Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Pillars of the Earth

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

111 reviews

rosietomyn's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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kellyodell's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I did the audiobook version of this and, whew, IT WAS LONG!! It took my 2 library rentals to get through it.

I decided to read The Pillars of the Earth because a friend, and avid reader, told me it was his favorite book ever. He liked it so much than he always kept extra copies to give to people. With a recommendation like that, how could I not read it?!

Unfortunately, this was not a book for me. I found it dragged and the villains of the book just keep going on their merry way being HORRIBLE people. When listening to the audiobook, it felt like there was too much jumping around in storylines and it was difficult to keep characters and stories straight. I would not recommend this book.

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shha's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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keybooker's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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linda_wolf's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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mjohn058's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book is fine.

However, it is dense. I picked this up four times over the past 5 years and never made it very far because it’s just so detailed and slow-paced.

That being said, I really enjoyed the world building, and seeing how the characters stories intertwine over such a long time frame. I’m interested in more, but somewhat skittish about taking that on!

I will say, though it’s not pervasive, when the author dips into a violent or gory situation, it rapidly becomes gratuitous and very off-putting. It would take me out of the story to react, leaving me wonder just how long until the plot moves on.

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chipie's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Started well enough, but I found it overlong. There started to be repetition, reminders on plot points (some may appreciate this in a 900-pagecbook, i suppose).

The author also seems to have a breast obsession, and this just grated more and more as,I kept reading. I'm not particularly prudish but the many lovemaking descriptions were also redundant. Seemed like a strategy to keep reluctant readers page turning?

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