I'm still thinking about this one.
I enjoy Hillary Mantel's writing immensely. She has a knack for evoking character and scene. Poetry, actually.

I found this less compelling than Wolf Hall, maybe because it did not have such a strong antagonist. Although Mantel's depiction of Thomas More, and the mix of enmity and respect he evoked in Cromwell still resonates in this book.

Anne Boleyn makes a much smaller impact, but I loved the way she depicted the relationship between Anna and Catherine, which Mantel describes as being like two small girls on a teeter totter.
Thomas Cromwell's descent into more and more dubious actions is very well done. You almost want to find excuses for him.

And I keep thinking of the last beheading scene. Absolutely horrific, without being explicit. And there's a third one coming too. Odd how you can know the story already, and still hope the tragedy wont happen.