Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... World Without End (original 2007; edition 2007)by Ken Follett
Work InformationWorld Without End by Ken Follett (2007)
Historical Fiction (30) Carole's List (95) » 9 more Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.
Historical Fiction (2007)Good writing kept me involved with this probably over-long follow up to the Pillars of the Earth. Kingsbridge in the mid-1300s must deal with corrupt clergy and the plague to survive. Always with the help of several strong women especially Caris and Gwenda. The architect Merthyn Builder is also a central part of the story. When it seems that corruption will prevail, Merthyn uses blackmail threat to the king to finally bring stability to this strong town. KIRKUS REVIEWThe peasants are revolting. Some, anyway. Others¥the good-hearted varlets, churls and nickpurses of Follett's latestÂ¥are just fine.In a departure from his usual taut, economical procedurals (Whiteout, 2004, etc.), Follett revisits the Middle Ages in what amounts to a sort of sequel to The Pillars of the Earth (1989). The story is leisurely but never slow, turning in the shadow of the great provincial cathedral in the backwater of Kingsbridge, the fraught construction of which was the ostensible subject of the first novel. Now, in the 1330s, the cathedral is a going concern, populated by the same folks who figured in its making: intriguing clerics, sometimes clueless nobles and salt-of-the-earth types. One of the last is a resourceful young girlÂ¥and Follett's women are always resourceful, more so than the menfolkÂ¥who liberates the overflowing purse of one of those nobles. Her father has already lost a hand for thievery, but that's an insufficient deterrent in a time of hunger, and a time when the lords ?were frequently away: at war, in Parliament, fighting lawsuits, or just attending on their earl or king.? Thus the need for watchful if greedy bailiffs and tough sheriffs, who make Gwenda's grown-up life challenging. Follett has a nice eye for the sometimes silly clash of the classes and the aspirations of the small to become large, as with one aspiring prior who ?had only a vague idea of what he would do with such power, but he felt strongly that he belonged in some elevated position in life.? Alas, woe meets some of those who strive, a fact that touches off a neat little mystery at the beginning of the book, one that plays its way out across the years and implicates dozens of characters.A lively entertainment for fans of The Once and Future King, The Lord of the Rings and other multilayered epics. Massive tome with an incredible sprawling story that sometimes falls a bit short of its historical veracity ambitions. King-like framework of a disparate group of kids united by a key event that lingers through the story but never really lives up to the grand reveal it's set up to be. Staggering roster of imminently hateable villains quite literally getting away with murder. Set in a very dynamic time for England and Europe showing how the black death upended social hierarchies and traditions by giving the reader a book's worth each of "before", "during" and "after". no reviews | add a review
Is contained inContainsHas the adaptationIs abridged inHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctions
Fiction.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Historical Fiction.
HTML: #1 New York Times Bestseller No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |