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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you like The pillars of the Earth series you will like this one but more than the other books in the series this one goes incredibly quicker but it's still just as engrossing and you just care for these characters to the point where you almost feel angry when bad things happen to them. I kind of feel sad that there isn't any other books left of this series so beautiful book
Absolutely captivating!! I am an incredibly huge fan of all Ken Follet’s work but Pillars of the Earth holds a very special place in my heart. This prequel does not necessitate the need for having read the others in the series and there were really very few references to what would come in the later books.
Mr Follet has an incredible ability to have several story lines going at once, yet they’re easy to follow and so intriguing. His historical fiction is generally pretty spot on accurate, although this one being set in the dark ages, I’m sure more liberties were taken. All in all, another fantastic story by an author who, in my opinion, never disappoints.
Mr Follet has an incredible ability to have several story lines going at once, yet they’re easy to follow and so intriguing. His historical fiction is generally pretty spot on accurate, although this one being set in the dark ages, I’m sure more liberties were taken. All in all, another fantastic story by an author who, in my opinion, never disappoints.
Love. Kingsbridge returns. This novel is so much in the vein of Pillars and World without End. What a perfect prequel. I found myself reading it like a mystery, noticing the hints and clues that are later identified as places and characters in Pillars. The characters are deep and rich and once again, like good friends. You root for the underdogs, abused, mistreated, and rejoice in their triumphs and (only sometimes) revenge. And again, Follett’s mastery with describing building, architecture, and creating characters out of houses and canals holds true. This book was an absolute JOY, and I could not love the world Follett has created any more. I am mourning the ending of another book again because it was so damn good. Highly recommended.
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love the Kingsbridge novels. Ken Follett is incredibly skilled at immersing the reader in a given time period without it feeling like a history lesson. He weaves an understanding of the era through the narrative so that we get an idea of how things looked, felt, and worked without needing to be told upfront, and I always enjoy being dropped into his chosen century to follow the lives of his characters, seeing their day-to-day as well their wider story. He also reliably shows us how their lives differ according to class, gender, religion, and other identifiers. The plots and subplots of these books are all rich, intricate, and beautifully woven together.
I’m trying to stress that these books are great, overall, and that I’m a big fan because I feel daft criticising such fantastic writing, but I’m trying to write more reviews on GoodReads and this one would be incomplete if I didn’t mention the things that I found a bit off-putting in this book.
Firstly, this book suffers for being the fourth I’ve read. This is the prequel to the existing trilogy but each book is set hundreds of years apart from the next and could realistically be read in any order or just as stand-alones. If I’d read this one first I might have loved it almost as much as I loved the first one (still one of my all-time favourites) but there’s a bit of a formula to these books which starts to grate on the fourth read: first a series of seemingly unconnected families are established, some of whom are clearly wrong’uns; then we see how some of the groups are related and how the bad guys are able to use their positions to make life a pain for the good guys; then something major happens and our goodies lose everything through the spiteful, power-greedy actions of the established baddies; the injustice is palpable and things feel utterly hopeless for the protagonists who have lost everything and seem unlikely ever to recover; and, finally, outsmarted by the heroes and undone by their own hubris, the villains fall and our heroes emerge victorious. The slow-burning love story between an unlikely match climaxes, and everyone who is good lives happily ever after.
It’s not a bad story as things go, but when coupled with the other repeated themes of the series, it just ends up feeling a little repetitive. This is especially the case with Follett’s descriptions of the breasts of every woman in his books (we get it, tits are nice and they’ve all got them).
For me, this final instalment seemed to linger for way too long in the ‘things are utterly hopeless for our suffering good guys’ phase. The misfortunes of the protagonists and the ceaseless sexual violence against almost every woman in the novel made it a very depressing read. I’m all for gritty realism but this almost verged into the territory of torture porn and I’d definitely had enough a good while before the inevitable happy ending which felt flat given how of the heroine’s life had already been subject to misery and trauma.
Again, it’s an incredible novel and a fascinating glimpse at life in the age its set. That I’m able to read these epics over the course of a few days is a testament to how gripping and well-written they are, and I love seeing how the fictionalised Kingsbridge is shaped by the characters in each book, with references to the other novels sprinkled throughout in a way that ties the series together without requiring the reader to know (or remember) the events of the other stories to enjoy any single instalment.
Overall, I certainly recommend this book alongside the other Kingsbridge novels, but I’m not sure I’ve much appetite for a fifth.
This book did its job, putting me to sleep several nights running. If he writes another one about Kingsbridge, I think I’ll pass.
This novel is the worst of the series. The ‘good guys’ are portrayed as impotent and incompetent. The ‘bad guys’ have the advantage at every turn until the very end. But the worst part is the portrayal of the wonton murder of a newborn that does absolutely nothing for the plot. In my opinion this is the creation of a depraved and perverted mind.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I has forgotten how much I love these books. I may have to reread Pillars of the Earth now.