So his feelings about the prisoner are ambivalent – he doesn’t support the conspirators, but he understands their hatred of the King.
His faith has been shaken to the point where he’s not sure if he still believes in God at all, and he, like most of his countrymen, now sees Henry as a tyrant to be feared rather than a monarch to be loved. Shardlake is now thoroughly disillusioned with Reform, having seen that the new regime seems just as cruel and unfair as life ever was when England was part of the Roman Catholic church. First rate narrations – a real pleasure to listen to. As always, there’s a huge cast, but he gives each one a distinct voice and manner of speaking, which I find a great help in remembering who is who when listening rather than reading. In this one there are lots of Yorkshire characters, and Crossley does them just as well. Steven Crossley does a great job again – his Shardlake is now how I imagine him sounding, and I’ve grown used to his Barak, though he sounds a bit older and gruffer than he did in my mind while reading. I loved reading this series and now I’m enjoying them just as much again as audiobooks. Soon Shardlake is sucked into a plot involving politics, the murky past of the Royal line, and the future of the Realm. And it’s not long before he witnesses a man dying, perhaps by accident, but perhaps by murder. So accompanied by his assistant, Jack Barak, Shardlake goes. Shardlake is reluctant – the idea of torture appals him – but when Cranmer gives an order it’s unwise to disobey. Sir Edward Broderick is imprisoned in York, suspected of taking part in a conspiracy against the King, and Cranmer wants him brought safely back to London so he can be questioned by the Tower’s skilled torturers. But Cranmer has another task for Shardlake while he’s there. When King Henry VIII is progressing to York with his young wife Catherine Howard, Archbishop Cranmer appoints Matthew Shardlake to go there to assist in dealing with the petitions the locals will be making to the King.
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