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heartfelthullabaloo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
William was the WORST bad guy! I absolutely loathed him and I cannot believe how much he got away with, it was OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!! So, kudos to the author for writing someone to root against.
The politics of the Catholic Church! The things that they sanctioned is sickening and infuriating. Trying to play a giant chess game to rise to power and using God as a tool to justify your actions is awful. I can’t imagine why anyone is still catholic to this day. Sure, they’re not all like that and they did some good and helped some people but man, the corruption is hard to look past.
The actual story itself, was great. Will I read the next one? Sure will because we’re about to go on a plague kick and I’ve heard that’s coming up next.
Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death, Murder, and Sexual violence
aether_seawo1f's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Ableism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and War
christina_chen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse
expandingmybookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Graphic: Death, Cursing, Blood, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Gore, Grief, Murder, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault
kirstar's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and War
cheazcakeguy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I only finished this because I read it for a book club. Way too much unnecessarily explicit SA & pedophilia (just because it's "historically accurate" does not mean I want to read full details of a 14-year-old being r*ped by someone twice her age), characters were mostly one dimensional and often more like caricatures, and the pacing was uneven. The plot and the character Philip were the only things keeping me going, as it is ultimately a good story. The descriptions of the cathedral and the building process were also great. However, all of the tension and story beats ended up feeling super repetitive and recycled, and for the last couple hundred pages I was rolling my eyes at the dramatic twists and turns which felt contrived and meaningless at that point. I really wanted to love this book, but ultimately it was unremarkable. Hard to recommend, unless you like to read soap operas with one-note characters and you're okay with repeated graphic SA. I suppose if you *really* like drama and architecture, and have extreme patience, this is the book for you.
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Stalking
Moderate: War and Emotional abuse
Minor: Child death, Alcohol, Animal death, Antisemitism, and War
breadwitchery's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Misogyny, Death, Violence, and Rape
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Pedophilia, and War
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Confinement, Fatphobia, and Alcohol
delvesinshelves's review against another edition
I don’t shy away from challenging books, but there has to be a strong why when it comes to this degree of sexual violence.
The most recent series I read with content of this sort is the Poppy War trilogy, which deliberately covers a parallel to the rape of nanking.
This book is not covering real historical events, and not all of the rape/attempted rape seems to be serving a purpose of any kind in the story.
I was really excited to read about the building of a historical cathedral over the decades, but I think this book may be harmful without sufficient redeeming qualities for me to push through. DNF.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Rape, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Grief, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Miscarriage
siniandi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
The description of women and sex scenes are a quite male gaze-y though (as is usually the case in Follett's work) and the ending comes a little abrupt and too neatly, as if he really wanted to finish after 1000 pages.
Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, and Gore
Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Bullying, War, Confinement, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Classism, and Cursing
jaina8851's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
All of that said, though, I am glad I kept reading after parts early on that really turned me off. The story is beautifully constructed with the countless twists and turns and the ending ties everything together so incredibly well. I genuinely don't remember the last time I read a book this long and while this isn't a typical "vacation read", I'm so glad I decided to give it a go during a week when I was doing little else besides reading so that I could fly through it over the course of a few days.
I was expecting the story to be a higher ratio of basically "infodumps about cathedral building" (to wit, my partner asked me at one point "have they started building the cathedral yet?" and I was like "NO and I'm over 25% of the way through!") but I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging I found the politics and treachery. The author mentions in the preface that he grappled with how to make Philip sympathetic as a man of God since he himself is not a believer, and I think he succeeded magnificently.
All in all, I'm glad I finally got around to reading this super long book, and while at first I was like "I'm not sure if I'll read the sequel(s)", after seeing what book 2 is centered on, I almost certainly will. It just will probably have to wait until I go on vacation again. 😄
Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship