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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
Firstly I loved Pillars Of The earth but this was boring, one-dimensional and predictable.
Character development is an alien concept to this book. Ooh she's the principled one. He's the socialist firebrand one. She's the aristocratic one but she likes to poke her fun at her peers. Ooh she's the irreverent working class girl that speaks her mind. And so it goes. Wooden puppets that never change and are shoe-horned into the story. Avoid.
Character development is an alien concept to this book. Ooh she's the principled one. He's the socialist firebrand one. She's the aristocratic one but she likes to poke her fun at her peers. Ooh she's the irreverent working class girl that speaks her mind. And so it goes. Wooden puppets that never change and are shoe-horned into the story. Avoid.
Wow. Just wow. The scope of this was so epic and the way that it revolved around actual events was just amazing. The characters were so fascinating and the historical details showed a very thorough regard to research. I kind of skipped over the war bits because I was more interested in the character interactions but it definitely deserves a second more attentive read. The writing is nothing special, and it started off a little slow, as it threw a lot of stuff at you at once, but after the first chapter or so I was totally engrossed. This is definitely a new historical favorite! Can't wait to see what the next decades bring for the children!
I liked this more than a 3, but not quite 4 stars. If I could give it a ranking out of 10, I'd mark it a 7 probably. It was an interesting read, but I like books that have an undeniable PULL that makes me have to keep reading. This one took me 4 months to finish and I rarely read more than a few chapters at a time. Towards the last quarter of the book, it really started to pick up and now I feel invested in the characters enough to read the second book in the trilogy.
Loved it. Loved how the stories wove together and the different perspectives. Plus, I feel like history classes in general gloss over WWI to get to WWII so I actually learned a lot about WWI itself. I think sometimes we forget that had things not played out the way they did in WWI, WWII would not have happened. I will gladly be adding Ken Follett to my lists of must read historical nonfiction authors.
I love books like these, with lots of characters, and multiple settings. Thoroughly enjoyable, looking at the time of the first world war from multiple perspectives. It drew me in from the first pages and although it was a very long book, it kept me interested the whole way through. Even though there was quite a few main characters, they were given time to develop beyond the superficial.
I forgot how much I enjoyed Ken Follet...freaking amazing novel that covers the astounding nuances of the Great War. As the main characters represent the alliances, Follet teaches the ultimate history lesson among romance, intrigue and a transitioning century. Phenomenal.
I don’t know what to say about this book other than what a complete disappointment. When I came across this I thought it would be right up my alley as I am a big historical fiction lover and a trilogy that takes into account, the First and Second World Wars, the Russian Revolution and all the events in between, not to mention numerous sources telling me that Ken Follett could write. Well sign me up. Not intimidated in the least by the door stop of a book 841 pages and the time crunch of just 2 weeks to finish it I jumped right in………..Well not 50 pages in I was beginning to wonder just why this guy was the bees-knees because this book was like reading Days of our Lives meets Downton Abbey. Ken Follett I’m sure knows about history but that’s where he should stop, because going by this book he cannot write character driven stories and please Ken, for the love of God stop writing sex scenes…..*shudder*. I’m no prude when it comes to a good romance book but this disaster right here had me cringing and wondering what the heck a good time is to this pensioner author.
There is every stereotype known to man or woman in this book from Fitz the Earl who I wouldn’t get tired of taking a cricket bat to, who you guessed it has an affair with Ethel the housekeeper, gets her pregnant and she is sent off in disgrace from her home. Fitz is very much the stereotype from the turn of the 20th century where how dare the lower class want better living conditions, pay raises and not having to choose between heat or hunger in the winter all the while he’s scarfing down an 8 course meal that hardly anyone eats. .There is Fitz’s sister, who is all about women’s equality who falls in love with Walter, Fitz’s German friend from university who is surprisingly supportive of Maud (horrible name) and her suffragette affiliation. We’re introduced to Ethel’s socialist family of which Billy is my favorite. Add into the mix Gus the American who falls in love at the drop of a hat. (Completely unbelievable). The Russian brothers Lev (the most selfish person on the plant) and Grigori (the most selfless). I could go on and on but all it would be is me complaining about the lovelorn mooning faces of all the men in this story and I honestly just want to spare you my complaining.
A lot of reviewers compared this to the Winds of War which I think I read not long after the mini series, but I don’t really fancy taking the plunge and reading that again.
Lets just say I think I will spare myself the second and third books of this trilogy as my skin has crawled quite enough. 2 stars for the history.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
I loved the break from WWII historical fiction. This book dealing more with the build up to WWI, was expertly researched and I loved the 5 families that intertwined throughout.