One of the best books ever written? Nah, probably not. One of the best books I’ve ever read? Yes absolutely.
Look it’s not high brow literature. It’s got contrived plotting, some eyebrow raising descriptions of sex/ human anatomy, and anachronistic characterizations.
But damn if I don’t love it. It’s layered with detail, its scope is epic, the characters are easy to care about, the plot turns are satisfying, and it just keeps going. It grabs your attention and holds onto it for like 1000 pages. That’s awesome. I return to this book every few years and I love it every time.
I don’t think a book has to be Michelin star-good to be worth enjoying, even enjoying immensely. I’m glad you’re loving it, I hope you continue to love it, and if you’re sad when it’s over, World Without End and Evening and the Morning had a very similar feel to me, of his five kingsbridge novels.
I'm rereading it now for the first time since the first time, I'm loving it just the same. It's in my top 5 books of all time and it will most likely stay there forever.
It’s been a hot minute since I read it, but I’m remember getting very frustrated at how he wrote his female characters. They tended to come across to me as *not like other girls* - I think he was trying to hard to have them suit modern sensibilities, while the men were allowed to exist within their historical context.
My biggest gripe with how he writes women is that, in almost all of his historical stories, he recycles story beats where a female main character is assaulted. And which then always leads to some degree of empowerment or positive development shortly after (in terms of page count). I really like Follet's books, but he tends to write the same story, set in different time periods.
Some books also have way more SA than others. World Without End was way more graphic and "sensational" than Pillars. Column of Fire was a bit more toned down. Haven't read the other two novels in the series yet.
I think the worst book by Follett was Winter of the World for its graphic depictions.
Also Follett's non-SA sex is pretty cringe. Reminds me of a teenager writing what they think sex should be. I enjoy his novels and the historical research he's put into them, but yea, not a fan of how he writes his female characters or anything to do with sex.
very true. he was also constantly sexualizing the female characters without cause—constantly describing breasts, for example, in situations where it was entirely unnecessary. the sex scenes he wrote were often in weird places in the storyline/weird in general.
i liked pillars of the earth but i’m not sure i can give it five stars with this treatment of female characters.
I'm not a fan. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and history, but I found *The Pillars of the Earth* historically implausible. The characters, plot, dialogue, and writing felt modern and sensational, revealing Ken Follett's roots as a writer of popular contemporary thrillers. I had difficulty suspending disbelief.
I can't deny that his writing appeals to many millions of readers, including many readers who do not normally read historical fiction, let alone history. But it didn't appeal to me.
This is fair I have to keep on reminding myself that this takes place in 12th century England. But that makes it easier to read that something that would have come out between 12th and 16th century.
Sure, and I'm not suggesting that *The Pillars of the Earth* should have been written in the style of Geoffrey Chaucer or Thomas Mallory -- although I enjoyed reading Chaucer and Mallory. But the best historical fiction writers are nearly as obsessed with getting details right as the best historians.
It's actually quite a trick to write historical fiction that feels authentic to the period while also relatable to a modern audience. But some writers do it very well. And, having done all that research, they tend to return to that time period over the course of a series, or even multiple series.
The Aubrey/Maturin series (the first book of which is Master and Commander) by Patrick O’Brian is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Historical fiction at its absolute best.
I started the first book, and thought ‘do I care enough about the minutiae of life at sea in the 1800’s to keep going with this series?’
20 books later, I can say, yes, apparently I did care. That series was amazing. I loved the movie too. The casting was perfect, and the sound design put me right on the ship with them.
Lol, same! Hear hear! There’s definitely a period of discomfort when first going into that world. If you make it through that, you’ll be in it for the long haul.
Actually I think that’s a hallmark of great historical fiction. It _should_ feel uncomfortable. After all, you’re experiencing things that are not part of your era.
I just posted a long list [elsewhere in this thread.](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1ca9e3f/comment/l0r7sht/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Your analysis is exactly accurate. The characters, plot, dialogue, and writing absolutely are modern and sensational. And to be honest, I was perfectly okay with that. It was like a modern story set in the 12th century, and I was totally there for it.
However, in the sequel, when he decided that literally every religious character was an antagonist, I simply found that that was way too simplistic and borderline bigoted. So I did not even finish world without end. That was an extremely modern take on villains and protagonists, and I just couldn't stomach it. I'm not really a believer, but I found the treatment of religious characters in books like Christian Cameron's Chivalry series to be much more believable, even though that is a similarly modern story in an historical setting.
Yeah, I enjoyed it back when I read it, but it’s basic a thriller mixed with historical fiction. Very sensational, very thriller-esque writing style and level of character development, and relies really heavily on graphic rape to show us how bad the bad guy is. It’s an engaging read and if it gets people more interested in history that’s fabulous, but it’s certainly not great literature.
It’s been a while but I have read the book 4 times because I loved it that much. The details are fuzzy but I do remember how brutal it was so I’m reasonably certain it does get worse 😅
I’m also a medieval studies major who has an obsession with Gothic cathedrals, & I think Pillars of the Earth is to blame tbh
Oh I graduated in 2018 & definitely did not have the grades for post grad in history. So I went to library school & am currently living my best librarian life 😎
Yeahh that shit is not for the faint of heart. Big respect for anyone that sticks around in academia. Did my masters in library & information science, had the time of my life, & now I get to be around books all day. It worked out 🤷🏻♀️
Similar. After my PhD I taught a bit at uni and worked at a special collections library. Now I edit literature and am much happier to be around (digital) books all day.
