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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
If you enjoy historical fiction, history, and/or epic stories, this is for you. One of follet's best.
I would give this book a 3.5 stars if I could - I just don’t know how to award half stars! A solid read, but it seemed awkward at times due to the author’s attempt at balancing history, passion and romance. Perhaps he should have stuck to historical fiction, which is where he shone.
Good golly, I'm glad that's over. It was a nice history refresher, but that's about it. It tried hard to be War & Peace, but not even close.
I'm beginning to rethink my enjoyment of Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. I kind of knew those books weren't fantastic when I read them, but I loved the architecture and construction storylines. But I liked those characters too. The characters in this book were horribly annoying and unenjoyable. I guess that they were politically realistic, but that's not enough.
I'm beginning to rethink my enjoyment of Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. I kind of knew those books weren't fantastic when I read them, but I loved the architecture and construction storylines. But I liked those characters too. The characters in this book were horribly annoying and unenjoyable. I guess that they were politically realistic, but that's not enough.
I was worried when I initially saw the number of negative reviews of this book on Amazon - until I realized that 95+% of the negative reviews are people complaining about the e-book pricing - and few of them have actually read the book.
This is a great book. It gets a little wordy at times, but it is a wonderful tale of intrigue, romance, and political turmoil during World War I. The characters are three-dimensional, with private, public, and professional lives and personalities, and despite the large cast of characters, it's easy to keep them all organized. The dialogue is crisp, and several of the characters manage some excellent one-liners.
If I had to nitpick, I would say that the character outcomes are a bit unrealistic - not one of the main characters is killed during World War I, despite several of them being part of major battles. A Welsh brother and sister, both working class miners, both manage to become MPs, and the two Russian brothers, both penniless peasants, become an American businessman and a member of the Bolshevik inner circle. It would be more realistic if at least one of them wasn't so lucky.
This is a great book. It gets a little wordy at times, but it is a wonderful tale of intrigue, romance, and political turmoil during World War I. The characters are three-dimensional, with private, public, and professional lives and personalities, and despite the large cast of characters, it's easy to keep them all organized. The dialogue is crisp, and several of the characters manage some excellent one-liners.
If I had to nitpick, I would say that the character outcomes are a bit unrealistic - not one of the main characters is killed during World War I, despite several of them being part of major battles. A Welsh brother and sister, both working class miners, both manage to become MPs, and the two Russian brothers, both penniless peasants, become an American businessman and a member of the Bolshevik inner circle. It would be more realistic if at least one of them wasn't so lucky.
Wow, what a surprise! I read Follett's first two espionage books as a teenager in the 80s. I thought they were alright, but wasn't really buzzed. Now this series, however, is very solid and interesting. The action and the sex are still there, but the portrayal of early 20th century life is vivid and interesting. Plus for including the working class view as well. At points you think the contrast between the uneducated, dirty workers and the ignorant and indifferent nobility is a bit of a caricature. But it isn't, it really was that bad. Because historical novels thrive on people recognising famous real people, the working class people end up in high places, somewhat disappointingly. It would have been great to read a story that didn't necessarily always involve kings, prime ministers and presidents. Anyway, a good read and I'll definitely check out the rest fo the trilogy.
After reading "The World Without End" and "Pillars Of The Earth" I thought Ken Follett was a genius, however as I finally finished "Fall of Giants" I might re-think this.
It is a overtly ambitious WW1 saga that feels too much like soap opera - on few occasions I had actually felt bored and left the novel on the side to start reading it another time. When I'm reading the book just because I want to finish it, its not a good sign. Follett obviously thought it would be a good idea to picture WW1 by juggling characters from different social backgrounds, countries and continents, however the fact that these characters are roaming the world and meeting again and again seems a stretched a bit - too often it was simply artificial and unbelievable. English lords are mingling with russian peasants, american politicians with german officers and so on. I mean, the world might be small but not so small. The novel might be successful as TV serial (it begs for small screen, with thousands extras and war scenes) however it bored me - I learned about WW1 already in the school so the book did not unearth anything new - I will not bother with sequels simply because I don't care for the story or main characters.
If you think this is good, check out the novels by James Michener who is master of the saga-genre and who would have completely different job out of this same story.
It is a overtly ambitious WW1 saga that feels too much like soap opera - on few occasions I had actually felt bored and left the novel on the side to start reading it another time. When I'm reading the book just because I want to finish it, its not a good sign. Follett obviously thought it would be a good idea to picture WW1 by juggling characters from different social backgrounds, countries and continents, however the fact that these characters are roaming the world and meeting again and again seems a stretched a bit - too often it was simply artificial and unbelievable. English lords are mingling with russian peasants, american politicians with german officers and so on. I mean, the world might be small but not so small. The novel might be successful as TV serial (it begs for small screen, with thousands extras and war scenes) however it bored me - I learned about WW1 already in the school so the book did not unearth anything new - I will not bother with sequels simply because I don't care for the story or main characters.
If you think this is good, check out the novels by James Michener who is master of the saga-genre and who would have completely different job out of this same story.
I liked it enough to move on to the second in the trilogy ...
Decent book all around - I think the bar was set a little too high, following the Pillars of the Earth book from the same author. Wasn't quite a page turner like Pillars, but Fall of Giants definitely offered an interesting perspective and story of politics in the first world war.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
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:
No
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes