“Six Wild Crowns” is a unique twist on the historical narrative of Henry VIII and his six wives, set in a fantastical world. The premise, which combines dragons, political intrigue, and a medieval setting, initially piqued my interest. However, after finishing the novel, I found the story to be more focused on the struggles of two of Henry’s wives, Boleyn and Seymour, within a male-dominated world, with fantasy elements taking a secondary role. While the novel features fairies, dragons, and magic, these aspects are overshadowed by the feminist storyline of empowering these intelligent women. The main disappointment stems from the book’s summary, which suggests a stronger fantasy presence similar to “Game of Thrones,” but this is not the case.

I recommend approaching this book without reading the summary and coming in with preconceived expectations, as it primarily serves as a retelling of historical figures and events. I think I would have much more enjoyed this novel if I went in without a predetermined mindset, as I did enjoy the two main characters and individualistic struggles against a patriarchal society and domineering husband and king.

Thank you to Orbit Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Six Wild Crows reimagines Tudor history in a world where dragons exist, magic is real, and Henry VIII is married to all six of his wives—simultaneously. Set on a magical island shielded from invasion, the story explores a realm where the king’s power seems to hold everything together. But what if that power doesn’t come from Henry at all? What if it’s the six queens who are the true source of magic? And what if love is found not with the king, but between two of the queens?

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read and review this unique take on Tudor lore. I’m giving it 3.5 stars.

As an Anne Boleyn fan, I particularly enjoyed her character—watching her navigate complex relationships with the other queens and come into her own power was a highlight for me. However, I did wish we got more depth from the other queens. Only Boleyn and Seymour have POV chapters, and I would have loved to see the story through the eyes of the others as well.

Still, this is a compelling read that I think will resonate with fellow Tudor fans and lovers of historical fantasy alike.

“Her wedding dress was the colour of the massacre of Pilvreen.” Ok, Holly Race, you had me completely roped in with just the first sentence.

This book has strong female lead characters, LGBTQ+ rep, and lap dragons, need I say more?? The world was described beautifully and the magic system is quite unique. The book is a bit slow moving for a while, but about half way through it really starts ramping up and the last 10% is absolutely insane! Everything really comes to an explosion of emotions and rage! I cannot wait to see where the story goes after this book, I need it NOW!

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for giving me the opportunity to read an eARC of this book and provide my honest feedback.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing an advance copy of *Six Wild Crowns* by Holly Race. I was really excited to dive into this one, as the premise had so much potential, but unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me as I had hoped.


While I appreciate the creativity and effort that went into crafting this world, I ultimately found that it didn’t quite capture my attention the way I expected. *Six Wild Crowns* has a lot of promise, and I think fans of intricate fantasy worlds might still find it enjoyable, but for me, it just didn’t hit the mark.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I've gotten a physical arc of this one, which is my preference, so I'll be reviewing it elsewhere when I finish reading!

I have adored so many of Tessa Gratton's books so when I heard about this new one I leapt on it, and I'm so glad I did! This book is pure magic—lush, immersive, and utterly intoxicating. Iriset is a stunningly complex anti-heroine, torn between ambition and vulnerability, confidence and limitation, making her journey feel all the more real!! The magic system is breathtakingly unique, woven seamlessly into a world rich with intimacy and sensuality. Gratton masterfully crafts relationships that pulse with raw emotion, leaving the reader completely enthralled. While the world-building can feel dense at times, it ultimately clicks into place, rewarding those who push through. With its intricate storytelling, stunning representation, and heart-wrenching love stories, this is a book that lingers—and leaves you desperate for more.

off the bat, a big big thanks to netgalley & the publisher for the e-arc!! all thoughts and opinions are my own. this book will be out on june 10th, 2025.

so, first and foremost, i loved the premise of this. the tudors meet dragons, the priory of the orange tree. the novel was also advertised as having great LGBTQ+ rep, which it does. in general, i was excited to read this. and, for the most part, i enjoyed this. it wasn’t bad by any means. i liked the elements of court intrigue and politics. only none of the characters were particularly riveting to me, i only liked Boleyn. seymour was... i feel like the story could have been focused on only boleyn and none of the plot would have changed. the romance between the two ladies also felt so strange. like seymour took one look at Boleyn, fell in insta love, and then, after being mean to her, boleyn fell in love, too? i also felt like the switch of henry becoming the villain was instant. we never really see him do anything particularly villainous, except woo seymour. and then, suddenly, he’s an almost cartoon-like villain. i would’ve liked to see a bit more hints at him being a villain.

overall, six wild crowns wasn’t exactly the best book i’ve ever read, but i don’t think it’s bad. this is one that i would tell people to pick up, i think!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for the preview. All opinions are my own.

