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Hilary Mantel

• Jan 9, 2025 Wolf Hall By Hilary Mantel Rating books is of course a fool's game, when it is impossible to compare works of art to eachother let alone to a numerical scale, and perhaps in this case I am a bit unfair to Wolf Hall. It is, technically speaking, a quite good book, it's characters deep and compelling, its drama riveting, and it undoubtedly takes much technical skill to do this with what might otherwise be a tired court drama from Olden Times. But: I was expecting Greatness, for reasons outside of the book's control, and found instead basically competent entertainment. Do authors have to say something interesting and unique to be considered great? Maybe not? Does this have something interesting to say? Maybe a bit? Anyways, I was compelled but not overwhelmed, and so this was underwhelming.