Caris und Merthin haben mich im ganzen letzten Quartal des Jahres 2023 begleitet. Für das Buch hätte ich wohl nicht die Ruhe gehabt, aber mit dem (ungekürzten) Hörbuch konnte mich ich immer wieder in die Welt des Hochmittelalters beamen und bei den beiden für ein paar Minuten vorbeischauen. Ken Follett ist ein Meister des Spannungsbogens. Trotz der Länge des Romans hatte er keine Längen, und wenn ich die Geschichte unterbrechen musste, fieberte ich schon dem nächsten Mal entgegen, bis ich wieder die Kopfhörer aufsetzen konnte. Der Roman ist hervorragend recherchiert. Ich habe mit großem Interesse verfolgt, wie damals Kirchen und Brücken gebaut wurden. Traurig, aber ebenfalls interessant, war es den Einbruch der Pest zu verfolgen und die Folgen für das Zusammenleben der Menschen. Ist es zu glauben, dass Follett schon 2007 die schützende Wirkung von Masken vor Ansteckung beschrieben hat? Das Buch ist eine spannende und würdige Fortsetzung des ersten Bandes („Die Säulen der Erde“) der Kingsbridge-Reihe. Hervorragendes Lesevergnügen ist garantiert.

Book 2 in the Knightsbridge series first published 2007.

Calling this a book would be a mistake; it’s a tome, but a highly entertaining tome for sure.

In reality what this is, is a medieval version of ‘The Bold and The Beautiful’. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this TV show it’s a daytime soap opera.

This book has all the ingredients that make for a successful soap opera. There is murder, lying, cheating, conniving, back stabbing, lots of bastards, the biblical and non biblical types, greed, avarice, rape and pillage and strangest of all the plague. How portentous is it that I should have been reading this just as corvid 19 is rearing its ugly head.

For those readers who have read the first book of this series you will find pretty much the same content as has gone before.

The story concerns the denizens of Kightsbridge. The hardships of the peasants, the trials and tribulations of the merchants, the privileged lives of the aristocracy and the dominance of the church over everyone and everything.

This might sound just a bit ho hum but I couldn’t get enough of it. The characters are strongly defined and you will soon finding yourself loving and hating them in equal measure.
For a book that is a 1000 + pages long it managed to hold my interest from the beginning to the very end.

A entertaining 4 star read.

My only comment is that the World couldn't end soon enough for me.

Ultimately, not as good as the first book. Still enjoyable and massive in scope. But I didn't feel as much for these characters. I might write more at some point but I'm a little busy to write reviews at the moment.

"L'essere umano è fallibile, quindi è meglio non basarsi sul ragionamento. Non si può sperare di comprendere il mondo: l'unica cosa da fare è contemplare ammirati la creazione di Dio. La vera conoscenza deriva solo dalla rivelazione. Non dovremmo mettere in discussione la saggezza ricevuta".
Nonostante sia un mattone di 1.400 pagine, il libro è scorrevolissimo e si legge tutto d'un fiato (o quasi). Da sempre sono un amante del periodo medievale, quindi (è facile intuirlo) ho trovato tutto ciò che volevo sia in "I pilastri della terra" che in "Mondo senza fine"… due libri che sono uno il seguito dell'altro: "Mondo senza fine", infatti, segue di due secoli le avventure e la storia degli abitanti di Kingsbridge già magistralmente raccontati in "I pilastri della terra".
Inutile fare una recensione vera e propria (tanto i libri di Ken Follett sono tutti dei successi), di seguito mi limito soltanto a descrivervi le mie impressioni.
Ho trovato bellissimo e spettacolare il modo in cui l'autore descrive il periodo storico di questo libro (l'Inghilterra tra il 1327 ed il 1361)… periodo impregnato di superstizione mascherata da religiosità estrema; ma anche periodo di complotti, intrighi (e in questo libro ne troverete uno quasi in ogni pagina) e tradimenti a non finire.
Fantastici tutti i personaggi: sia i principali (Gwenda, Caris, Ralph e Merthin il mio preferito) che i secondari, tutti splendidamente caratterizzati durante la loro crescita.
Unica nota dolente, se così si può definire, è il finale abbastanza veloce e prevedibile… visto che si tratta di un libro di 1.400 pagine, qualcuna in più ci poteva anche stare. Ma va bene comunque così, il voto pieno non si discute.
[https://lastanzadiantonio.blogspot.co...]

World Without End transports the reader into another time and place, 14th Century England. The book contains a broad and intertwined plot that starts in 1327 with four children sharing a fateful encounter in the forest. The tension of maintaining a secret related to this encounter ties the book's beginning and ending together. The historic events that become incorporated into this fictional story include the Hundred Years War and the Black Death Plague.

The story contained in this book occurs approximately 200 years after the story told in the prequel, Pillars Of The Earth. Many of the characters in World Without End are descendants of the characters in the earlier book. And just as architecture and construction were part of the earlier story, it is also found in this book. Again there are structures falling down with disastrous and life changing results. This time we learn that deteriorating foundation conditions below ground are the source of the structural problems. This is in many ways symbolic of the deterioration of the leaderships and economy of the region over the preceding 200 years. In the time of Pillars, the monastery had been a pious institution that encouraged learning and innovation; in the 14th century the monks have become conservative and discourage any modernization.

Modern day architects, engineers, doctors, nurses and even economists should enjoy reading about the struggles of working in a culture that honors revealed wisdom from past masters above that of current day innovators. It's also interesting to follow the politics and intrigue of life within a monastic priory where life is suppose to be focused on prayer. There are several examples in the story of smart women giving good advice to clueless men, so female readers should get a kick out of that.

The incidents in this book fit within the broad outline of 14th Century history. It paints a vivid picture of England's economy and class structure as well as the changes that resulted from the Black Death Plague. However, professional historians of the 14th Century will find plenty to quibble about. Some of the characters in the book are probably too skeptical of 14th Century thinking to be realistic. As a matter of fact, the two main characters, Merthin and Caris, have world views that are surprisingly compatible with those of typical 21st Century readers. Caris even has a rough concept of scientific medicine and Keynesian economics.

Since the commonly accepted theory regarding the primary transmission of the plague is that it was carried by fleas from rats, I was expecting the author to make some mention of the presence of rats. But no such reference is made. I know that the people at the time had no idea about that, but I thought some mention would be made of rats and fleas being present since the modern reader would be expecting it. There is reference in the story to a cat living in the priory, so perhaps it contributed to a reduced death rate by catching rats. But there is no observation made in the story that the cat was good at catching rats.

This book is popular literature, not great literature, aimed at entertaining today's reader. The author does a good job of doing just that by telling an interesting and entertaining story. As can be expected in popular literature, sexual thoughts and activity are fully explored in this book. The descriptions of sexual activity are not overly explicit, but are persistent enough to embarrass a prudish person like myself. If Canterbury Tales is any indication, the 14th Century was not an overly prudish time with regard to sex, so the book may be on target in this regard.

I think the book falls short in its description of the interrelationship between language and class in 14th Century England. Follett makes no attempt to make the dialogue reflect the dialect of the time. It is my understanding that, at the beginning of the 14th Century, the prevailing language of the educated upper class in England was French, while at the same time the peasant lower class spoke middle English (a la Chaucer). This changed by the end of the 14th Century with English being spoken by both upper and lower classes. (Parliament was opened in the English language for the first time in 1362.) There is a theory supported by some historians that this change was brought about by The Black Plague because so many school teachers died. The story as told in World Without End indicates several times that the educated English were able to speak Norman French. However, the narrative makes no mention of barriers in communication within English society caused by different languages spoken by upper and lower classes. I think the author missed an important issue of 14th Century English life by not emphasizing these language issues.

Another complaint, the book is too long. I wish authors who wanted to write stories this long would have arranged to be born in the 19th Century where they belong. People had more time to read then. In this era of so many books and so little time, books of this size really slow down progress on making it through the back-log of books to read. ;-)

Even though I can find things about the book to criticize, I nevertheless enjoyed it's lengthy and intertwined story. If I gave it fewer than five stars I would be guilty of being a hypocrite; pretending to be unimpressed with popular literature while secretly enjoying it. So I'll be honest and give it five stars based on the pure enjoyment of being immersed within a distant time in history.

If you're interested in a non-fiction account of this same time period from the French point of view, I recommend A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman.

Wow, I really love these Kingsbridge books. They're one of the best ways to immerse yourself into history, to see and really feel how times were back in the medieval days. I'm curious how accurately Ken Follett has captured the general psychology of those back then. Because their way of thinking certainly doesn't jive with ours, almost 700 years later. I can't even imagine living in a time when common sense is considered heresy. When it can be proven that mud and poop will infect a wound, rather than heal it, but still must be used as a poultice because that's how the ancient philosophers would have treated it. How women with decades of practical knowledge can outmaneuvered by some young kid simply because he's a male, and has been 'trained' by a university. How greedy and downright cruel men with power can actually be.

Ken Follett can write some evil. He did so with his first book in this series, Pillars of the Earth. But I think that World Without End is much darker.

Highly entertaining lowbrow historical fiction.
It is a sequel to https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....
Definitely not a masterpiece when it comes to historical accuracy, nevertheless it is a real page turner and highly, highly enjoyable.

Set in fourteenth century, Kingsbridge is a prosperous town. Merthin and Ralph go to the archery field to try out Merthin's homemade bow and arrows. Because he is an eleven year old child, Merthin is not allowed to practice. Caris, Edmund Wooler's daughter, suggests they go to the forest to practice, which is against the law. Gwenda, a laborer's daughter, with her dog, trails along with them. When they reach the forest, Merthin shots an arrow and misses the chosen mark. Ralph, Merthin's younger brother, tries and is successful. All the children hide in the bushes when they hear men running in the forest. A knight is being chased by two men-at-arms. The knight, Sir Thomas Langley, kills one man and Ralph kills the second man. Three of the children run off leaving Merthin and Sir Thomas Langley to hide the dead men in the bushes. Merthin helps Thomas bury a leather wallet containing a secret scroll. Thomas tells Merthin to keep it a secret because men would kill to find the scroll. If, however, Thomas dies, Merthin is instructed to give it to the prior. Sir Thomas rides to the priory hospital for the treatment of his wound. He asks to join the priory and become a monk.

Gwenda, Caris, Merthin and Ralph grow up. Merthin and Caris love each other. Gwenda is in love with Wulfric, who is in love with Annet. Ralph is training to be a knight in the household of Earl Roland, the Earl of Shiring. Merthin is an apprentice under the master builder, Elfric. Life never goes as planned. When Merthin refuses to marry Elfric's daughter, he is dismissed as an apprentice. Caris loves Merthin but does not want to be restricted by the vows of marriage. She wants her independence and Merthin too. He wants to be a master builder, have a family and own a house. Gwenda is sold as a commodity by her father to Sim Chapman. Caris is working with her father in the wool business. Ralph despairs of ever becoming a knight.

Then the bridge collapse and Kingsbridge is threatened with economic ruin. Without a bridge, the merchants and traders will travel to Shiring for market days and fairs. Kingsbridge Fleece Fair merchants and traders will suffer from lack of trade. The priory will not pay for a new stone bridge because they have no money. It will be up to the townspeople to raise the funds, with the promise of reimbursement from the priory. Merthin is hired to build the bridge. In replacement for part of his pay, Merthin receives Leper Island as his property. Leper Island joins the expansion bridges. He has great plans to build up the property with rentals and storage areas. Then Caris is accused of witchcraft and enters the nunnery to save herself. Merthin is heartbroken and decides to leave for Florence, Italy, after he is dismissed as the builder of the bridge.

This epic tome follows the life of the four individuals -- Merthin, Ralph, Caris and Gwenda -- and the people connected to Kingsbridge. Two hundred years after the Kingsbridge cathedral is built in the Pillars of the Earth, we are carried along in the lives of its descendents. Through love, greed, lust, plague, and prosperity, we witness the lives in and around Kingsbridge. From lives decimated from the plague to the resurgence of the community, we ride along on the journey. This is a character-driven novel. Though the plot and subplots are important, it is the characters we identify with throughout the book. The settings and descriptions are stunning. The pace is consistent and flows smoothly. I could set this book down for a respite and pick it back up and still be enthralled in its pages. This over a thousand page book isn't for everyone, but if you are looking for a story that is full-bodied, rich and textured, then this is the novel for you.

I got this book for Christmas and was so excited to start. I was a big fan of Pillars and figured I would love this as well. I liked it a whole lot, but definitely not as much as Pillars. The story was familiar (and at points almost a retread of Pillars). It was often anachronistic - especially the character of Caris. I loved her and I'm all for feminism and strong female characters, but it made me wonder how accurate and believable she really was. Clunky prose such as "she would have been alderman, but women didn't usually hold that position" didn't help matters. Nor the fact that Follet repeated that sentiment over and over again. Other reviews have correctly pointed out that there is something squirm-inducing about the way Follet seems to relish his descriptions of rape and pillage. He also has the annoying habit of annotating "memories" that the character has, so that every time he or she recalls something, he has to identify it for the reader and give the back-story again. It becomes laughably repetitive, and only goes to show that the book is way too long if he can't trust that the reader can follow along and remember. All in all, a good read, but definitely not one that I couldn't put down and not one that I loved as much as its predecessor.

It’s actually the Book Without End. Great historical fiction spanning several decades in the 14th century in Kingsbridge. Wonderful details on the medical knowledge of the time, weaving and dying, building, and more. I did take some breaks in this book and I could have done without the mentions of animal cruelty.

10/22 audio read

I’m conflicted. I think part of the genius of this series how it proves history repeats itself, but it can sure make for a repetitive storyline. There are so many dots that can be connected to Pillars.

Right now I’m just glad I’m finished