A review by staceyh13
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

adventurous dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I disliked this book, I was looking for something along the lines of C J Sansom's Shardlake series, which I adore, but this fell very short of that standard. The characters are very poorly presented. The bad guys were very bad and that was it, and the good guys were in the main pretty dislikeable.
Tom having sex with a stranger mere hours after his wife dies horrifically in childbirth?! What?! Are we supposed to root for him after that?!
Also far too many graphic rape and animal abuse scenes, very uncomfortable to read and unnecessary.
we get it, Ken, William is evil!
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