"Pillars of the Earth" Topic

Ken Follett, usually known for Cold War intrigue and mystery. A fictional account of the building of a cathedral church in the town of Kingsbridge.

Set during the reign of King Stephen I. I got a little over half-way through, but it got a little bit too boring and contrived for my tastes.

There are a couple of battles, though, that would make for good table-top scenarios.

The Battle of Lincoln 1141 and an attack on an unsuspecting castle.

If you can get through the first few chapters with Tom the Builder, it really picks up with the entrance of Phillip of Gwenydd.

Unfortunately, Tom the Builder reemerges and is a central character.

Parts of it are very good and others are worse than watching paint dry, which I've done once or twice.

The women are all super human and the men are flighty nabobs, incapable of seeing the true path to success and riches until they are led by the nose to the trough, unless they've been tortured and are on the brink of death.

At that point, they become strong and decisive and the women become weak and submissive.

No better than a four or a five, in my estimation.

JW

I didn't mind Pillars of the Earth, although I agree that some parts of the book were heavy. The sequel is "World without End" and I gave up halfway through as it just got to be too much and felt like "plot without end". Again, it started well but then dropped off.

Strange thing about Ken Follett is that he writes some really good books and then some that are no good at all. No middle ground.

I liked them both.

I read it years ago. The thing that really irked for me [spoiler ahead] was that the baddie didn't get his come-uppance till he was really old, so had had a long and fun-filled (by his standards) life. Not too bad an exchange, I thought, if that sort of life was your thing …

Arteis

So many bad guys to choose from. That wouldn't have bothered me too much, though. Good things happen to bad people, and they don't always suffer the consequences.

JW

I read them both finishing about a year or so ago and found them to be good reading. Yes they are long and the plot does go on but in the mass there are some, or what were to me, interesting information on life in Medieval England. This lead to a number of tangent researches into a number of topics such as cathedral architecture and construction, The Battle of Lincoln, Guilds, monasteries, justice system etc.

Before starting the books I thought I knew about life in 12th/13th Century Britain but ended up with a lot more and a better idea of how things fitted together as well as an interesting story.

I read both Pillars as well as World Without End. The comment about male characters is not QUITE right; if you notice most of the military characters are thugs. And I agree the female characters are a bit anachronistic and, well, a bit much.

BTW, World Without End really seems to recycle the broad plot from Pillars, and includes a female character too modern for the period, and military thugs.

Damon.