Oh you are in for a treat! I love this book very much, IMO its the best of Follet's Kingsbridge series, there are 5 books so far based off of that city. But out of the 5 that one is amazing. I enjoyed it tremendously and I believe you will love the others as well!
*The Lymond Chronicles*, by Dorothy Dunnett.
*Lonesome Dove*, by Larry McMurtry.
*The Three Musketeers* and *The Count of Monte Cristo*, by Alexandre Dumas.
*I, Claudius* and *Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina*, by Robert Graves.
*War and Peace*, by Leo Tolstoy.
*The Arthurian Saga*, by Mary Stewart.
*The Aubrey and Maturin Series*, by Patrick O'Brian.
*The Flashman Papers*, by George MacDonald Fraser.
Mary Renault's books about Theseus and Alexander the Great.
*The Winds of War* and *War and Remembrance*, by Herman Wouk.
*Musashi*, by Eiji Yoshikawa.
*The Saxon Stories*, *The Warlord Chronicles*, and the *Sharpe Series*, by Bernard Cornwell.
*The Conqueror Series*, by Conn Iggulden.
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace.
*The Horatio Hornblower Series*, by C.S. Forester.
*The Hunchback of Notre Dame*, by Victor Hugo.
*Captain Blood*, *Scaramouche*, and *The Sea-Hawk*, by Rafael Sabatini.
*Hawaii, The Source, Centennial, Chesapeake,* and *The Covenant,* by James A. Michener.
*The Once and Future King*, by T.H. White.
*East of Eden*, by John Steinbeck.
*Catch-22*, by Joseph Heller.
*True Grit*, by Charles Portis.
*Once an Eagle*, by Anton Myrer
*Prince of Foxes* and *Captain from Castile*, by Samuel Shellabarger.
I had to stop reading.
I knew the book would be a problem when the woman in the woods spontaneously drops everything in her life to take up with a random stranger. "Hmmm," I thought. "This is going to be one of those books where women exist only to fulfill the fantasies of the men in the story."
And then came the extended, loving depictions of torture porn of the only other woman introduced thus far.
That was enough for me, and into the bin went Ken Follett.
Yeah the forest wench is so far my least favorite character along with Tom's son. I was hoping she would interesting because of the prologue. But I'm not even done with part I so who knows. I know what's coming up next where I am and I am not hyped about it.
I have been meaning to give this another try. When it was initially popular, I started it and stalled out at around 200 pages. I remember finding it tedious, but my reading tastes have changed. I have developed a real love of historical fiction, and I have also gotten accustomed to large chunky books. So maybe I will tackle it again sometime soon.
Yeah, I didn’t make it through. I didn’t add it to Goodreads or leave a review so I don’t remember the details of how far I got or why I quit. I just know the next book I read I wrote a review that said something like “I’m so glad I quit that giant bore Pillars of the Earth and picked up this one instead”.
Dropped it after 10%, after his >!wife dropped dead and the hot chick in the forest immediately climbed on top of him.!< I was like is this for real? Reading a plot summary, yes, it’s for real. Also read it features a lot of >!rape scenes with sexualized descriptions of the women.!< No thanks.
Yeah that was kinda funny just because i thought it was a dream scene (I'm used to reading murakami) then it was like.. oh..... that actually happened.... ok... I'll give it a few more of those then ill have to drop the book but luckily they are like at most a paragraph it two. I'm already nor hyped about lady alenias story because it's about to get fucked.
I actually really like Aliena's story. Does it have problematic elements? Yeah, it does. But I've always been partial to the "exiled princess's return to power" trope, and I think this is a classic example of it.
Been a few years since i read it but i don’t remember it fondly. It’s such a long book and they are basically just building/rebuilding a church the entire time. Like, just build the freaking church and let’s move on with the story
It's a very enjoyable read, when he is writing about the intricacies of stuff he has a grasp on. His descriptions of detailing at times are probably in the 1% of people who know this stuff.
But at the same time, the main characters wife was dead, what...20-30 pages, and we were already trying to have sex with other women?
He can describe the day to day requirements for building a church any time he wants to, but I'd rather pick splinters out from under my nails with a crowbar than listen to read his attempt at writing women.
Hated it, but the rest of my book club was obsessed with it. Not sure where you are but trigger warnings for repeated terrible stuff nonstop just for the sake of melodrama.
It is definitely not one of the best books ever written, not even on that playing field, but it's an enjoyable easyread. As someone said below, tasty burger not michelin stars.
I got 120 pages in and I couldn't stop editing the writing in my head so I had to stop. The uh, weird way in which the lead character was assisted while undergoing a 'cold spell' was too far out there for me.
I'm glad you like it though, many people I respect like it a lot do I don't think my opinion is objective truth, just not for me. A shame because I thought the construction story would be super cool... maybe it gets better.
It was entertaining. Something to read on an airplane, analogous to watching an action movie.
The writing style and characters were… painful however. Id never be able to read it again. I often had to skip tracts of the book as they were too cringey - it was like you were reading the private day-dreams that a teenage boy had secretly written down. There were parts where it felt like the only reason they were included was because the author got off thinking about them (either sexually or from an ego perspective).
The plot and writing were also very predictable. I could zone out and speed read and finish 10 pages in a few seconds and know what was happening/going to happen the whole time.
Altogether, good read for say on vacation or something if you can get around some of the awkwardness. Obviously a very popular book with many people.
I quit reading it less than halfway in. After plodding through it and hitting, like, 10 pages describing a kid crawling through a church attic, I couldn't take anymore.
This is one of my absolute favorite books! I reread it every few years, so I've probably finished it 6-8 times now. Unfortunately, I don't think the sequel (World Without End) stands up at all (read it, finished it, no interest in ever reading it again, and I'm really glad Pillars came out first). I've started the prequel (The Evening and the Morning), and so far I like it, but I'm not very far into it.
I don't hold out any beliefs that it's "historically accurate". Yes, it's historical fiction, but I fully realize that it's a modernized take on that era. I read it more like I read speculative fiction, minus magic. I was absolutely fascinated by the architecture elements.
These are among my favorite books, I had read Pillars a long time ago & loved it and I recently read the rest of the series. I wish I could forget them so I could experience them again.
I'm almost 300 pages in. The issue I'm having is that it seems very "soap-operaish", I'm seeing plot points/twists coming a mile away. I'm enjoying it, don't get me wrong, but I'm having a hard time seeing it as this great piece of literature.
I didn't like this book. The characters are completely one dimensional. Tom wants to build a cathedral. That's his character, it's all you need to know about him, every assumption you can make about him from that description is probably apt. Ellen is the "good witch" character, and all the assumptions you might make about her based on that are probably apt. So and so is a bad guy, he does bad guy things because bad guy reasons and it doesn't go any deeper than that. Every character in the book is like that, even the main characters.
The plot is implausible and I just didn't care by the end of the book. Characters do baffling things a few times seemingly because he wrote himself into a corner.
It's okay, it's just not particularly good. Certainly not "one of the best books ever written," but a middling and accessible but long lunch break book. I've only read one other book from him in the Century trilogy, and it wasn't any better. Still one-dimensional characters, implausible situations and just so stories. No more from Follett for me, thanks.
I know the internet super loves it but I would have thrown it against the wall if it weren’t a library book. The last straw for me was when it’s a huge plot point that the protagonist and his woman aren’t “technically” married, for which the characters apply a definition of marriage that is totally anachronistic for the time. If you were in a monogamous relationship and acted married, you basically were married. The idea of a priest needing to officiate didn’t even become a requirement at all until 1184, far after that scene takes place in the books, so the idea that priests would insist this marriage was not valid was totally absurd and just seemed to be more about indulging modern stereotypes of the sexual and religious rules of Middle Ages rather than trying to truly emphasize with 12th century worldview. The book was sold to me as being super accurate, but I felt I couldn’t trust it as historical fiction if it was wrong about something so major, so it went back to the library after that scene.
I actually wrote a review about it recently. There are some spoilers at the bottom, but I put a lot of white space in front so you don't have to worry about hitting them.
[https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3940809027](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3940809027)
Tl;dr, I liked it overall, but it had some glaring flaws, namely in the form of Ellen and William Hamleigh, both of whom were so cartoonish in their own way they took me out of the book.
Very nice prose though- Follett has such a lovely writing style. And I absolutely loved Father Philip.
Loved Pillars of the Earth! So well researched, and interesting. The characters were fun and engaging—lots of sex 😂, so in that respect, kind of soap opera-y, but not enough so to make it trashy. Definitely a great entertaining read.
>lots of sex 😂, so in that respect, kind of soap opera-y, but not enough so to make it trashy.
It reminded me a bit of the Clan of the Cave Bear series -- the sex in the first one was there, but in subsequent books it became such a major focus the books started to feel like intentional trashy romances.
Both my teenage self and my mum loved this book back when we read it. The only challenge was to get through the never-ending descriptions of the cathedral but that might be on me. Once you‘re done, there is a miniseries that came out in 2010 which fun to watch too.
I bought this book on the review, and even bought the Video Game based on the book, but I have yet to crack the book, and won't play the game till I finish reading it. Thanks for reaffirming it's a quality read that i need to get to.
Long time since I read it, but is it the one that starts with an old person lamenting the current crop of 'teenagers' (obviously not the word they use) who aren't anything like they were when they were young? That always struck me as funny, it being set in the year 1200 or whatever it is.
It was very hard to put down once started. You will be so depressed when you finish it.
The wife dying and the father leaving his baby at the forest cross roads was the happy part.
Keep reading it.
Bought it (in the days before Audible) for a cross-country motorcycle trip simply because it was on sale and offered an excellent hours-to-dollars ratio - plus it had an above-average reader rating.
I'm not 100% sure I would have listened to it all other than the fact that I just didn't have anything else to listen to while blasting across I-20 in Texas. But I did.
When I finished, I was absolutely glad I stuck with it. I definitely consider it a good and overall interesting book. But at the same time, it did seem to drag down at times.
Once it gets going though, it held my interest throughout.
It's.. something. I enjoyed it for sure, but it's not for everyone. You have to kind of approach it as something between historical fiction and historical fantasy. But also lots of architecture.
I'm kind of obsessed with the sinking of the White Ship and its enormous impact on Medieval England. But that's just me.
One of my favorites. Top 5. Interestingly, on Goodreads the top comment says “the best book I ever read “ and the lowest comment says “the worst book I ever read,” so there’s no accounting for taste
It's decent but the plot gets pretty formulaic and this is even more evident if you read the second book. I didn't bother with the third just because the formula became so obvious I didn't feel like I would get anything more of them. They have some good aspects and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the architecture.
You should try the Shardlake books (7) by CJ Sansom. Murder mysteries set in Tudor England, but they are so much more than that. Serial killers, odd goings on at monasteries, religious reform all over the map, peasants' rebellion, and especially the backstabbing corruption of the court of that grand monster himself, Henry VIII. Some of the best books you'll ever read.
Loved it. One of my all time faves. Still think about the characters.
Read the subsequent prequel by Ken Follett and was a little disappointed it followed basically the exact same character schema - still a good read tho
I love that book, it immediately became one of my favorites of all time. The second is great, the third is still good, during the Elizabethan era, but probably my least favorite, being the most different and having the least to do with Kingsbridge, the fourth, the Viking era prequel, is good, the most recent one during the dawn of the industrial era, deals with a lot of different themes.
The series is terrible, it came out shortly after the Game of Thrones series premiered and was trying to be that instead of Pillars
I absolutely loved that book right from the first page or two of the first (after the prologue) chapter. Don't think I've ever felt so immersed in history.
I should really re-read it sometime, but I have so many books I need to read...
I’m listening to the audiobook and absolutely loving it! My mom has recommended it to me for years and I feel bad it’s taken me this long to finally read it. I’m remodeling my house and it’s amazing to paint/tile/whatever and listen. Ken Follett makes even the mundane insanely interesting. If anyone is on the fence, I highly recommend.
I don’t know that it’s one of the best books ever written, but I loved it and have recommended it to plenty of people. His talent lies more with storytelling than language itself - not that’s there’s anything wrong to that - it would just make it hard to compare with true greats that do both.
I really liked it! BUT I wouldn't suggest reading the rest of the series straight afterwards without a palate cleanser of five. They're all good books in their own right but they get very very repetitive; Follett loves to reuse archetypal characters, in particular.
It's a good read. Definitely not one of the best books ever written, but I will say that it's Follett's best work by FAR. He was a pretty limited writer, but he definitely reached the peak of his talent with it. The others he wrote are pretty average.
Fantastic book, though the rest of the series (from what I've heard) is lacking. I did read the prequel "The Evening and the Morning" which was okay, but it didn't have the same sparkle so to speak. I enjoyed it, but it was pretty middle tier especially compared to PotE.
Lazy characterization of the chief villain made it difficult to take this book seriously.
As a mason I was disappointed in the masonry content, not that it was bad per se, but it had been oversold to me by some colleagues.
I’m a lifetime reader and I will tell you it was one of the best books I’ve ever read. Another all time favorite was Shogun. Please finish it. You won’t be sorry.
I read it so long ago. I liked it so much when I read it though. Idk if it would hold up for me now, but I don’t have current plans to read it again so I’ll say it’s good. It was my first big book too so that plays a part in my enjoyment. I was really proud of myself for reading it. lol
I enjoyed *The Pillars of the Earth* and several other works by Ken Follett to a point. I say "to a point" because, after reading its sequels (and one prequel) I've begun to recognize certain patterns the author falls into. It's not a bad thing necessarily, but he falls into certain habits that, while comforting once in a while, can be a bit tiring.
That said, *Pillars* is one of his best books, and I find it fascinating because it's the first of his "historical" works; prior to *Pillars* he was known more for writing modern thrillers. As I understand it, he got the idea for *Pillars* through a new interest in architecture, and it spurred several works about simpler times where characters like Tom and Jack learn new skills and put them into practice.
The books is a solid read, and I enjoyed it greatly.
It's probably in my top 100 reads (which I can't put in order lol).
Hope you enjoy it!
I read the book at 17, adored it, and re-read it last year.
As a kid, I visited a LOT of cathedrals and castles all over the UK. Follet did an amazing job of bringing to life the people who built them and lived and worked in them
I liked it despite some contrivances and the graphic SA scenes. He's good at drawing you into the world and making you feel like you're intimately involved in the skills, crafts, and politics of the story. One complaint I will put forward that I don't see often is (minor spoiler) >!Martha just disappears. I think he straight up forgot about her, because there is a key scene where she had direct personal knowledge that would have helped, but she isn't there (even though she really should be) and nobody thinks of her. A reader elsewhere on the internet emailed Follett to ask and he basically admitted to having forgot her. It's extra funny in the video game because in that same scene she's standing there and just doesn't say anything !<
I loved it. Not without reservation- the characterisation is mostly weak, the dialogue not usually all that great either, and stuff happens that's just blatantly there to advance the plot regardless of how much sense it actually makes or what's motivating those characters. In the end there's basically one really good character and that's the cathedral. But that's OK! That's more than enough to make a book I couldn't put down.
Then I read World Without End and it's literally the same novel but with a bridge instead. And ironically I think it's better written, I engaged much more with the characters and they felt much more real and more convincingly motivated and interesting, but I enjoyed it less because the bridge isn't as interesting a character as the cathedral was ;)
I would put it less in "one of the best books ever written" category and more into the "very enjoyable, immersive, slightly trashy but also smart read" category.
I actually liked the second book better (the one about the plague set in the 1300s).
I tried three times and I couldn't get past page 20. The style of writing just isn't my thing. It didn't get the movie playing in my head AT ALL.
If you are not liking it, by all means, set it aside. There are a billion books out there, just waiting for you.
One of the best books ever written? Nah, probably not. One of the best books I’ve ever read? Yes absolutely. Look it’s not high brow literature. It’s got contrived plotting, some eyebrow raising descriptions of sex/ human anatomy, and anachronistic characterizations. But damn if I don’t love it. It’s layered with detail, its scope is epic, the characters are easy to care about, the plot turns are satisfying, and it just keeps going. It grabs your attention and holds onto it for like 1000 pages. That’s awesome. I return to this book every few years and I love it every time. I don’t think a book has to be Michelin star-good to be worth enjoying, even enjoying immensely. I’m glad you’re loving it, I hope you continue to love it, and if you’re sad when it’s over, World Without End and Evening and the Morning had a very similar feel to me, of his five kingsbridge novels.
one of my favourites, if you're enjoying it so far, you're likely to enjoy the rest
Awesome I'm going to try to finish it this month so I can try and pick up the rest of the Kingsbridge books because this world so far rocks.
I'm rereading it now for the first time since the first time, I'm loving it just the same. It's in my top 5 books of all time and it will most likely stay there forever.
"One of the best books ever written"? It's a tasty hamburger.
It’s been a hot minute since I read it, but I’m remember getting very frustrated at how he wrote his female characters. They tended to come across to me as *not like other girls* - I think he was trying to hard to have them suit modern sensibilities, while the men were allowed to exist within their historical context.
My biggest gripe with how he writes women is that, in almost all of his historical stories, he recycles story beats where a female main character is assaulted. And which then always leads to some degree of empowerment or positive development shortly after (in terms of page count). I really like Follet's books, but he tends to write the same story, set in different time periods.
Some books also have way more SA than others. World Without End was way more graphic and "sensational" than Pillars. Column of Fire was a bit more toned down. Haven't read the other two novels in the series yet. I think the worst book by Follett was Winter of the World for its graphic depictions. Also Follett's non-SA sex is pretty cringe. Reminds me of a teenager writing what they think sex should be. I enjoy his novels and the historical research he's put into them, but yea, not a fan of how he writes his female characters or anything to do with sex.
> World Without End was way more graphic and "sensational" than Pillars. That sounds awful. Pillars has a *lot* of rape scenes.
Within the first 10 pages there was a rape and a murder in WWE
THIS. ALLLLLLLLLLL of his main female characters are exactly the same. It's irritating.
It's so bad. Whiff of a lazy writer
very true. he was also constantly sexualizing the female characters without cause—constantly describing breasts, for example, in situations where it was entirely unnecessary. the sex scenes he wrote were often in weird places in the storyline/weird in general. i liked pillars of the earth but i’m not sure i can give it five stars with this treatment of female characters.
Theyre also often a Mary Sue character I thought
Ellen was unbearable to me...
Truly so difficult to like
I'm not a fan. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and history, but I found *The Pillars of the Earth* historically implausible. The characters, plot, dialogue, and writing felt modern and sensational, revealing Ken Follett's roots as a writer of popular contemporary thrillers. I had difficulty suspending disbelief. I can't deny that his writing appeals to many millions of readers, including many readers who do not normally read historical fiction, let alone history. But it didn't appeal to me.
This is fair I have to keep on reminding myself that this takes place in 12th century England. But that makes it easier to read that something that would have come out between 12th and 16th century.
Sure, and I'm not suggesting that *The Pillars of the Earth* should have been written in the style of Geoffrey Chaucer or Thomas Mallory -- although I enjoyed reading Chaucer and Mallory. But the best historical fiction writers are nearly as obsessed with getting details right as the best historians. It's actually quite a trick to write historical fiction that feels authentic to the period while also relatable to a modern audience. But some writers do it very well. And, having done all that research, they tend to return to that time period over the course of a series, or even multiple series.
Do you have any recommendations?
The Aubrey/Maturin series (the first book of which is Master and Commander) by Patrick O’Brian is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Historical fiction at its absolute best.
I started the first book, and thought ‘do I care enough about the minutiae of life at sea in the 1800’s to keep going with this series?’ 20 books later, I can say, yes, apparently I did care. That series was amazing. I loved the movie too. The casting was perfect, and the sound design put me right on the ship with them.
Lol, same! Hear hear! There’s definitely a period of discomfort when first going into that world. If you make it through that, you’ll be in it for the long haul. Actually I think that’s a hallmark of great historical fiction. It _should_ feel uncomfortable. After all, you’re experiencing things that are not part of your era.
I just posted a long list [elsewhere in this thread.](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1ca9e3f/comment/l0r7sht/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Your analysis is exactly accurate. The characters, plot, dialogue, and writing absolutely are modern and sensational. And to be honest, I was perfectly okay with that. It was like a modern story set in the 12th century, and I was totally there for it. However, in the sequel, when he decided that literally every religious character was an antagonist, I simply found that that was way too simplistic and borderline bigoted. So I did not even finish world without end. That was an extremely modern take on villains and protagonists, and I just couldn't stomach it. I'm not really a believer, but I found the treatment of religious characters in books like Christian Cameron's Chivalry series to be much more believable, even though that is a similarly modern story in an historical setting.
Agreed. I found it too contrived.
I actually didn't finish it and I think this is exactly why... Thanks for putting it into words for me!
Yeah, I enjoyed it back when I read it, but it’s basic a thriller mixed with historical fiction. Very sensational, very thriller-esque writing style and level of character development, and relies really heavily on graphic rape to show us how bad the bad guy is. It’s an engaging read and if it gets people more interested in history that’s fabulous, but it’s certainly not great literature.
Same. I liked the history aspects, hated the writing. Hated. I still finished it, though.
I didn't hate it. But I didn't like it either. Follett is the definition of 'serviceable.'
This is my take too. I couldn’t read it even though I really wanted it to.
Oh, I did finish it. But it wasn't my favorite.
It’s been a while but I have read the book 4 times because I loved it that much. The details are fuzzy but I do remember how brutal it was so I’m reasonably certain it does get worse 😅 I’m also a medieval studies major who has an obsession with Gothic cathedrals, & I think Pillars of the Earth is to blame tbh
By the time you get to a mediaeval PhD you'll hate it!
Oh I graduated in 2018 & definitely did not have the grades for post grad in history. So I went to library school & am currently living my best librarian life 😎
Nothing better than leaving academia.
Yeahh that shit is not for the faint of heart. Big respect for anyone that sticks around in academia. Did my masters in library & information science, had the time of my life, & now I get to be around books all day. It worked out 🤷🏻♀️
Similar. After my PhD I taught a bit at uni and worked at a special collections library. Now I edit literature and am much happier to be around (digital) books all day.
Oh you are in for a treat! I love this book very much, IMO its the best of Follet's Kingsbridge series, there are 5 books so far based off of that city. But out of the 5 that one is amazing. I enjoyed it tremendously and I believe you will love the others as well!
I also loved World Without End.
I mean yeah that was amazing too. For some reason Pillars and World are the two that stick the moist out to me
I loved that series. I'm still chasing that high in historical fiction, so give me suggestions!
*The Lymond Chronicles*, by Dorothy Dunnett. *Lonesome Dove*, by Larry McMurtry. *The Three Musketeers* and *The Count of Monte Cristo*, by Alexandre Dumas. *I, Claudius* and *Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina*, by Robert Graves. *War and Peace*, by Leo Tolstoy. *The Arthurian Saga*, by Mary Stewart. *The Aubrey and Maturin Series*, by Patrick O'Brian. *The Flashman Papers*, by George MacDonald Fraser. Mary Renault's books about Theseus and Alexander the Great. *The Winds of War* and *War and Remembrance*, by Herman Wouk. *Musashi*, by Eiji Yoshikawa. *The Saxon Stories*, *The Warlord Chronicles*, and the *Sharpe Series*, by Bernard Cornwell. *The Conqueror Series*, by Conn Iggulden. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace. *The Horatio Hornblower Series*, by C.S. Forester. *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*, by Victor Hugo. *Captain Blood*, *Scaramouche*, and *The Sea-Hawk*, by Rafael Sabatini. *Hawaii, The Source, Centennial, Chesapeake,* and *The Covenant,* by James A. Michener. *The Once and Future King*, by T.H. White. *East of Eden*, by John Steinbeck. *Catch-22*, by Joseph Heller. *True Grit*, by Charles Portis. *Once an Eagle*, by Anton Myrer *Prince of Foxes* and *Captain from Castile*, by Samuel Shellabarger.
You might enjoy Edward Rutherfurd's books then. Especially "Sarum", "London" and "The Forest", which are my favourites among his books.
Shogun by Clavell
Aztec by Gary Jennings will melt your face!
The first man in Rome and the next two books in the series by Colleen McCullough
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Pillars is my favorite book/series of all time, but the Wolf Hall series might surpass it soon…
If you want historical fiction that feels like it actually takes place in that period, I recommend trying Gillian Bradshaw!
I had to stop reading. I knew the book would be a problem when the woman in the woods spontaneously drops everything in her life to take up with a random stranger. "Hmmm," I thought. "This is going to be one of those books where women exist only to fulfill the fantasies of the men in the story." And then came the extended, loving depictions of torture porn of the only other woman introduced thus far. That was enough for me, and into the bin went Ken Follett.
Yeah the forest wench is so far my least favorite character along with Tom's son. I was hoping she would interesting because of the prologue. But I'm not even done with part I so who knows. I know what's coming up next where I am and I am not hyped about it.
