Reviews with content warning for Torture - Los pilares de la tierra

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Los pilares de la tierra by Ken Follett

43 reviews

sapphirelain's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark 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

Content Warnings

charitie's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

marginallist's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

eggrolyn's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I was blown away by how much I enjoyed this story. The author succeeded in creating a dramatic, sweeping, story with breath-holding moments of tension and exciting action while still taking care to bring out the details in the everyday lives of that time period and fleshing out interesting and sometimes terrible characters. There were so many vivid details of cathedrals and buildings in general. I occasionally raced through those paragraphs to get to more action, but did appreciate and visualize the scenes in my mind when I had the patience. What really came through and stood out to me were the passions of each of the main characters - Tom and his immense dedication to his craft, Aliena and her will to survive, and Prior Philip's neverending faith. Also, I was just amazed at the author's ability to create such intricate plots within the larger story structure, and how he easily kept the story moving forward so much that I couldn't stop reading. It's not often that I get pulled into a story so quickly and consistently throughout, and Ken Follett did a phenomenal job.

Content Warnings

delilah92700's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

mysteriousokapi's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

amomentofmusic's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging hopeful informative mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

novelyon's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

ilishii's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark hopeful tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I understand why people like this book and why it is a best seller. The pieces and parts of the story came together well, and once I finally got into the story I enjoyed parts of it and was on the edge of my seat for others.
That being said, I was listening to this on audiobook and I had to get 8 hours in before I felt any semblance of being invested in the story. If you struggle with slower-paced books you are going to struggle with this one. There are a lot of pages devoted to the description of buildings (I understand why, but did I enjoy it? No.) and the story is told from multiple points of view spanning decades.
I can overlook and even enjoy all of that, but what got to me and left a bad taste in my mouth was the use of rape as a plot device. It left a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn't get rid of for the rest of the book. Please read the trigger warnings before you pick this one up.

Content Warnings

a_sterling's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I really liked it a lot. Especially Philip. However, it looses points due to content warning stuff.

Content Warnings

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