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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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
Stunningly good.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My God does this book half drag on, doesnt it?
You could summarize the entire plot as this
- Philip is soooo smart and cool and outwits the enemy
- Grr the token evil people (comically evil, may I add, with no sense of depth or redeeming qualities) cook up another scheme!
- Oh no! Its over! The cathedral cannot be built
- But aha! Why! Isn't it Philip and his genius outmaneuvering again!!
- Repeat for one thousand pages
It is not a bad book by any means but i dont think it's the ‘epic’ that Ken envisioned and what people herald it as. I read a review about this that it is an ‘attempt’ at an epic and I wholeheartedly could not agree more with that sentiment.
For me, the passage of time did not ‘click. It didn't feel like months or years were passing.
Maybe because instead of ‘showing’ us how the time is passing he just slaps a ‘part four 1150-1157’ to show you that X amount of years has passed since the previous part. There is no reference point, nothing to compare against.
It doesn't FEEL like the children are now in their twenties. I cant place my finger on WHY but i think it stems from the blanket ‘x years have passed now’ statements
Licentiously, and this is another massive issue for me, the only way to gauge the passage of time is by the description of Aliena’s breasts.
My God Ken, give it a rest pal. I am not being facetious when I tell you that there is a greater amount of detail put into the anatomy of Aliena’s breasts then there is fleshing out any of the villains in this book.
It is absurd and I dont think I can give it justice just how crazy it is. During the last chapter, where everything falls conveniently into place (another issue for me which we’ll get on to), Ken spends a worryingly large amount of page space describing how Aliena’s breasts and nipples are not as ‘Taut’ as they used to be and how jack wonders how they will sag and collide when she’s older??? Like what the FUCK is that about Ken?
The weird lecherousness does not stop at her unfortunately. There is too much perverse and detailed imagery of rape. I understand the need to include this to show the vulgarity of the characters and how the protagonists react and develop due to their troubled past. BUT, is it really relevant to detail the events for Every. Single. Rape. scene. Please, sometimes the best thing to do is let the reader imagine the horrid acts instead of spelling it out. Additionally, I grew tired of Ken mentioning that william raped aliena in every scene they are together or cross paths. We get it man.
My final point before I ramble into the ether is how it all fits too perfectly into place. Too serendipitous that it comes across contrived. I’ve heard great tales that Ken has interlaced these detailed storylines throughout the 1000 pages and that they are all touched upon and answered. Yeah sure, that is true on paper but it all feels sloppy. For example lets talk about two main storylines that felt very ‘oh shit i forgot about this’ to me
1. Jack’s past
2. Jonathan (Tom’s son)
Jacks past is flirted with initially very briefly in the beginning 200-300 pages of the book. It is then COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN until the ending 200 where Ken probably realized ‘oh no’.
After this, it is too perfect. The answers are too clean. Oh yes by the way this entire time Jack was thinking about this! I know we didn't mention it but trust us! Again, it feels like a perfunctory attempt to tie a loose end Ken didn't even know he had
The same goes for Jonathan. You would think that an orphan son of Tom’s late wife would play a huge role for Tom once at the Priory. Nope. Nil. Nada. Jonathan is not brought up properly until after about 400-500 pages of mindless details about buttresses. There is a haphazard section saying how Tom plays with Jonathan at the priory which feels like a Coup De Grace attempt at salvaging a story line Ken clearly forgot about in the pursuit of marble arches, buttresses and timber roofs
Again, towards the end, in a matter of a few hundred pages Jonathan becomes the focus and now we’re supposed to believe in his importance. He is not mentioned AT ALL during the middle third of the book.
I know its not easy to keep all these story lines entertained but it is possible. This is why I agree with the idea that this is an ‘attempt’ at an epic and unfortunately, not a successful one.
Summary
Pros
1. Easy to read
2. Somewhat engaging storyline although does get repetitive
3. Intriguing era and political turmoil between crown and church
4. Phillip is pretty cool
Cons
1. One dimensional characters (comically evil or comically good)
2. Overstays its welcome
3. Repetitive story arcs
4. Perverse imagery
5. Over reliance on a ‘deux ex machina’ to tie things together
2 stars
Books of this genre are very difficult to believe reviews of. The people who read these books ADORE them and see no fault in them. This is true also for fantasy and sci fi. Very rarely do you see a mainstream book of these genres reviewed poorly. Pillars of the Earth is another that falls victim to its trap. It stays too deep into its echochamber and the positive outcry is potentiated by what others read on Goodreads.
