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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
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:
Complicated
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-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
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Classic Ken Follett. He draws you in as always with great characters and fascinating developments. Even more than the other Kingsbridge books, the villains just do not stop. It makes it both more worthwhile and incredibly frustrating. All things considered, this is the most engrossed I've been with a book in a long time. Cheers, Ken!
Follett produces another page-turner, but the characters are mostly two-dimensional and the writing can be as dry as tinder. Still entertaining though, even if the ending is a bit too predictable.
First of all it's great to have a non-war story from Anglo-Saxon times! Second it's nice to have another book in the The Pillars of the Earth formula if you haven't read one in a while. As ever, there is a builder, a noble lady and an important monk and the main villain is a bishop. The book has horrible things happening to the characters, but the plotting keeps you eagerly reading along nonetheless.
A few notes:
The reason that the nobility want the family to make the move that they do seems very weakly motivated. If the problem is that they are troublemakers, moving them to another area would just mean that they are troublemakers in a different area.
Establishes a good mystery regarding secret business that is going on at the ferry. But when the mystery is finally revealed, it seems hard to believe it was ever a mystery that could have been kept.
At a certain point, it's far from clear why Ragnhild (Ragna) doesn't just leave and return to her parents. First she was lied to and then openly cheated upon. Really don't see why she stays. But the Ragna character is an odd combination of savvy and naivete.
The sheriff has too little imagination. If he would just prepare for situations things would go a lot better. Well, I guess there are people like that.
The book starts in 997 CE and in 998 jumps far ahead, all the way to the year 1001, which I find strange. Just before the year 1000 many people were very scared that the world would end. I wonder why he didn't go into any of that when he had such a good chance.
Surprised that no families seem to carry over to The Pillars of the Earth.
When they build a bridge the description of how it works is very confusing. It's hard to understand how it can work. That goes for some other physical world detailed descriptions in the book as well.
Later on some characters go out of their way to destroy the bridge, but oddly, they have no good reason to do so. The characters even discuss this. Why are we doing this, they ask themselves. After some discussion the only thing they can come up with is along the lines of we're doing it because we're doing it! What?! Really wish a better motivation had been provided here. Instead it felt like the author broke the fourth wall and started conversing with us, the readers.
Interestingly, the usually maligned King Ethelraed the Unready is given even-handed treatment here.
The characters this time are more black and white. We kind of know pretty early on how everything is going to turn out. Not the details, but the essentials. In some ways this is not up to the quality of The Pillars of the Earth. What remains of best quality is the plotting, which was the best thing about the author's first book, The Eye of the Needle.
A few notes:
The reason that the nobility want the family to make the move that they do seems very weakly motivated. If the problem is that they are troublemakers, moving them to another area would just mean that they are troublemakers in a different area.
Establishes a good mystery regarding secret business that is going on at the ferry. But when the mystery is finally revealed, it seems hard to believe it was ever a mystery that could have been kept.
At a certain point, it's far from clear why Ragnhild (Ragna) doesn't just leave and return to her parents. First she was lied to and then openly cheated upon. Really don't see why she stays. But the Ragna character is an odd combination of savvy and naivete.
The sheriff has too little imagination. If he would just prepare for situations things would go a lot better. Well, I guess there are people like that.
The book starts in 997 CE and in 998 jumps far ahead, all the way to the year 1001, which I find strange. Just before the year 1000 many people were very scared that the world would end. I wonder why he didn't go into any of that when he had such a good chance.
Surprised that no families seem to carry over to The Pillars of the Earth.
When they build a bridge the description of how it works is very confusing. It's hard to understand how it can work. That goes for some other physical world detailed descriptions in the book as well.
Later on some characters go out of their way to destroy the bridge, but oddly, they have no good reason to do so. The characters even discuss this. Why are we doing this, they ask themselves. After some discussion the only thing they can come up with is along the lines of we're doing it because we're doing it! What?! Really wish a better motivation had been provided here. Instead it felt like the author broke the fourth wall and started conversing with us, the readers.
Interestingly, the usually maligned King Ethelraed the Unready is given even-handed treatment here.
The characters this time are more black and white. We kind of know pretty early on how everything is going to turn out. Not the details, but the essentials. In some ways this is not up to the quality of The Pillars of the Earth. What remains of best quality is the plotting, which was the best thing about the author's first book, The Eye of the Needle.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
slow-paced
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I loved this “last of the series” book. Great plot, loved the characters. Some real evil bastards around in these times eh? Religion ……. I’ll stop there.
Loved it and so glad I read all 5 in a row. This man creates amazing stuff. THANKYOU Mr Follet.
Now onto the Century Trilogy.
Loved it and so glad I read all 5 in a row. This man creates amazing stuff. THANKYOU Mr Follet.
Now onto the Century Trilogy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Religious bigotry
adventurous
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol
Minor: Infertility