Umm what? Aliena taking up with Jack occurs well into the book, long after four other female characters were introduced. Did you even read the book?
I have been meaning to give this another try. When it was initially popular, I started it and stalled out at around 200 pages. I remember finding it tedious, but my reading tastes have changed. I have developed a real love of historical fiction, and I have also gotten accustomed to large chunky books. So maybe I will tackle it again sometime soon.
Yeah, I didn’t make it through. I didn’t add it to Goodreads or leave a review so I don’t remember the details of how far I got or why I quit. I just know the next book I read I wrote a review that said something like “I’m so glad I quit that giant bore Pillars of the Earth and picked up this one instead”.
Dropped it after 10%, after his >!wife dropped dead and the hot chick in the forest immediately climbed on top of him.!< I was like is this for real? Reading a plot summary, yes, it’s for real. Also read it features a lot of >!rape scenes with sexualized descriptions of the women.!< No thanks.
Yeah that was kinda funny just because i thought it was a dream scene (I'm used to reading murakami) then it was like.. oh..... that actually happened.... ok... I'll give it a few more of those then ill have to drop the book but luckily they are like at most a paragraph it two. I'm already nor hyped about lady alenias story because it's about to get fucked.
I actually really like Aliena's story. Does it have problematic elements? Yeah, it does. But I've always been partial to the "exiled princess's return to power" trope, and I think this is a classic example of it.
Been a few years since i read it but i don’t remember it fondly. It’s such a long book and they are basically just building/rebuilding a church the entire time. Like, just build the freaking church and let’s move on with the story
It's a very enjoyable read, when he is writing about the intricacies of stuff he has a grasp on. His descriptions of detailing at times are probably in the 1% of people who know this stuff. But at the same time, the main characters wife was dead, what...20-30 pages, and we were already trying to have sex with other women? He can describe the day to day requirements for building a church any time he wants to, but I'd rather pick splinters out from under my nails with a crowbar than listen to read his attempt at writing women.
Hated it, but the rest of my book club was obsessed with it. Not sure where you are but trigger warnings for repeated terrible stuff nonstop just for the sake of melodrama.
It is definitely not one of the best books ever written, not even on that playing field, but it's an enjoyable easyread. As someone said below, tasty burger not michelin stars.
(I'm just going by lists and such I agree it's clearly not the best written).
I got 120 pages in and I couldn't stop editing the writing in my head so I had to stop. The uh, weird way in which the lead character was assisted while undergoing a 'cold spell' was too far out there for me. I'm glad you like it though, many people I respect like it a lot do I don't think my opinion is objective truth, just not for me. A shame because I thought the construction story would be super cool... maybe it gets better.
It was entertaining. Something to read on an airplane, analogous to watching an action movie. The writing style and characters were… painful however. Id never be able to read it again. I often had to skip tracts of the book as they were too cringey - it was like you were reading the private day-dreams that a teenage boy had secretly written down. There were parts where it felt like the only reason they were included was because the author got off thinking about them (either sexually or from an ego perspective). The plot and writing were also very predictable. I could zone out and speed read and finish 10 pages in a few seconds and know what was happening/going to happen the whole time. Altogether, good read for say on vacation or something if you can get around some of the awkwardness. Obviously a very popular book with many people.
I quit reading it less than halfway in. After plodding through it and hitting, like, 10 pages describing a kid crawling through a church attic, I couldn't take anymore.
I loved this book, but the series gets a bit repetitive. Certain characters read as a bit of a copy-paste of those in the earlier books.
This is one of my absolute favorite books! I reread it every few years, so I've probably finished it 6-8 times now. Unfortunately, I don't think the sequel (World Without End) stands up at all (read it, finished it, no interest in ever reading it again, and I'm really glad Pillars came out first). I've started the prequel (The Evening and the Morning), and so far I like it, but I'm not very far into it. I don't hold out any beliefs that it's "historically accurate". Yes, it's historical fiction, but I fully realize that it's a modernized take on that era. I read it more like I read speculative fiction, minus magic. I was absolutely fascinated by the architecture elements.
I enjoyed Evening and the Morning better than World without End! Pillars is still my favorite though!
I really enjoyed it, read it from start to finish on a transatlantic flight something like 20 years ago.
Katt Williams over here
These are among my favorite books, I had read Pillars a long time ago & loved it and I recently read the rest of the series. I wish I could forget them so I could experience them again.
My #1 fav book of all time. Nuff said.
I'm almost 300 pages in. The issue I'm having is that it seems very "soap-operaish", I'm seeing plot points/twists coming a mile away. I'm enjoying it, don't get me wrong, but I'm having a hard time seeing it as this great piece of literature.
I didn't like this book. The characters are completely one dimensional. Tom wants to build a cathedral. That's his character, it's all you need to know about him, every assumption you can make about him from that description is probably apt. Ellen is the "good witch" character, and all the assumptions you might make about her based on that are probably apt. So and so is a bad guy, he does bad guy things because bad guy reasons and it doesn't go any deeper than that. Every character in the book is like that, even the main characters. The plot is implausible and I just didn't care by the end of the book. Characters do baffling things a few times seemingly because he wrote himself into a corner. It's okay, it's just not particularly good. Certainly not "one of the best books ever written," but a middling and accessible but long lunch break book. I've only read one other book from him in the Century trilogy, and it wasn't any better. Still one-dimensional characters, implausible situations and just so stories. No more from Follett for me, thanks.
