The Armor of Light

As the people of France execute their king and become a republic, the people of Britain are facing a different set of changes. The advancement of technology has reached the textiles industry of Kingsbridge and nothing will be the same. As workers' rights become a focus and are then made illegal, the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. Religious change is also on the way as the Methodists grow in power but across the Channel there is a greater threat, Napoleon Bonaparte.
I love the Kingsbridge novels, they are my guilty pleasure in my history reading cannon! Here the focus is on the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the Industrial Revolution and the beginnings of unionisation before the action moves to the show more Napoleonic Wars. As ever, Follett uses brilliant characterisation and an exciting narrative to drive the historical fact. It's a great and ongoing story. show less

Reading a Kingsbridge novel is like putting on a warm sweater - instantly comfortable and cozy. Follett's writing style is simple, yet meticulously researched. I enjoy historical fiction largely because it gets me excited about history and presents me with a on-the-ground-view of what paradigm-shifts of civilization really meant for people. Seeing the evolution of various machines, war and the folk of Kingsbridge's reactions to that was fascinating and it's such a breezy read that I couldn't put it down.

Alderman Hornbeam was a terrific villain to root against, even if he seemed cartoonishly evil at times. Much like in Column of Fire, by the end I really did feel like I'd spent hours watching these people's lives and how they survived. show more I'll read a Follett book anytime. show less

* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan *

The Armour of Light by Ken Follett is a 700+ page novel, but if you're concerned it'll be a slow burn or you'll have to suffer through a slow start, fear not. As always, bestselling author Ken Follett drags the reader into the lives of his characters by the scruff of the neck, whether they've made the commitment to invest the requisite time with him or not.

But this is historical fiction I hear you cry, not a thriller. How does he do that? Well, how's this for an opening line?

"Until that day, Sal Clitheroe had never heard her husband scream." Page 3

Okay, I'm in! The opening line introduces us to Sal Clitheroe and we become immediately invested in her plight and that of her husband and family. It's 1792, show more the focus soon widens and we begin to meet more characters from a range of backgrounds from the town who will go on to tell this story. Some are friends, some are foes and they all have their faults, but together a relatable history of the period begins to form in the reader's mind.

Set in Kingsbridge, England during the Napoleonic Wars, I'll admit to being surprised at the date we pick up the thread again. I wanted to return to the moment soon after the events of The Evening and the Morning and the naming of Kingsbridge which gave me a very pleasant gasp of recognition that left me wanting more.

That said, The Evening and the Morning was actually the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth, however The Armour of Light is the 5th novel in the series and chronologically follows on more than a century after A Column of Fire*.

In The Armour of Light, we return to Kingsbridge 150 (or so) years after those events and during the industrial revolution.* The characters in Kingsbridge are struggling with the introduction of machinery to the local mills, which causes unrest amongst the workers.

Meanwhile, I learned about press gangs for the first time and didn't know that men could be kidnapped or tricked and captured, later waking up on a ship.

"Britain was in constant need of men for the navy. The militia, the home defence force, had no shortage, for it had the power to conscript men whether they liked it or not. There was no conscription into the regular army, but poverty-stricken Ireland supplied about a third of army recruits and the criminal courts accounted for most of the rest... So the biggest problem was the navy, which kept the seas free for British trade." Page 427

"In England, teams called press gangs kidnapped, or 'impressed', able-bodied men in coastal towns, took them aboard ships, and kept them tied up until they were miles from land. The system was hated, and often led to rioting." Page 427

I don't recall this ever coming up in the historical fiction I've read until now, but I could be mistaken. It seems preposterous, doesn't it? That you could drop into your local tavern for a beer and be kidnapped and forced into service, unable to alert your family or provide for them and this plays out in the book.

