Customer Reviews: Read 137 more reviews...
 By far his best November 14, 2008
I find that all of Ken Follett's other books - including World Without End - are simply "holiday reading". However Pillars of the Earth seems almost to have come from the pen of someone else. It is superb on many levels - and would certainly be in my top ten books ever. Thank you Ken!
 Interesting historically, workmanlike writing November 14, 2008
Someone else mentioned this, but Follett has the silly habit of summarising the previous few pages at the end of a section. As if we have 5 second attention spans and need to be reminded of what we have just read. It's incredibly annoying and condescending.
The quality of prose is at the level of a teenager. All short sentences, "he said, she said" type of stuff. No long descriptions to befuddle the reader. Some of the set pieces are quite exciting eg the historical Battle of Lincoln and the murder of Thomas Beckett. There are some wasted opportunites however. Eg two of the protaganists take a trip to Santiago de Compostela...quite a trip in those days I'm sure. However the whole trip is glossed over in a few pages.
It's basically an easy read, interesting if you're into medieval England, but in no way thought-provoking or deep. But that's ok, not everybook needs to read like Proust and hence I give it 3 stars!
Do yourself a favour - BUY THIS BOOK November 6, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is pretty damn special. A year after it was first recommended to me, I got my act together - even then it was only because the friend who recommended it grew tired of waiting for me to start and bought it for me.
Once I started reading I could not stop: a superb narrative and unforgettable characters. In fact, since finishing this book, I have truly missed them all and kind of wish I had never read the book because then it would mean that I could read it all over again.
Look at things in new ways November 6, 2008
well written, if somewhat rushed as an ending, its a very engaging story. really does make me look at somethings, namely old churches and the love that went into building them, differently. But it is FAR more than a book about building a church.... you'll enjoy it :)
Spell bounding!! October 27, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Never heard of Ken Follett before. Family member recommended this and I took on holiday. What fantastic reading and the story just kept getting better, I just couldn't put it down. The book completely fell apart with the heat of the sun, so couldn't pass this on to my friends. I know many of them will be buying this, so have now started reading all of Ken's books. Well done....
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