Read as part of CBR16 Bingo: Horses. This book features people riding horses as a practical matter because it’s set in the 15th century.
First of all: RIP CJ Sansom. I didn’t know until I started this that he had recently died, and sadly just before Shardlake, a tv series based on these books, was released on Hulu.
I read Sansom’s Dominion years ago and thought it was decent. I grabbed this not long after but eventually gave up on keeping it, as I just needed to clear space and didn’t think I’d have time. But when a writer I like suggested it, I went back and I’m glad I did.
The mystery is interesting enough, I suppose, but for me, what works here is how well CJ Sansom creates a paranoid atmosphere. England is changing politically and in those days, a political change was liable to come about due to a religious one. Being the product of a church that was part of the reformation, I loved how Sansom baked in the theological tensions that were simmering between Catholic monastics and English reformers. Sansom also does a good job of making clear that these tensions were part of land grab designs from the Crown on Rome.
Few of the side characters worked for me and I kept getting the Brothers confused but I liked Shardlake well enough. He can occasionally be a bit too mopey; a little Tyrion Lannister-esque humor would have helped. But he’s determined to follow his call to the bitter end. And it does end bitterly. Sansom makes Shardlake confront the reality of the larger situation and how there are no heroes here.
This is a series I’ll be reading more of and I may even check out the show.