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4.22 AVERAGE

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative relaxing tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Did you love the other books in the Kingsbridge trilogy and want to reread them, but feel bad rereading books where there are so many new books to read?? Then this is the book for you!!


It has the same recipe as the other Kingsbridge novels:
An intuitive good hearted builder
A pious monk with a steadfast moral compass
An evil power hungry bishop
An intelligent, clever woman in a time where women are not educated
A demisexual character (thank you for this Ken Follett)
A sly older woman operating from behind a younger man
A brawny buffoon somehow running a town
Mix in the history, love, betrayal, heartbreak, power grabs, etc.

Oh yes, friends, it’s got it all.

And what can I say, I love this recipe. And if he writes more with this recipe, I will read them and love them too!


Follett knows how to spin a tale like few others. Did not disappoint.
emotional hopeful medium-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

Sensacional. Girs argumentals que no fan defallir en cap moment la novela. Ken Follett i les seves descripcions ajustades. Molt bóna novela històrica. En el seu moment vaig llegir: Els pilars de la terra, després, Un món sense fi, i ara, Les tenebres i l'alba.

The prequel to the Pillars of the Earth trilogy, this historical fiction goes back to the 900s and leads you to the start of book one. It is full of the ingenuity required to build early infrastructure, political maneuvering, Viking raids, and people misbehaving.

Like the Trilogy, this book is heavy. There is so much violence, especially against women. It's why it's taken me almost 3 years to read the entire series. I need to give a suitable break in between. That being said, overall it was well done and I enjoyed it.

So glad I read this. Such a great story with rich characters. It tied so nicely into Pillars which is a personal favourite of mine

Exactly what I expected/hoped a Pillars prequel would be. Loved it and flew through it.

I miss reading this book. And will come back again. The writing is brilliant, the characters are personal, the dilemmas are heartwrenching, the ending was so satisfying (but also sad because it was the end).

Meh, it was okay. I really enjoyed the Pillars of the Earth series years ago, but maybe I’ve outgrown them. The story was good but predictable. The characters are one dimensional and simple. Good people are good and bad people are bad. I enjoyed reading this but found myself rolling my eyes more than once. Also found the descriptions of women so misogynistic.