5 stars to Ken Follett's World Without End. One of my favorite books of all time... I was just mesmerized by the characters and everything they went thru. It is a MUST read.

It's a long read, and it takes place hundreds of years ago, but if you can handle the primitive nature of the timeline, the various plots and subplots will astound you. Amazing.

I kept getting angry at all the tragedy thrown at the two main characters. How could they suffer so much. And for years. I'll stop there as I don't want to give it away, but please read this one!



FAVORITE BOOK!!!!

This "companion" novel to Follett's 1989 classic The Pillars of the Earth is set in the same community, 200 years later. I'd been excited about it ever since I heard it was coming out this fall - Maybe too excited, because it just didn't live up to my expectations.

The first half of the book seemed a sort-of ho-hum retread of "Pillars". In place of Jack Builder, we have his look-alike great-great-great-many-times-over grandson, Merthin. Instead of Aliena, we get Caris (who I wanted to slap several times during the course of the story). Instead of Big Villain William, we get Ralph, Merthin's knightly (but less-than chivalrous) brother. And a bridge-building project stands in for the cathedral construction of the first book... As if anything could.

The only character I found remotely original was the first one we meet in the book, a little girl reduced to pickpocketing by her starving parents, who grows up to be hopelessly in love with a handsome, honest young farmer.

I missed Prior Philip, from the original book, who was a character who at least had some integrity and depth to him. All the clergy in "World Without End" seemed to be corrupt - including the ones we're supposed to like.

Something big happens about halfway through, to change the book's course - and it doesn't get resolved as quickly as I thought it would - but the big payoff from the opening scene never materializes. ("That's IT?" I wanted to say when I read the explanation of what happened.)

There are some good scenes, showing how war and pestilence affect ordinary folk - but the "heroes" in this book talk and think too much like people from the 21st Century to make the setting really believable. If you loved "Pillars", you might as well try this one, but it's not any great shakes.

4.5!

One of the best and sweetest endings I’ve ever read. Wow!!

The Pillars of the Earth was pretty good, but WWE is supposed to be a sequel... However, WWE seems to be a 1000 page snorefest after the first book. Perhaps if I had read them 18 years apart... then I would not have minded that WWE is a plagiarized (by the same author) copy of TPOTE. They have the same plot, same polar characters (no one is reasonable, they are all so totally overboard in every description), same activities, same cads, same villians, same love story... Same everything... But the characters all have new names. So, if you decide to read them... Skip 18 years before reading the sequel, which takes place in the same town as TPOTE 200 years later. If you wait 18 years, the book might seem fresh instead of boring, annoying, unoriginal and tedious. I kept wanting people to die just so I would not have to read another word about them. If I did not have this incessant need to complete books, I would have just thrown it on the floor and never picked it up again.
It makes me annoyed every time I pick it up.. sad but true.

my hint:
Read Pillars of the Earth, take a LONG break and then, if you feel a desperate need... think about it, and if you can find the book for cheap, maybe... perhaps... read it if you have absolutely nothing better to do.

3.5⭐️

Well, to go from The Pillars of the Earth to... this was definitely a sobering experience. It’s almost hard to believe that both books were written by the same author.

The two crowning jewels of TPotE were the fascinating & unforgettable characters and the ‘I can’t put this book down even for a minute’ plot that engrossed you from page one right down to the very last paragraph.
None of which WWE seemed to have.
I hated the characters. They were inconsistent and a walking contradiction at best and the story just seemed to drag on.

The thing is, if you judge this book as its own entity without trying to compare it to its predecessor then it’s a great piece of historical fiction infused with real-world event, however, being that it is a second book in a series (albeit two centuries apart) one can’t help but put one against the other in every aspects of its construction.

"Las mujeres nos hallamos a merced de los hombres, que son nuestros amos y señores, quienes tienen el deber de decidir sabiamente nuestra suerte, por lo que sólo nos queda rogar para que la voz de nuestro corazón no sea del todo ignorada. Un tipo de petición que suele ser escuchada."


Casi dos décadas después de la publicación de Los pilares de la tierra I, Ken Follett nos lleva nuevamente a la ciudad medieval de Kingsbridge, 153 años después. La vida de cuatro personajes en medio de años de guerra y de la peste, constituye el eje de esta magnífica historia de amor y odio, de ambición y venganza. Siendo tan adictivo y entretenido como el anterior.

He disfrutado de cada una de sus 1000 páginas, es un libro que hay que leer de a poco, para ir desentrañando la trama, los misterios y las intrigas. Me ha gustado ver lo bien que se entrelazaban las historias de los personajes, como en su antecesor también están muy bien desarrollados. La capacidad narrativa para tejer historias de Ken Follett, sin aburrir al lector, es extraordinaria.

En esta segunda parte, el autor nos ofrece un retrato más humano donde demuestra el lado temeroso de los personajes por desear sobrevivir y luchar contra viento y marea de la enfermedad que asoló a gran parte de la población europea: la peste negra o "la moria grande".

Está garantizado enamorarse de esta historia. Es una joya absoluta que reluce en donde a la vez nos muestra lo feroz que puede llegar a ser la ambición humana.


100% recomendado

"La integridad personal es como una espada: no debería blandirse hasta el momento de ponerla a prueba."

