Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

54 reviews

zynkar's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Rape

Moderate: Sexual violence, War, Misogyny, and Sexism

keybooker's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

linda_wolf's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Bullying, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Blood, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, War, and Domestic abuse

saintmaud's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

When I started this book I did not care about the writing or plot I just wanted the sheer length to keep me entertained. The plot points, terrible treatment of women, and just general dullness though got annoying pretty quickly. Only someone like Follett could make mediaeval Spain look boring. Still I kept going for about 850 pages before starting to skim. Would not recommend unless you're really used to the 00s fantasy novel type of misogyny and have several hours to waste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, and Murder

Moderate: War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

drsquared's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Death of parent, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Sexism, and Domestic abuse

diduzza's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Animal cruelty, Rape, Murder, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Blood, and Child death

heartfelthullabaloo's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

• 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

I honestly am struggling with what to rate this because on one hand I want to give it five stars for an epic tale, but on the other I want to give it two for all the rape. Oh my gosh! I’ve never experienced so much rape before in my whole life! I bet if you took every single movie I’ve watched, every book I’ve read, every person whose told me they were raped and put them together it still wouldn’t add up to all the rape that happened in this book. It was crazy! And descriptive! Like super descriptive! Also, the author is clearly a tits guy. He looooves to talk about big tits, and nipples and how heavy they are, and soft and the way they hang and sway and move and feel. There was a lot of sexual stuff going on for a book about monks. Maybe the author was fascinated enough about the way cathedrals were built to write a book, but he’s equally fascinated with top heavy women. 

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.

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Content Warnings

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

jenninennn's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

This book truly was amazing. I loved the protagonists and loved to hate the antagonists. I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next! 

I didn't give this full five stars due to graphic rape scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Confinement, Death, War, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Violence

spacepandita2022's review against another edition

slow-paced

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Torture, Murder, War, and Pregnancy

ghostofchristmaspast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Blood, War, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Death