Not a bad book by any means but underwhelming when it competes against an average of 4.3 stars on Goodreads. Setting itself up for disappointment
You could summarize the entire plot as this
- Philip is soooo smart and cool and outwits the enemy
- Grr the token evil people (comically evil, may I add, with no sense of depth or redeeming qualities) cook up another scheme!
- Oh no! Its over! The cathedral cannot be built
- But aha! Why! Isn't it Philip and his genius outmaneuvering again!!
- Repeat for one thousand pages
It is not a bad book by any means but i dont think it's the ‘epic’ that Ken envisioned and what people herald it as. I read a review about this that it is an ‘attempt’ at an epic and I wholeheartedly could not agree more with that sentiment.
For me, the passage of time did not ‘click. It didn't feel like months or years were passing.
Maybe because instead of ‘showing’ us how the time is passing he just slaps a ‘part four 1150-1157’ to show you that X amount of years has passed since the previous part. There is no reference point, nothing to compare against.
It doesn't FEEL like the children are now in their twenties. I cant place my finger on WHY but i think it stems from the blanket ‘x years have passed now’ statements
Licentiously, and this is another massive issue for me, the only way to gauge the passage of time is by the description of Aliena’s breasts.
My God Ken, give it a rest pal. I am not being facetious when I tell you that there is a greater amount of detail put into the anatomy of Aliena’s breasts then there is fleshing out any of the villains in this book.
It is absurd and I dont think I can give it justice just how crazy it is. During the last chapter, where everything falls conveniently into place (another issue for me which we’ll get on to), Ken spends a worryingly large amount of page space describing how Aliena’s breasts and nipples are not as ‘Taut’ as they used to be and how jack wonders how they will sag and collide when she’s older??? Like what the FUCK is that about Ken?
The weird lecherousness does not stop at her unfortunately. There is too much perverse and detailed imagery of rape. I understand the need to include this to show the vulgarity of the characters and how the protagonists react and develop due to their troubled past. BUT, is it really relevant to detail the events for Every. Single. Rape. scene. Please, sometimes the best thing to do is let the reader imagine the horrid acts instead of spelling it out. Additionally, I grew tired of Ken mentioning that william raped aliena in every scene they are together or cross paths. We get it man.
My final point before I ramble into the ether is how it all fits too perfectly into place. Too serendipitous that it comes across contrived. I’ve heard great tales that Ken has interlaced these detailed storylines throughout the 1000 pages and that they are all touched upon and answered. Yeah sure, that is true on paper but it all feels sloppy. For example lets talk about two main storylines that felt very ‘oh shit i forgot about this’ to me
1. Jack’s past
2. Jonathan (Tom’s son)
Jacks past is flirted with initially very briefly in the beginning 200-300 pages of the book. It is then COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN until the ending 200 where Ken probably realized ‘oh no’.
After this, it is too perfect. The answers are too clean. Oh yes by the way this entire time Jack was thinking about this! I know we didn't mention it but trust us! Again, it feels like a perfunctory attempt to tie a loose end Ken didn't even know he had
The same goes for Jonathan. You would think that an orphan son of Tom’s late wife would play a huge role for Tom once at the Priory. Nope. Nil. Nada. Jonathan is not brought up properly until after about 400-500 pages of mindless details about buttresses. There is a haphazard section saying how Tom plays with Jonathan at the priory which feels like a Coup De Grace attempt at salvaging a story line Ken clearly forgot about in the pursuit of marble arches, buttresses and timber roofs
Again, towards the end, in a matter of a few hundred pages Jonathan becomes the focus and now we’re supposed to believe in his importance. He is not mentioned AT ALL during the middle third of the book.
I know its not easy to keep all these story lines entertained but it is possible. This is why I agree with the idea that this is an ‘attempt’ at an epic and unfortunately, not a successful one.
Summary
Pros
1. Easy to read
2. Somewhat engaging storyline although does get repetitive
3. Intriguing era and political turmoil between crown and church
4. Phillip is pretty cool
Cons
1. One dimensional characters (comically evil or comically good)
2. Overstays its welcome
3. Repetitive story arcs
4. Perverse imagery
5. Over reliance on a ‘deux ex machina’ to tie things together
2 stars
Books of this genre are very difficult to believe reviews of. The people who read these books ADORE them and see no fault in them. This is true also for fantasy and sci fi. Very rarely do you see a mainstream book of these genres reviewed poorly. Pillars of the Earth is another that falls victim to its trap. It stays too deep into its echochamber and the positive outcry is potentiated by what others read on Goodreads.
