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chickadee21 's review for:
Fall of Giants
by Ken Follett
A very engaging novel following several families through World War I, "Fall of Giants" is an epic drama piecing together characters from different walks of life. From Russian factory workers to British aristocrats, Follett has assembled a broad cast of characters to follow throughout the horrors of WWI. Follett does a good job developing the characters over the course of novel, even if the characters do sometimes come off as stereotypes. From the passionate Maud to the fervent revolution Grigori, Follett creates a diverse set of characters to illustrate different aspects of WWI.
My one major quibble is that the book could have been faced better. Sometimes hundreds of pages go by without checking in with a major character. Follett spends the bulk of the bulk on the aristocrats, which makes sense because they were the ones shifting the chess pieces in politics and battle, but I enjoyed the working class chapters just as much, if not more. I also wish Follett had developed some of the secondary characters more. I really wanted to see more of Princess Bea, outside of her cold exterior, and of Robert von Ulrich.
WWI novels can be hard to write, because trench warfare is not terribly dynamic (and because all WWI novels invariably get compared to [b:All Quiet on the Western Front|355697|All Quiet on the Western Front|Erich Maria Remarque|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1407644834s/355697.jpg|2662852]). But Follett has done a pretty good job describing trench warfare and the battles of the Somme and the Marne from a soldier's perspective. I was a little surprised, though, that poison gas gets little mention - I would have liked to have seen more in the book about it.
Follett is extremely careful about historical details; with famed historian [a:Richard Overy|67782|Richard Overy|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1345328976p2/67782.jpg] as an advisor on the book, I would have expected no less. I was pleasantly surprised that some details, such as Wilson's racism or the fact that Germany really did pay little in reparations, made it into the book. Scattering such interesting tidbits made the historian in me pleased. He also does a good job describing real-life characters. His characterization of Wilson, a contradictory figure who was both an idealist and a racist, is especially nuanced. I didn't feel that the historical detail overwhelmed the story; it enhanced it.
Not a perfect book, but a highly readable one, and definitely one of the better WWI historical fiction works out there. I eagerly look forward to reading the second book in the trilogy, [b:Winter of the World|12959233|Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)|Ken Follett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369453743s/12959233.jpg|18116611]!
My one major quibble is that the book could have been faced better. Sometimes hundreds of pages go by without checking in with a major character. Follett spends the bulk of the bulk on the aristocrats, which makes sense because they were the ones shifting the chess pieces in politics and battle, but I enjoyed the working class chapters just as much, if not more. I also wish Follett had developed some of the secondary characters more. I really wanted to see more of Princess Bea, outside of her cold exterior, and of Robert von Ulrich.
WWI novels can be hard to write, because trench warfare is not terribly dynamic (and because all WWI novels invariably get compared to [b:All Quiet on the Western Front|355697|All Quiet on the Western Front|Erich Maria Remarque|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1407644834s/355697.jpg|2662852]). But Follett has done a pretty good job describing trench warfare and the battles of the Somme and the Marne from a soldier's perspective. I was a little surprised, though, that poison gas gets little mention - I would have liked to have seen more in the book about it.
Follett is extremely careful about historical details; with famed historian [a:Richard Overy|67782|Richard Overy|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1345328976p2/67782.jpg] as an advisor on the book, I would have expected no less. I was pleasantly surprised that some details, such as Wilson's racism or the fact that Germany really did pay little in reparations, made it into the book. Scattering such interesting tidbits made the historian in me pleased. He also does a good job describing real-life characters. His characterization of Wilson, a contradictory figure who was both an idealist and a racist, is especially nuanced. I didn't feel that the historical detail overwhelmed the story; it enhanced it.
Not a perfect book, but a highly readable one, and definitely one of the better WWI historical fiction works out there. I eagerly look forward to reading the second book in the trilogy, [b:Winter of the World|12959233|Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)|Ken Follett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1369453743s/12959233.jpg|18116611]!