This book is absolutely remarkable. I have loved Anne Boleyn for decades. And at the same time, looked down on the other queens. But WHY?! This book turns our perceptions on their head, because who is the real enemy of our understanding of these women? It’s the men! It’s the patriarchy! This is such a gloriously feminist take that made me question my own internalized misogyny.

I think it’s best to ignore the blurb on this one because it’s a bit misleading. Yes there are dragons, there is magic, but this at its heart is a character exploration and an examination of power, who wields it, and who tells the stories we build our world around. You cannot get tied into knots on “historical accuracy” here; that got thrown out the window when we added dragons.
I want you to read this, and I want you to sit with WHY you perceive any of these queens the way you do; why you perceive any woman the way you do. This book, like Boleyn is revolutionary and I love them both for it.

I felt a lot of emotions while reading, especially at the end. The climax of the book is SHOWSTOPPING—absolutely transcendent. And the end….i won’t soon recover.
I’m eager to see where the next book goes. I’d love too to get more backstory on how Henry chose a few of his wives and who they were before. We definitely focus on Boleyn and Seymour here, and now I’m so curious about Howard and Parr especially.

Anyway, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Six Wild Crowns is well written, thought provoking, quasi-historical, misogynistic fantasy world that explores the relationships of women to each other and to the men around them.

The women all are unique personalities and in this story we watch them grow and learn through their relationships to each other. The author beautifully explores the tragedy of women working against each other and the triumph of coming together and lifting each other up. It’s a beautiful example of the cunning, courage and power women can achieve especially when working together.

This book was slow going for me and hard to read sometimes. The tragedies, betrayals and abuse made it painful however there were moments in this book that made it all worth it.

The ending fell a little short, leaving a lot of questions unanswered, and a lot of story left to write. I really hope there is another to finish it up.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for the free advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Unfortunately this didn’t work for me. I can’t get past a society that eats and sacrifices dragons. It’s a me problem but that’s just insane to me! It’s also confusing because they’re used in war and as hunting dogs and even kept as pets but also eaten. How many kinds of dragons are there and are they in such abundance that you can also eat them? This is probably a silly complaint. It’s so disappointing because I was so interested and intrigued by the premise. Tudors but magical and sapphic! Amazing! The writing was good and the worldbuilding was interesting otherwise but I had to DNF.

Thank you so much to Orbit for the arc!

Six Wild Crowns is an engaging fantasy packed with dragons, magic, and courtly intrigue. I loved the character development that took place in the story, especially as Boleyn embraced what it meant to be a queen for her people, and I adored the roles that supporting characters played in both of the main characters' growth.

However, while I love a good sapphic romance, its inclusion in Six Wild Crowns felt forced and out of place—it just didn’t fit the story or the characters as the plot unfolded. Instead, it hindered Seymour’s development, as her primary motivation seemed driven by an instant infatuation with Boleyn’s beauty, rather than doing what was right simply because it was the right thing to do. Despite this, though, I truly enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more of Holly Race's work.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So, this is this author's first adult book after having mostly written in YA before this, and unfortunately, you can tell. This has an interesting chasm between making the Queens and Henry their own characters and staying slavishly true to the history, and it doesn't quite manage to pull it off. Honestly, the divide of original plot and based on history isn't pulled off well either. I'm at least intrigued by where things leave off because it looks like there's maybe a potential for it to develop fully into its own thing rather than just being a rehash of the history, but I'm a bit eh on the marketing pushing sapphic yearning without actually committing to it overly much. Not quite what I was hoping for, but I'm sure there's someone who's going to love this and this will work better for them.

I was excited about the idea of this book because I love historical fantasy, all things Tudor, and I'm going to see the musical Six in May, so I thought an alternate past in which Henry is a bisexual polyamorous husband who needs marriages to six very different queens to bind his magic? Sapphic longing between Seymour and Boleyn? What can go wrong?

But for the first half of the book I had to laugh at the portrayal of Henry as a handsome, generous, kind Lothario, until he flips without warning after the queens learn the truth of his magic and becomes the misogynist Henry who is obsessed with breeding a male heir. The history was so completely wrong that it drove me nuts. I think it would have worked better as its own universe without any nods to real history. The idea of the worldbuilding was fascinating to me without the Tudor references; the Tudor element just got in the way.

