Publication Date: June 10th, 2025
Hardcover. 416 pages.
Each queen vies for attention. Clever, ambitious Boleyn is determined to be Henry's favourite. And if she must incite a war to win Henry over? So be it.
Seymour acts as spy and assassin in a court teeming with dragons, backstabbing courtiers and strange magic. But when she and Boleyn become the unlikeliest of things - allies - the balance of power begins to shift. Together they will discover an ancient, rotting magic at Elben's heart. A magic that their king will do anything to protect.
A captivating epic fantasy filled with dragons, court politics and sapphic yearning, perfect for fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree and House of the Dragon."
Six Wild Crowns is a surprising new historical fantasy that surprised me when I first started, but is one I ended up enjoying quite a bit. I think this will be a bit of a polarizing one, but I'm here to tell you that I actually really liked this. If you go into this expecting a fantasy version of the whole Henry VIII and all his wives account, then you might be slightly disappointed. While this is a story about Henry VIII and his wives, it's not one that's strictly based on the historical events; instead, it's very much entirely fantasy-based. The names are the same (or... similar), but not much else follows along with the history, so I'd recommend adjusting expectations if that's what you're anticipating.
Six Wild Crowns doesn't really have much at all to do with Henry VIII and actual historical authenticity or events. It takes the characters, the general setup, some historical elements, and twists them all into a unique fantasy world. In this world, their religion dictates that Henry VIII needs to have multiple wives in order for the kingdom of Elben and its magic to be maintained. Naturally, there's some rivalry between these queens. And just to note--the queens are referred to by their surnames, so Anne Boleyn is just Boleyn, and then there's Seymour and so on. Our story begins with Boleyn taking her place with Henry VIII, and slowly ramps up and becomes more interesting as Boleyn and Seymour begin to develop hints of a friendship and begin discovering some things about Elben's magic and it's sources and much more. Eventually, they decide they want to bring the other wives in on what they've discovered... and things get even more interesting.
We focus mainly on Boleyn and Seymour, and I found both of these women fascinating. I do wish we'd spend just a bit more time with some o the other queens, but I am still quite satisfied with what he had. Boleyn is true to her historical portrayal as being extremely ambitious and someone who decides what she wants and then goes and gets it. Seymour is not quite a headstrong, but she does still have a strong sense of will that has been buried within her that was so satisfying to see slowly come out to play throughout this book. I actually felt like there was a good bit of growth with both of these characters and I very much enjoyed watching it happen. And of course, we do get some great themes and commentary on the role of women and, without giving spoilers, essentially how they are treated more as objects than as real people--which I'm sure is not an unfamiliar topic for any of us readers. I really like how Race explores her characters and writes them: they were often meaningful in an innocuous way, if that makes sense--things don't always seem that deep maybe in how they are portrayed, but there are many layers going on with every interaction, word of dialogue, and thought.
There is some interesting world-building, and although I feel it could have been fleshed out a little more, I don't necessarily think it needed to be. Within this world, there are plenty of updates on the political happenings and wars, but for some reason these fell a little into the background for me. The politics are of course generally important and they do impact the plot in various ways, especially with some of Boleyn's storyline, but at the same time it felt like so much of it happened off-page and I was so invested in the time with the wives that it just didn't really linger in my mind. I almost felt like one of the wives waiting around at the castle or something while waiting to hear news of current events--but then ending up feeling a bit detached from outside happenings. I preferred focusing more on what the women were up to. I'm not sure if this is a pro or con because I feel like I followed the story well and still enjoyed it readily, but I also feel like I wasn't as connected or fully invested with everything as I could have been, so... I guess interpret that however you'd like.
I did like that there were dragons in this, and I was so intrigued when they first showed up on the page as essentially... pets, of sorts? I'm not sure if pet is really the correct word here, but that's basically how they were presented. There's not a lot of dragon in this, but it felt like such a random and mildly underdeveloped component that fit well in the story, even though there wasn't all that much to it. One of our queens also ends up with a panther (gifted to her by Cleves) as a bit of a companion and I was immensely jealous of that. It's these little bits of fantasy type elements that are what I found myself enjoying in this book. It doesn't all make sense, but it all works together and fit in a weird way. I think if I were expecting something a bit more finely detailed I'd be disappointed, but since I was more along for the ride, everything worked for me and I enjoyed it. I'm really not sure how else to describe it, and maybe my experience is just going to be very different from others, but that's how it felt to me.
I also really liked Race's writing style. There was something to it that made it feel stylized, but nothing approaching intense literary prose that's overly dense to follow. It's also a fairly slow read, I'd say. There's not a lot of action, though there are some pretty dramatic and more intense scenes that occur and I found these highly compelling. But overall, the build-up to things is on the slower side for sure, so I would keep that in mind as well.
This is a bit of a hard book to describe and talk about, but hopefully I've been able to share some of my thoughts with you. I was initially frustrated that it was so very much not what I was expecting, but it ended up being different enough that I actually really appreciated how unique this was. As I mentioned, I think I can see people being a bit disappointed with this initially, so I think knowing what you are going into could help with that. Holly Race really has done something that felt new to me and really captivated me. I just wanted to keep reading. I will definitely check out more from Holly Race because I'm curious about her ideas and how she tells her stories!
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