As in previous work, Follett's depth of research is supported by excellent writing, with the occasional line that made me smile for the sheer joy of it:

"The two men set off again. Willard House was on the market square. The irritatingly officious Sergeant Beach was on duty in the hall, and after a token display of reluctance he showed them in to Donaldson." Page 552

I love the 'token display of reluctance' and seeing this kind of detailed observation on the page is always an unexpected delight. Other than commencing close to two centuries later than I expected, The Armour of Light by Ken Follett delivered on every other hope and expectation. I came to care about the plight and wellbeing of the millworkers and villagers as well as the success of the town, all while understanding that the challenges faced in the industrial revolution were only going to increase.

Follett is able to distil the events of history and make them relatable through the impact to his characters, and I'm now feeling a little more informed about the Napoleonic wars and can't wait to see the release of Napoleon here in Australia later this month.

The Armour of Light by Ken Follett was my most highly anticipated title for 2023 and I can highly recommend it for readers of historical fiction.

* Here's a look at the Kingsbridge series of books in the order you should read them, and the time periods they cover:
Book #0 The Evening and the Morning 997AD - 1007AD
Book #1 The Pillars of the Earth 1135 - 1174
Book #2 World Without End 1327 - 1361
Book #3 A Column of Fire 1558 - 1606
Book #4 The Armour of Light 1792 - 1824 show less

Suffers from the same problem A Column of Fire had, in a diffusion of purpose. Though more of it takes place in Kingsbridge, it builds toward and has its final part set in France again, this time going up against Ol Boney, in scenes that wishes they were half as engaging as Cornwell's Sharpe series. Follett can't take that up close and personal view, and keeps reverting to a God's eye that stops any feeling of engaged tension and reads like a Youtuber's battlefield summary. It's a bit similar with the rest of the plot points he bakes into the narrative, where he's so keen to show off the research he made into sweeping social and technological changes, the characters at times just become cutouts to stand next to his real purpose in show more summarizing a historical period in fictional form. What Pillars of the Earth managed so well was firstly building interesting characters and drama, and letting the historical context be a compelling backdrop to that central story, and now it's like they're just stock characters that need to be there to tell a story about the historical context. show less

I didn’t enjoy this as much as the previous books, but it was still enjoyable and I flew through it! The characters were great and the plot was interesting. It wasn’t as melodramatic as the other books in the series and I missed the drama.

If someone gave him a prize for every million copies his books sold, Ken Follett would have 17 of them.
His métier is the long historical saga. The Armor of Light, the fourth novel set in the fictional cathedral town of Kingsbridge, runs more than 700 pages. Each of the Kingsbridge novels is set in a different historical period. The Armor of Light covers the Kingsbridge families of clerics, mill owners, and mill hands from the mid-1790s to the mid-1820s. It gives a much more working-class picture of English society than Jane Austen ever imagined. We follow the clothing industry from hand-spun and hand-woven cloth to batteries of steam-driven looms and the beginnings of card-programmed machines. We hear of the Luddite movement, military show more impressment, and anti-union laws.
The plot follows four or five central characters with interlocked relationships. The shifting point of view keeps the plot moving, and we are not surprised when several of them find themselves with Wellington at Waterloo. There are middle-class children born out of wedlock, women doing men’s work, and successful same-sex relationships that are more credible than expected.
It is a good long beach read. I found it fun to compare it to other chroniclers of the period, Elizabeth Gaskell, Jane Austen, and William Makepeace Thackeray. And I suppose Dickens’s Hard Times deserves a shoutout. Only Dickens could have rivaled Follett for sales. show less

Another outstanding addition to Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge series. The Armor of Light takes place at the beginning of the industrial revolution as steam powered textile manufacturing comes to Kingsbridge. The social upheaval it causes along with Great Britain's involvement in the Napoleonic Wars set the stage for this fast-paced and dramatic story to play out on. One major difference I found in comparison to the previous books was a larger gray area in how the characters are depicted. It isn't strictly heroes vs. villains; there are good people with flaws, bad people with redeeming qualities, and plenty who fall in between. I’m sure I’m not the only one hoping the next book (or two) will tie this series to the author’s Century show more Trilogy. show less