Well written, terribly read.

If you're familiar with Weir you'll know what to expext: the writing's ok, especially if you're into Tudor tales anyway.
However, the reading is awful, with pantomime-style voices and no interpretation of the writing at all.

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Wonderful fresh telling

Very interesting to to have Anne approached in a way that contrasts the many other novels of her life.
Alison Weir has long been my favourite author of historical fiction, and I have enjoyed the first two books in the 6 wives series almost as much as innocent traitor, which I still believe to be her finest work.
I enjoyed the performance of Anna Bentinck, but the version I listened to needs editing, there are several mistakes and even a double take of the same initially mispronounced sentence.

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What a interesting read (listen)

Never been into reading books but listening like this has been a real treat. Alison weir beautiful written and was never bored. Anna bentinck who narrated wonderful job.

An easy read

It’s a good enough book to pass the time but I was not overly impressed. While it’s as historically accurate as possible the book lacks the drama someone might look in a book like this.

The characters are very one dimensional and most of the time there’s no purpose behind what they do. We barely see any of the Boleyn family, Katherine’s story is also passed through very quickly and there’s no build behind Anne’s reasoning in why she wants to become a queen.

In regards to the way the audiobook was acted, I’m sure the actress reading it did her best but Anne was well in her thirties but her voice sounded like she was 12. That threw me off quite a bit.

Again, a good read to pass the time but nothing too impressive.

Narration even worse than last..

Really enjoyed the first book which was only let down by the narrator, this time the narrator was even worse and I would have given up very early on if I hadn’t been so very interested to meet Alison Weir’s version of Anne is it is like Katherine very different to mine and indeed anybody else’s I have ever read.

Good story

Interesting take on the typical story of Anne Boleyn. Has some issues with referring to women as him and vis versa which is annoying and ruins the flow of the narration. Looking forward to what the rest of the series has to offer.

Never gets boring

I have been on a Henry v111 kick or should I say his wives for a while and have listened to several accounts of the lives and fates of these six women. There has obviously been each author's own twist and accounting of the facts . And actually the parts that crop up over and over I think are the truth. This particular book has Anne as quite a sweet natured person.I do not buy into the myth that she was an awful selfish woman prone to terrible acts to get what she wanted, but sweet natured and apart from a few tantrums blameless.? No. In this book a lot of the worse things are blamed quite squarely on George. I don't believe this. It doesn't matter how many times I listen to the accounts of Henry's six wives I never fail to feel completely for all these women who could not refuse a king. And to listen in horror to the deeds of a king blinded by his love of himself and reinforced by those around him. This is the kindest thing I can say about him. I do not like him at all. There were new things to take into account about Anne in this book and I was filled with horror at her end as I always am. The narrator was on the whole good but I hated her voice for Henry. She sounded like Prince Charles, often with a bunged up nose. And I cringed a lot of the time listening to that voice. These women make me grateful how far women have come. I'm now off to listen to the next book in this series. Jane Seymour. I hope to listen to all these books although they are not all available at present.

Ok, sort of.

I struggled to get through this. The rather odd, repeated paragraphs were very distracting. This interpretation gets the basic facts right but the characterisation of Anne as a calculating power hungry b***h and Henry as a spoilt, petulant brat leaves an unpleasant impression. Although the author can usually be relied on to weave a good story I wouldn't recommend this one.

Disappointment.

Several passages have been repeated during recording, this is bad production.
The Narrator is unrealistic and unbelievable. There is far more to Anne than her lightweight narration portrayed.
Not a patch on the others.

The Rise & Fall of A Queen

Ask most people about Henry VIII and they will invariably mention his second wife, Anne Boleyn. She is perhaps the best known of Henry's six wives. There may be some casual readers who might decide to opt for this book in the series only but having just read it and the first, I'd have to say Weir's first book in this epic series, Katherine of Aragon: The True Queens clearly the better of the two in my opinion. That is not to say that this second book is an uninteresting read, far from it, it's just that there is likely far more source material from which to draw upon with regard to Katherine and her long marriage to Henry than for Anne's relatively brief rise to fame and fortune. Not being an historian myself, I imagine this is true purely given the length of time Katherine was queen combined with her brief history with Henry's brother, Arthur. SO, I would speculate that this fictionalized work of historical basis has to rely on much more by way of indirect references to Ann's early life and her initial dealings with Henry. I may well be wrong about this but I felt this was so when reading this book. In truth, I did find the Katherine of Aragon story much more compelling as I felt it had more substance to it.

Having said all that, please do not be put off this book. Weir does an overall excellent job and paints in detail the rise and tragic fall of this ambitious woman that would be queen. As the book progresses and Anne finally becomes Queen, there is more depth to the book perhaps due to the increased level of source material at this pivotal point in Anne's life. . As this book is written from Ann's perspective, we do not get a sense of the machinations going on behind the scenes, chiefly led by Cromwell that lead to her ultimate downfall. For more on this and an excellent complimentary work of historical fact about Anne, I highly recommend Weir's book "The Lady in The Tower" also available here on Audible

Weir does an excellent job of portraying Ann's final days and there is genuine poignancy here that really gives the reader a sense of the terror and confusion Ann must have endured in her last days. I have visited the Tower of London and stood inside the small chapel just feet away from where Ann was buried and have thought on the horror of her execution and the fear she must have felt with deep sympathy for her. For all Anne's foibles, this was not the end she deserved. It was a brutal period to live in which Weir alludes to several times in the book with respect to how Henry dealt with those that would oppose him.

As mentioned in my review of the first in this series, I'd like to have seen the same narrator used throughout. The narrator used for this book does a good job and is easy to listen to. However, as usual with me I have to mention some minor typos and two editing errors I noticed. I have to labour the point of proper proof reading and due diligence in this regard. perhaps it's just me that notices such things and they do not detract from the book as a whole but I do find such things surprising to see.

Given the historical record of Ann's life - in particular her early life, Weir has done a fine job of doing what she does so well, depicting historical figures as real people.