5,0 ✨✨✨

(Audiobook)

This is an enormous book, really! Ken Follett is one of the best, this is for sure, but "World Without End" seems to me that he have done, once again, the impossible. What a wonderful book! Yes, let me admit it is quite long (1000 are a hard task, indeed), but it is so worth it. Every page is another problem to solve, another stםlen moment of pleasue. And this is what I like about it: whenever things seem to get on track שמג under control again, when the world gets safe and lovable again - something, as if unexpectable when it was so clear yet hidden backstage, mess everything up. And the need the fix it never dies.
Wow! I was so amazed with Follett's characters, they seemes so real and so imperfect, just the way they should have been. Unlike the next person in human stream in Kingsbridge and England and Europe - everyone has an amazingly true and fantastic story, and Follett's had realy done it this time. Well done! Liked it so so much, you can't let your feelings down, you will love it and hate. At some moments, altough there are so much of those, you would love to return it to the shelf or burn it out of frustration, but pay attention to your feelings. This book, unlike many others, will get the best and worst out of you.

4.5 stars rounded down.

This is the sequel to Pillars of the Earth, but can be read as a stand alone novel. In many respects, it would be better if read as a stand alone novel, because there are so many similarities to the first novel. This one takes place about 200 years after the end of Pillars of the Earth, again in the town of Kingsbridge, during the 1300s. Although the story is a compelling read, it has many of the same tropes as the first novel: the ambitious builder who loves a woman he cannot have; the independent and intelligent woman who must defer to men; the corrupt Prior of the cathedral; the villainous Earl of Shiring; the honest and hard working serfs; the amoral flunkies of the Prior and the Earl, just to name a few. There is a soap opera quality to some of the events in the book: a Perils of Pauline set in Medieval times. And just when you think things can’t get any worse, the Plague strikes.

There are some new twists to the above mentioned tropes, and despite the fact that you feel like you’ve read all this before, Follett just sucks you into the story. At 1014 pages, you sometimes feel like this is the book without end, but it is well paced and the pages seem to turn themselves. It is a story that you can get lost in.

Although I really enjoyed this book, I think I liked Pillars of the Earth better, maybe because it was fresher. But World Without End is good in its own right.

"World Without End" , for all its historical pretensions, has much in common with those books sporting, on their covers, a long-haired, bare-chested pirate/soldier/rogue/whatever staring gallantly/lustily/confusedly/whatever at some beautiful woman in some strange outfit. It's a soap-opera. That's cool. I get that. I'd rather a soap-opera setting with some measure of historical reality/relevance than the typical soft-porn treacle that appeals to the prurient interests of the romance starved. But, sometimes, Ken Follett gets carried away. He forgets that this series is about the building of a cathedral with the background of the period well detailed. I, personally, do not really like that many of the characters in this one.

While the first book was set during the period of "the Anarchy" (1135-1153) of the King Stephen-Queen Matilda civil war. This second book is set during the reign of Edward III of House Plantagenet. This is where the book is lacking. Edward makes only brief appearances and perhaps the best part of the historical fiction is during Ralph's involvement in the battle of Crecy (26th Aug, 1346).

Rather Follett gets a bit too interested in the soap-opera of the townsfolk. In the doing of so, he sadly just recycles the story of the first book, only allowing for about a two-century change. We still have the same assortment of annoying men, difficult women, stupid Lords, etc. Some of the names are different, but these are the spawn of the people in the first book. We even have a rapey knight again. This time it's Rapey Ralph instead of William of Hamleigh. Instead of Jack, we have Merthin...it's pretty much the same formula.

So why four stars? Well, for what it is, it's quite entertaining. The look into the life of a 1300's person is instructive. The story is fast paced and certainly entertaining. I don't mind the recycling of the characters as much as the lack of emphasis on the major players of this time. The characters of the first book interacted with the major players in a far more important fashion. Follett strays from this to delve a little bit too much into the "drama" aspects instead of the historical.

Still, criticisms aside, I enjoyed this book. At a staggering 1,000+ pages, it didn't really read slowly. Even when he is dealing with the Kingsbridge characters, it's still got a very interesting story. You keep reading to see what these goofballs will do next (these aren't the brightest of this time period...that's why Edward III is King and these goobers are stuck in Kingsbridge) and enjoy it.

While this isn't as bold and original as the first book, it is still a fun read. It does a credible job of showing you life in 1300's England and telling you an entertaining, albeit recycled, story. While not brilliant, I did enjoy it. A little bit more history and less drama please, next time Mr. Follett.

من الصعب على القارئ المعاصر أن ينجذب لرواية تتعدى صفحاتها الألف ومائتي صفحة خصوصاً وأنها تتحدث عن المجتمع الاوروبي في عصوره الوسطى وتلك الحقبة التي كانت فيها السيطرة السياسية والدينية بيد رهبان الكنائس حيث أنهم هم من كان يتحكم بإصدار القوانين و تسيير الشعوب
في سرد آسر ممتع يتحدث الكاتب الويلزي في روايته ( عالم بلا نهاية) عن المجتمع الاوروبي المعدم وتلك الحقبة التي زامنت داء الطاعون وما تخللته الأراء من نبذ الفكر العلمي خصوصاُ للطب لما تتعارض فيه تلك النقلة مع مصالح الكاتدرائيات .
متعة لا متناهية مع تعدد الشخصيات وتلك الخلاقية الملهمة من الكاتب والف تحية للمترجمة على هذا العمل.

What? I never wrote a review (ha, good for me)....
but I loved this book -equally- as much as Pillars of the Earth -

The Female characters were a stand out --
The Story --GRIPPING!!

I read it ages ago -- (I just read a great review from Lynn) --

World Without End was one of the best 1,000 page-turning-addicting- books I read!

I never read the 3rd book in the trilogy -- (own it) -- but -- not sure why --
Well, kinda I do -- It took over 3 years for it the 3rd book to be released -- and by then.....
I don't know -I forgot about it.