each other. Beautiful, educated, cosmopolitan Boleyn is determined to be Henry's favorite, no matter the cost. Young lady Seymour is sent by Aragon to spy upon Boleyn and perhaps kill her, but Seymour is reluctant to play the role she has been assigned when she comes to care for the vivacious new queen. And then she catches Henry's eye and all her plans are tossed aside. When Boleyn discovers a centuries' old secret, she begins to realize that everything she has been told about Elben's history may be a lie, and to set and old wrongs to right could cost her and Seymour everything they've struggled to build. Mythological and fairytale retellings are nothing new in the literary world. Since their beginnings, such stories have been told and retold, changed, gone to new parts of the world, and been retold again and again. Such is their nature. But regardless of the makeover, the essential story remains the same. Whatever its external trappings, the core story of Beauty and the Beast is about the young beauty who learns to love the true heart behind the monstrous face. What, then, are we to make of historical retellings like this one? On one hand, Six Wild Crowns is a Tudors fantasy AU fanfiction with pet dragons on the side, where King Henry VIII is married to all six of his wives at once. On the other hand, it is a story of ill-informed women put into a dangerous and magical situation, who are expected to compete with each other for their husband's favor, and who struggle to put sisterhood ahead of political advantage when they uncover old secrets. On the fanfiction side, some previous knowledge of Henry VIII's court is almost a necessity, as so many characters and relationships aren't established within the text. If you don't know the names Wolsey, Cromwell, or Cranmer, you might not understand what these characters represent or are meant to be doing within the story. If you don't already know about Anne of Cleves's short and disastrous marriage to Henry VIII, you might not understand her character in Six Wild Crowns. If you are well-versed in the history of England from 1527-1547, you'll probably understand the relationships without having to think about it. That's the nature of fanfiction: characters and relationships are established by the source material, and the author doesn't have to spend time or text reworking them. But Six Wild Crowns also wants to be something new, and therein lies the problem. There is no core story like there is in Beauty and the Beast. The historical aspect and the fantasy aspect aren't fully enmeshed, and because they seem to be going in different directions, they stretch the story to its breaking point. There is a tension between the historic and the fantasy that is less, "I must find out what happens next" and more "this story feels like it's going to fly apart at any moment". If it hangs together by a thread, it's only because the author knows Tudor history well enough to keep the story moving before it completely comes apart. There are plenty of pacing issues, as well. So many pages are devoted to Seymour's endless longing, while major plot events flit by in the blink of an eye. Certain character beats don't make a lot of sense, either, as when a longtime servant spens a chunk of the book angry at their queen for not unraveling the entrenched social structure overnight. I requested this book because I have a longstanding fascination with Anne Boleyn and the Tudor court, and I was enjoying myself for the first third or so. But after the first 150 page, the book just kept going on and on without having much of a point or a purpose beyond a touch of 'girl power!' in the final ten percent. The ending leaves off with little of consequence having changed for Elben as a whole. The story's feminist aspects largely rest on a few relatively privileged women working to increase their own power while making cursory attempts at building friendships with other privileged women. I turned to the first page of this book with a good deal of hope, and turned the last one with disappointment. There are many excellent books about Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour in the world, but sadly, Six Wild Crowns is not one of them. - Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing me with a free electronic advance copy for review. Traveling in Books is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Traveling in Books that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.
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Monday, 26 May 2025
Book Review: Six Wild Crowns
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