Take a photo of a barcode or cover
1.9k reviews for:
La Caída de Los Gigantes (the Century 1) / Fall of Giants (the Century, Book 1)
Ken Follett
4.19 AVERAGE
1.9k reviews for:
La Caída de Los Gigantes (the Century 1) / Fall of Giants (the Century, Book 1)
Ken Follett
4.19 AVERAGE
A novel account of the chilling realities of WWI, and the lives of five families navigating the perils of love, suffrage, and revolution. This epic is fast-paced, richly developed, and incredibly insightful. From the housemaids at Ty Gwyn, to the German embassy in London, you won't be able to stop thinking about what come's next.
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A good follow-up to the sweeping Pillars of the Earth, if you find war history and/or 20th century history interesting. He does a great job of making sure you like all sides of the story before smashing them together in the end and having it end badly for someone. Also does a great job of showing how COMPLETELY pointless WWI was.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My first official reread after nearly 5 years and in a different language… although it really didn’t affect the experience since I did not remember a lot of the French version.
I already had a pretty good idea of the characters, the relationships between them and the overall workings of this book so it wasn’t as hard to get into it. However, these types of more political heavy books always take me longer for the simple reason that they are always so packed with so much information and aren’t always super fast paced or action packed.
The whole Ethel and Fitz storyline was one of the main motivators for picking up this book once more and trying to maybe finish this trilogy simply because the ending is just the best. The ultimate power move by introducing the son he doesn’t to acknowledge. Also the fact that she’s with her new husband felt not right to me.
So many of the other characters also had a lot of things happen to them from broken hearts to engagement to fights to advancement in life and while it can be very confusing and heavy reading this, it was still really awesome to see such an infamous event unfold from a different perspective than the one we simply learn from history books which is a tries to be objective POV.
I already had a pretty good idea of the characters, the relationships between them and the overall workings of this book so it wasn’t as hard to get into it. However, these types of more political heavy books always take me longer for the simple reason that they are always so packed with so much information and aren’t always super fast paced or action packed.
The whole Ethel and Fitz storyline was one of the main motivators for picking up this book once more and trying to maybe finish this trilogy simply because the ending is just the best. The ultimate power move by introducing the son he doesn’t to acknowledge. Also the fact that she’s with her new husband felt not right to me.
So many of the other characters also had a lot of things happen to them from broken hearts to engagement to fights to advancement in life and while it can be very confusing and heavy reading this, it was still really awesome to see such an infamous event unfold from a different perspective than the one we simply learn from history books which is a tries to be objective POV.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a long, lovely tale of life before, during and after the first World War. Follett draws characters from a few different countries, of all ages and castes. We see them fall in love and suffer other misfortunes as they all become subtly connected by the Great War.
Despite its length, this is interesting enough to keep the reader engaged. It's easy to keep track of the characters and see the threads that connect them.
As historical fiction goes, this is definitely more in the "popular" spectrum (rather than the literary)...I counted at least three busted hymens in the first half of the book. But hey, at least there was color to balance the more war-oriented parts.
I think I would've gotten more from this had I any knowledge of history, but I certainly did learn from this, and I enjoyed doing so.
Despite its length, this is interesting enough to keep the reader engaged. It's easy to keep track of the characters and see the threads that connect them.
As historical fiction goes, this is definitely more in the "popular" spectrum (rather than the literary)...I counted at least three busted hymens in the first half of the book. But hey, at least there was color to balance the more war-oriented parts.
I think I would've gotten more from this had I any knowledge of history, but I certainly did learn from this, and I enjoyed doing so.
emotional
informative
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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:
No