This book was so long! Needlessly long! I found myself losing focus and coming back to focus several minutes later, only to realize I didn't miss any information! I really did want to like this book as several of my friends have loved it, and its a period of English history I enjoy reading about. However, it was just too long and too cerebral - pages upon pages of what Cromwell was thinking and little of what was actually happening - for my liking. Probably won't be reading the sequel.