World Without End by Ken Follett
|
List Price: Our Price: $15.00 You Save: $20.00 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.49 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of World Without End
Book Review: Not so good
Summary: 1 Stars
I came as far as 400 pages and then I stopped reading the book. It was just to similar to POTE. What was most annoying though were the frequent sexual references in the book. It appears that Follett's imagination of the middle ages is that everybody was horny and just continuously looking for sexual gratification. The other annoying item was the authors obvious dislike of the Christian religion. Pretty much every stereotype was checked off: Gay priests/monks, lesbian nuns, womanizing bishops, ignorant church people. You even get a feminist 'hero' who performs an abortion on herself. The book was gripping for a while but after some time the storyline became boring. Building a cathedral is just so much more interesting than building a bridge. Anyway, I regret having bought the book. Book Review: Follett delivers again
Summary: 5 Stars
A great sequel to "Pillars." Follett creates such endearing characters and vivid settings-he successfully transforms the reader to another time.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Book Review: Phenomenal book.
Summary: 5 Stars
Phenomenal book. My husband and I read this book and Pillars of the Earth, respectively, then switched. We loved both!Book Review: A Great Alternative to "Reading Pillars of the Earth" Again
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked the book. And I'd give it a full five stars and gush more about it if it didn't seem almost as if a template was lifted from "Pillars of the Earth" and dropped over Kingsbridge two hundred years later. Still, I enjoyed it enough to read it in just a few days.
My chief complaint--as others have noted--is that he sometimes uses modern day slang when accepted English would have done just as well and been much less jarring. It stunned me that such an experienced writer would do this. Stunned me even more that it would get past a good editor.
My other criticism is that he wrapped things up very abruptly. Almost as if mom had shouted into his room, "Ken, dinner in fifteen minutes--you need to finish what you're doing."
If nothing else, I enjoyed it more than I would have enjoyed picking up "Pillars of the Earth" and reading it a fourth time.
All criticisms aside, it's a good book and I'm glad I read it.
Book Review: Okay but....
Summary: 3 Stars
Just finally finished the Kindle version. Enjoyable but it was a bit repetitive in some areas. Not to give away any elements of the plot but it seemed that a couple of the plot lines would get somewhat resolved, the story would move on to something new and then return to the same former thing. Nothing new the second go-around, just more of the same drama. Weird.
The characters are compelling and believable although in a few areas I thought Follett interjected 21st Century values into his story in an attempt to make the characters more heroic.