Not a bad book by any means but underwhelming when it competes against an average of 4.3 stars on Goodreads. Setting itself up for disappointment
I was very surprised by how good this book was! I was blindly browsing more books to add to my lists and noticed this was on a couple of friend’s lists and was highly rated and also noticed this book has a particularly high rating itself. I was definitely nervous about starting such a huge book; about building a church…? What in god’s na—— oops I mean what on earth!? I don’t drop books when they’re bad or very rarely (only once in my life up till now did I do that) and it seemed daunting to be “forced” to read such a LONG book. I don’t often leave reviews and I doubt I can truly explain how good this book was. I was putting off starting this book because of the length and the lofty premise, but glad I did!
Yes, the book does actually revolve around building a church, but it was incredibly well written, easy to digest and had me extremely invested in each of their lives. I was absolutely aghast when time and time again such atrocities kept happening to them and marvelled when good things finally happened! Each main “good guy” character was set up and introduced at a good pace and although each had their flaws, it only made them that much more relatable and endearing. Even the bad guys were also fully fleshed out aand 95% detestable, but also the other 5% still showed their vulnerabilities. They made awful mistakes and decisions, and let their greed and ambition get the better of them. I’m never rooting for them, but they were ALMOST redeemable. I’m so pleased to ✅ mark this off my to-read list!
Yes, the book does actually revolve around building a church, but it was incredibly well written, easy to digest and had me extremely invested in each of their lives. I was absolutely aghast when time and time again such atrocities kept happening to them and marvelled when good things finally happened! Each main “good guy” character was set up and introduced at a good pace and although each had their flaws, it only made them that much more relatable and endearing. Even the bad guys were also fully fleshed out aand 95% detestable, but also the other 5% still showed their vulnerabilities. They made awful mistakes and decisions, and let their greed and ambition get the better of them. I’m never rooting for them, but they were ALMOST redeemable. I’m so pleased to ✅ mark this off my to-read list!
I loved this book. It did take me a good while to get through it. I usually like to get a book done in 2-4 days, but this one took me about 3 weeks or so. I almost quit on it after about a 100 pages, it starts out a little slow with lots of backstory, but I plugged away and it was well worth it. The complex weaving of the characters lives is really rich. Just when you think you can predict what will happen, you get totally uprooted and turned around and something completely unexpected happens and you are right back where you started from. Follett is really good at making you feel exactly what the character feels at every given moment of this book. Your heart sympathizes with the bad characters (at least in the beginning) and aches for the good characters who just want happiness. My only criticism is that I wish he would have used more language that was true to the time period. It was easy to read because he didn't do this, but I think it would have felt more authentic if he would have. Overall I gave it a 5, definitely worthy!
dark
emotional
sad
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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:
Yes
Read this while I was supposed to be reviewing and preparing for my winter exams. I’d say it was a mistake, but this book is incredible. I love the portrayal of the monastery, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Philip is one of the most honest depictions of a religious person in a novel. He’s sincere, has faults, but resolved to glorify God through the building of the Cathedral. The romance side plot is tight, however, I dislike the scenes of r*pe, and wish they were not included. This is not a masterpiece or a piece of high literature, but as my English teacher said, “it’s a darn good yarn”.
Third time is a charm. I finally allowed myself the time to get completely immersed in this story of ambition, brutality, resilience and grace. Great characters. Power was explored-tension between the church and crown felt real. The cathedral to me was a symbol of control, ego, faith and legacy. The balance of good vs evil felt real. Good pacing - never felt like it dragged. A rich, immersive read.
More like a 3.5
This is a committed thousand pages with important content warnings: significant sexual and physical violence, against men, women, and children.
However, in return, there are three generations of protagonists, well-written with powerful goals, constant agency, and humanizing flaws. Follett balances the aims of each of these characters with surprising deftness to create a well-paced brick of text. Somehow, the 1,000 pages went faster than I expected.
(Downside: a handful of obvious man writes female characters, who are deeply sexualized in somewhat unrealistic ways, but that’s only for a couple handfuls of pages. A minor hiccup in the great churning plot machine.)
This is a committed thousand pages with important content warnings: significant sexual and physical violence, against men, women, and children.
However, in return, there are three generations of protagonists, well-written with powerful goals, constant agency, and humanizing flaws. Follett balances the aims of each of these characters with surprising deftness to create a well-paced brick of text. Somehow, the 1,000 pages went faster than I expected.
(Downside: a handful of obvious man writes female characters, who are deeply sexualized in somewhat unrealistic ways, but that’s only for a couple handfuls of pages. A minor hiccup in the great churning plot machine.)