I wish I finished this about ten years ago when I read the first half of this. I probably would have enjoyed this far more if I was still in my teens, but I'm older now and a bit wiser and know a lot more about the Tudor reign (thank you Cate Blanchett and Henry Cavill!!), so I couldn't help but notice that this is...really not that well written. It also has one of my pet-peeves in it: telling a (background) story through dialogue. There were far too many instances when one person would tell another all about past events concerning the Spanish succession for example and it took me right out of my reading experience. I hate when that happens because I'm always painfully aware that I am reading a book right now and the author clearly thought "Well, how do I give my readers the needed information now?" (Ken Follett is especially guilty of doing this), not to mention that as a result the dialogue gets completely stilted (seriously, no one talks like this). So, I appreciate the research that went into this book, but as a historical fiction novel it falls short.