Reviews tagging 'Grief'

World Without End by Ken Follett

7 reviews

hmatt's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-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

5.0

It's hard not to rate this 5 stars. I read the first third of the book in Fall 2020, and barely picked it up again until late 2023 - most of it, I read in the last week. Even though many years had passed, I remembered most of the characters and their plotlines. The storytelling in this series is so incredibly rich, it feels like it is history. It follows characters throughout their entire lives, basically, so you really end up connecting with and either loving or despising them.

There are many, many graphic and vulgar scenes, so I can see how this isn't a read that everyone would enjoy. I feel that the author toes the line of "too much" and doesn't necessarily cross it given the historical context, but this is my opinion.

I'm going to read around this time period, I think (ahem, Wolf Hall), and then perhaps pick up the third book in the series which takes place 200ish years later.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Medical content, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, War, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Animal death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Police brutality, Blood, Torture, Body shaming, Bullying, Slavery, Abortion, Alcohol, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Classism, Gore, Grief, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Self harm

Minor: Dementia

melina_30's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring relaxing tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Physical abuse, Blood, Abortion, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Slavery and Suicidal thoughts

goldenlake's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

It's very interesting reading a book that takes place during plague-times with COVID now to think of. Like the first book, I enjoyed this one quite a bit and would highly recommend it to anyone that can stand reading such a long book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Child death, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Rape, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Abortion, Death, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Violence, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexism, Classism, Alcohol, Infertility, Pregnancy, Dementia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Grief, War, and Vomit

susanknights's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Colonisation, Medical content, Death, Murder, Rape, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Classism, Dementia, Hate crime, Slavery, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Grief, Sexual violence, Islamophobia, and War

joey1914's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Misogyny, Cursing, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Infidelity, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Physical abuse

seanml's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

If you liked the Pillars of the Earth then you’re going to love World Without End because it is more and more of the same (in a good way). Hundreds of years after the first plot, we once again return to a narrative of multiple POVs, generational conflicts, antagonists and protagonists succeeding in the last second, questionable morals from our main characters, secrets, intrigue, Follett’s tendency to have to describe the breasts of any named female character, despicable villains who keep getting away with it, and a never-ending game of feudal chess. The book begins with four crucial characters, and we follow them through their interconnected lives in a way that is just as if not more compelling than the original. This all said, I highly recommend, with the reservations that it suffers from the same strange choices of Pillars: graphic sex, needlessly detailed rape, and everyone wanting to bang the self-insert. 8.5/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Genocide, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Stalking, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Dementia, Homophobia, Torture, Child death, Miscarriage, and Outing

lillythebluepaladin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book took me SO LONG to finish, but it was SO WORTH IT!

I chose to give it 4 stars, because even though I loved the plot, characters and world building, the many POV’s we got were a bit hard to get through sometimes.

I either loved the characters, or wanted to rip their throats out, in a great way of course, and Follet has a wonderful and sometimes intense (and even borderline  disgusting sometimes, ‘cus the plague was not that fun and cute) writing, and I usually don’t find architecture THAT interesting, but Ken made it really insightful and exciting to read about.

This and The Pillars Of The Earth are absolutely worth reading if you want to read a story with the drama and intensity of GOT, without the dragons…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Ableism, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Trafficking, and War