Then the sapphic longing was perhaps the most disappointing of all for spoilery reasons. I could buy Seymour having a crush on Boleyn but then she leaps to love and I could not see what she saw in a woman who treated her with indifference. The whole time it seemed like the futility of crushing on a straight girl, a completely unrequited slow burn painful longing that made me want to throttle Seymour.

The story was also boring without much going on. The magic and the pet dragons could too often seem like window dressing. I fully admit after the 66% mark I found the story so tedious and was so annoyed by the characters that I skimmed the rest just to get it over with.

Such a disappointment!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This historical fantasy imagines a Tudors world if dragons and magic were real and King Henry VIII could be married to all six of his wives at the same time. On an island protected from invaders magic flows and it’s all possible because of the power of the king, but what if the real truth is that it is in fact the six queens with the power. What lengths would Boleyn and Seymour go to save themselves and their families? What if love could be found between two of the queens instead of with the king?
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read and review this book which I am giving 3.5⭐️.
As an Anne Boleyn fan I really enjoyed this book, not only because I enjoyed her character but I enjoyed how she developed relationships with all of the other queens and stepped into her own power. I do wish that the other queens in this book were more developed or even had POV chapters of their own, we only get Boleyn and Seymour. I think this book will be well liked by Tudor fans and look forward to posting about this on my social media (TikTok and YouTube) closer to its release date.

SIX WILD CROWNS was beautifully written and I had so much fun following along with all of the wives.

**My thanks to Orbit Books for providing me with an advanced review copy via NetGalley**

4 stars

As someone who went through a Tudor phase in childhood, I was very curious to see what a fantasy take on the six wives of Henry VIII would look like. In what I think was probably a wise move, the novel is only lightly based on the Tudor kings and queens and mostly borrows just the names and most well-known traits of each wife to insert into a political epic fantasy. It is not set in an England with fantasy elements but in a completely new fantasy world, in which the island of Elben is a resource-rich island protected from continental powers by a magical barrier maintained by a king and his six queens, each of whom has a castle from which to defend and maintain the barrier’s magic.

I enjoyed the book the most when I let it take me away into a fantasy world peopled with dragons, hags, and ancient godly magic, rather than the historical fantasy a part of me was initially looking forward to. The Tudor connections are vibes only; the technology, fashion, societal attitudes, and mythology are all made up, not based in 1500s English history, and it’s pretty fun to learn about as the novel goes on. Boleyn and Seymour are the novel’s protagonists, two queens initially at odds who end up forging an unlikely bond and friendship and with a plan to ally with all the other queens as well, in defiance of the queens’ traditional estrangement from one another. The story is well paced and the climax manages to feel both surprising and inevitable, which is always a treat.

I like that both Boleyn and Seymour are multifaceted characters. Boleyn is a rebel and a thinker, but she’s also fiercely in love and lust with her husband, devoted to her family, and willing to change her mind when presented with new evidence. Seymour is a mousy follower, but loves deeply, craves beauty, and grows in self-confidence and willingness to acknowledge her own strengths over the course of the story.

I am definitely intrigued enough to want to pick up the next book in the series when it publishes; I’m particularly interested in seeing what happens with the young Princess Tudor (Aragon’s daughter) after the events of this book’s climax.

This is going to be one of this most talked about historical fantasy picks of the year! I fell in love with the world building, the wives telling their own stories ( kinda reminded of the musical SIX) and the romance. SO GOOD!

Holly Race skillfully blends historical inspiration with fantasy elements to bring us a world based on Henry VIII and his wives. Six Wild Crowns is influenced by history in a way that makes this new story seem familiar, but without the limitations of being fully based on the reality.

I really enjoyed both POV characters. Boleyn and Seymour offered complementary but unique voices to tell the story. Additionally, their evolving relationship adds depth to the narrative, highlighting themes of female solidarity and resilience.

Despite these strengths, the pacing sometimes faltered, with some sections feeling overly detailed and slowing the momentum of the story. While the main characters are well-developed, some of the secondary characters could have been explored further.

Fans of political intrigue, strong (and complicated) female protagonists, and richly imagined fantasy worlds will find much to enjoy here. I look forward to the next installment in the series and the continued growth of its characters and world.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

The premise of the book hooked me. The thought of Henry and his 6 wives in a fantasy world where they each have there own throne I’m all for it. But there were times where it got boring and flat but also times where it got interesting. I would definitely recommend this to people that like romantasy and historical romance. I also loved that the trigger warnings where at the very beginning so anyone that is triggered will know. I would also like to thank the author and the publisher for giving me the chance to read it.