The characters are totally convincing, the plot is exciting and will have you sat on the edge of your seat towards the end and there's a depth and subtlety to the plot which isn't often encountered in historical fiction. Sovereign is the third in CJ Sansom’s Shardlake mystery series set in Tudor England and I found it every bit as good as the first two.

As I mentioned before, what sets this series apart from others that I have read are those exquisite details. I would love to continue to discuss this series with those of you who have read it and have enjoyed it as much as I have. Sovereign is the third of the Matthew Shardlake novels and certainly stronger than its predecessor Dark Fire.It fits in the context of the novel, but just occasionally a very modern sounding comment would be made that was jarring and yanked me from the world of 1541 England. Shardlake is now a much more established character, with Jack Barak as his foil and sidekick, and this is a much more assured novel (which, considering how excellent the first two books are is very impressive).

Sansom came to prominence with the Shardlake series, his historical mystery series set in the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century. The sights , sounds and smells of Tudor England are brought to life as are the violent conflict in the England at the time between 'traditionalists' and 'reformers' in the church , the repercusions of which would continue for centuries to come , to rock England and cause wars and turmoil. In the words of Lemony Snicket, a series of unfortunate and deadly and – increasingly bizarre – incidents befall Shardlake as he becomes the victim of repeated assassination attempts. The highly anticipated sequel to Dreadnought, featuring "the most exciting new superheroes in decades.If you do want to know how I feel about each book, I have included links to each of the reviews down below.

Now, the mysteries and conspiracies have gotten bigger and so some additional length is certainly welcomed. As I was reading this series, I came up with some ideas for spin-off series to continue the adventures of Matthew Shardlake and his friends. I won’t go into it any more deeply than that since that would take me into spoiler territory, but it gives the book a feeling of authenticity, which is what I always like about this series. Since then this book, fully revised and updated by Steve Hill of Sovereign Rarities (formerly of Spink and Baldwins) has become the reference work on the sovereign, half sovereign and quarter sovereign. Los capítulos donde se narra el encierro en la Torre de Londres, son espléndidos y merecen las 5 estrellas, casi llegas a sentir en tu propia carne el pánico y el miedo a la tortura, ríanse los ingleses de la inquisición española, que lo que se cocía en la Torre de Londres no tenía nada que envidiarle (y ellos no tienen leyenda negra) y ¿las ejecuciones por destripamiento?I could walk the streets with Shardlake and Barak, I knew where the prisoners were housed and where the Royal Progress was to gather. Here, the rich detail of the venues slows down the plot to a pleasant stroll through York and then builds its momentum so that, by the time Shardlake, gets back to London (about 100 pages from the end) we are caught in a maelstrom of politics, greed, veniality, and mayhem. This was God’s anointed on earth, Head of His Church, guardian of the souls of three million subjects, more than human in his glory.

Arriving in York, Shardlake senses that things may not be as troubling as Cranmer posited, seeing a community ready to celebrate with their King. The Main thing that you need to know about this book is that you shouldn't even pick it up unless you've plenty of free time in which to read it through to the end.Cromwell is now dead so Shardlake has been living his life as a normal lawyer would without being sent off to do any missions for the Crown. Their relationship will be tumultuous at times, but it is caring and it does survive the test of time. This time Matthew Shardlake is faced with the most terrifying fate of the age: imprisonment in the Tower of London.