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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
Det här är främst en mycket viktig bok med bra karaktärer och ett trevligt språk. Jag gillade den skarpt! Särskilt det faktum att man får följa familjer från olika nationaliteter, vilket ger en nyanserad bild av det Första Världskriget (och det, mina vänner, är ovanligt). Är också väldigt imponerad av hur väl faktan kombineras med fiktionen. De båda flyter samman på ett oerhört smidigt sätt som aldrig får en att tvivla över trovärdigheten i själva storyn.
Dessvärre var inte boken felfri och det fanns en del jag störde mig på. Speciellt på hur dåligt romance utvecklas, trots att det tycks ligga i fokus? Basically så blir ALLA huvudkaraktärer kära i nån de knappt känner utan bara råkat lägga ögonen på, vilket är tråkigt eftersom det inte känns realistiskt. Det enda paret jag egentligen gillade var Ethel och Fitz. Deras relation var ganska standard också, men trots det tyckte jag de stack ut ur mängden.
Värt att nämna är även att jag hamnade i någon slags tillfällig "reading slump" halvvägs igenom boken, vilket bidragit till att jag klagat extremt mycket på dess tjocklek samt haft allmänt svårt att ta mig igenom den. Därför är jag inte riktigt säker på att jag läste den vid rätt tillfälle... Men trots det så tyckte jag om boken och jag skulle absolut rekommendera folk att läsa den om de har tid/ork!
Dessvärre var inte boken felfri och det fanns en del jag störde mig på. Speciellt på hur dåligt romance utvecklas, trots att det tycks ligga i fokus? Basically så blir ALLA huvudkaraktärer kära i nån de knappt känner utan bara råkat lägga ögonen på, vilket är tråkigt eftersom det inte känns realistiskt. Det enda paret jag egentligen gillade var Ethel och Fitz. Deras relation var ganska standard också, men trots det tyckte jag de stack ut ur mängden.
Värt att nämna är även att jag hamnade i någon slags tillfällig "reading slump" halvvägs igenom boken, vilket bidragit till att jag klagat extremt mycket på dess tjocklek samt haft allmänt svårt att ta mig igenom den. Därför är jag inte riktigt säker på att jag läste den vid rätt tillfälle... Men trots det så tyckte jag om boken och jag skulle absolut rekommendera folk att läsa den om de har tid/ork!
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
mysterious
tense
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:
No
Enjoyed it, especially the complexities, but not sure the rest of the series is totally going to engage me.
Ken Follett describes his novel as "an epic of love, hatred, war and revolution" and he certainly delivers on this. Spanning from 1911 to 1924 he deals with so much more than World War I. He captures how much the war shaped the society we live in - the changing face of politics in Britain, Russia, Germany and the US and women's struggle for suffrage. Mr. Follett uses fact and factual events for the basis of his five fictional families and these stories interweave so fluidly, offering differing perspectives as the events of the past unfold.
The book opens as Billy, just 13, starts his first day down the pits in a remote Welsh village and I found myself swelling with pride as he grew into a young man; his older sister works in the landowner's house and this allows us to glimpse into the lives of the nobility and their strong friendships with the Germans - friendships that had to be severed at the outbreak of war. On the other side of the world, two Russian brothers are suffering at the hands of the Tsar and the oppressive Russian regime, but this doesn't last much longer as we see the rise of Socialism and the formation of the USSR - or does it? WWI was a war which nobody wanted, but it was also a war which nobody wanted to end and it was shocking to learn how the head of every superpower allowed it to continue for so long out of pure selfishness; the British government itself was were far from noble and at times I found myself shocked at its blatant disregard for human life.
As fantastic as this book was, and despite learning so much, my only criticism is that it sometimes felt like an uphill struggle - the book itself is very long and naturally you come to care more about some characters than others, making a handful of chapters feel like more of a chore than relaxation. I'd probably advise caution for those (such as myself) who don't read as often as they should, but I cannot wait for the next instalment of the series and have no qualms about awarding this novel the five stars it deserves!
The book opens as Billy, just 13, starts his first day down the pits in a remote Welsh village and I found myself swelling with pride as he grew into a young man; his older sister works in the landowner's house and this allows us to glimpse into the lives of the nobility and their strong friendships with the Germans - friendships that had to be severed at the outbreak of war. On the other side of the world, two Russian brothers are suffering at the hands of the Tsar and the oppressive Russian regime, but this doesn't last much longer as we see the rise of Socialism and the formation of the USSR - or does it? WWI was a war which nobody wanted, but it was also a war which nobody wanted to end and it was shocking to learn how the head of every superpower allowed it to continue for so long out of pure selfishness; the British government itself was were far from noble and at times I found myself shocked at its blatant disregard for human life.
As fantastic as this book was, and despite learning so much, my only criticism is that it sometimes felt like an uphill struggle - the book itself is very long and naturally you come to care more about some characters than others, making a handful of chapters feel like more of a chore than relaxation. I'd probably advise caution for those (such as myself) who don't read as often as they should, but I cannot wait for the next instalment of the series and have no qualms about awarding this novel the five stars it deserves!
The Pillars of the Earth series is one of my absolute favorites, and I was excited to dig into another long saga by Follett. Unfortunately this is not nearly as good—the war details are far too many and too in-depth. I’m not sure if I’ll read the next one.
I bought this when it came out and it was so bulky that with my school books, it was too heavy to be a practical read... but now that I have an e-reader, it became a must read now. I really enjoy Ken Follett's books especially the ones who have something to do with history (I loved all his spy dramas involving WWII) and I expected to love this and I wasn't disappointed.
There's a lot of characters, but once you start reading and getting to know them, you won't get them mixed up, each has his own personality and story. I personally like a book that is character heavy, my favorite author - Charles Dickens - was a master in that art. I think Mr. Follett did a very good job with his characters... I think I loved who I was supposed to and disliked one particular character (Fitz), but I loved despising him :). There's only one thing that really annoyed me... and since it's a spoiler, I'm saying it now... so next paragraph DO NOT READ if you don't want spoiling.
Like I said, the only major thing that got me is that with this big war (WWI) that took most of the book and was marvelously well represented no principal character died. That just doesn't feel right with history... I know it is a fictional story and I got really attached to characters, but it kind of took away the excitement in the end, this survival of all of them. That's my only bug about this book... That said, it's a good read and I recommend it to all historical drama fans.
There's a lot of characters, but once you start reading and getting to know them, you won't get them mixed up, each has his own personality and story. I personally like a book that is character heavy, my favorite author - Charles Dickens - was a master in that art. I think Mr. Follett did a very good job with his characters... I think I loved who I was supposed to and disliked one particular character (Fitz), but I loved despising him :). There's only one thing that really annoyed me... and since it's a spoiler, I'm saying it now... so next paragraph DO NOT READ if you don't want spoiling.
Like I said, the only major thing that got me is that with this big war (WWI) that took most of the book and was marvelously well represented no principal character died. That just doesn't feel right with history... I know it is a fictional story and I got really attached to characters, but it kind of took away the excitement in the end, this survival of all of them. That's my only bug about this book... That said, it's a good read and I recommend it to all historical drama fans.
Great read for anyone interested in historical fiction. Amazing tale of events around WWI. In spite of its mammoth size, the storyline is so gripping that you just breeze through it and the size doesn’t matter at all.