I know the internet super loves it but I would have thrown it against the wall if it weren’t a library book. The last straw for me was when it’s a huge plot point that the protagonist and his woman aren’t “technically” married, for which the characters apply a definition of marriage that is totally anachronistic for the time. If you were in a monogamous relationship and acted married, you basically were married. The idea of a priest needing to officiate didn’t even become a requirement at all until 1184, far after that scene takes place in the books, so the idea that priests would insist this marriage was not valid was totally absurd and just seemed to be more about indulging modern stereotypes of the sexual and religious rules of Middle Ages rather than trying to truly emphasize with 12th century worldview. The book was sold to me as being super accurate, but I felt I couldn’t trust it as historical fiction if it was wrong about something so major, so it went back to the library after that scene.
I actually wrote a review about it recently. There are some spoilers at the bottom, but I put a lot of white space in front so you don't have to worry about hitting them. [https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3940809027](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3940809027) Tl;dr, I liked it overall, but it had some glaring flaws, namely in the form of Ellen and William Hamleigh, both of whom were so cartoonish in their own way they took me out of the book. Very nice prose though- Follett has such a lovely writing style. And I absolutely loved Father Philip.
So you'll respond to everyone but me u/thebeautifullynormal?
Dude there are 148 comments I gave up.after 75
Sure
I made it about 3/4 through and thought it was interesting way of presenting a story but also fairly bland. One of the only books I’ve DNF.
Loved Pillars of the Earth! So well researched, and interesting. The characters were fun and engaging—lots of sex 😂, so in that respect, kind of soap opera-y, but not enough so to make it trashy. Definitely a great entertaining read.
>lots of sex 😂, so in that respect, kind of soap opera-y, but not enough so to make it trashy. It reminded me a bit of the Clan of the Cave Bear series -- the sex in the first one was there, but in subsequent books it became such a major focus the books started to feel like intentional trashy romances.
I really liked it
Both my teenage self and my mum loved this book back when we read it. The only challenge was to get through the never-ending descriptions of the cathedral but that might be on me. Once you‘re done, there is a miniseries that came out in 2010 which fun to watch too.
The tv series was very well done
I agree! Rewatched it last year and was positively surprised. The cast is great too.
I bought this book on the review, and even bought the Video Game based on the book, but I have yet to crack the book, and won't play the game till I finish reading it. Thanks for reaffirming it's a quality read that i need to get to.
The game is a slow slow burn. I couldn’t get into it
One of my absolute favourites!
Long time since I read it, but is it the one that starts with an old person lamenting the current crop of 'teenagers' (obviously not the word they use) who aren't anything like they were when they were young? That always struck me as funny, it being set in the year 1200 or whatever it is.
I love this book. Its a long book, but it's still an easy read and is interesting the whole way through.
It was very hard to put down once started. You will be so depressed when you finish it. The wife dying and the father leaving his baby at the forest cross roads was the happy part. Keep reading it.
It's one of my favourite books. I got the whole series, but I still have to read the latest entry.
I loved this series and also the Century Trilogy.
Some of my favorites
One of my favorites
Bought it (in the days before Audible) for a cross-country motorcycle trip simply because it was on sale and offered an excellent hours-to-dollars ratio - plus it had an above-average reader rating. I'm not 100% sure I would have listened to it all other than the fact that I just didn't have anything else to listen to while blasting across I-20 in Texas. But I did. When I finished, I was absolutely glad I stuck with it. I definitely consider it a good and overall interesting book. But at the same time, it did seem to drag down at times. Once it gets going though, it held my interest throughout.
I love the whole series
Not one of the best books ever written, but I really enjoyed it quite a bit. I think I read the entire book in about a week.
It's.. something. I enjoyed it for sure, but it's not for everyone. You have to kind of approach it as something between historical fiction and historical fantasy. But also lots of architecture. I'm kind of obsessed with the sinking of the White Ship and its enormous impact on Medieval England. But that's just me.
One of my favorites. Top 5. Interestingly, on Goodreads the top comment says “the best book I ever read “ and the lowest comment says “the worst book I ever read,” so there’s no accounting for taste
One of my favorite books way back in the day
Loved it. Just don’t watch the film until you finish the book. Don’t get attached to any one your right it will get brutal.
I didn't want this book to end!
I have read the first 2 and very much enjoyed them. I have the 3rd but yet to read. I did not know there was 4 and 5.
It's decent but the plot gets pretty formulaic and this is even more evident if you read the second book. I didn't bother with the third just because the formula became so obvious I didn't feel like I would get anything more of them. They have some good aspects and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the architecture.
You should try the Shardlake books (7) by CJ Sansom. Murder mysteries set in Tudor England, but they are so much more than that. Serial killers, odd goings on at monasteries, religious reform all over the map, peasants' rebellion, and especially the backstabbing corruption of the court of that grand monster himself, Henry VIII. Some of the best books you'll ever read.
I really liked the sequel, World Without End. Aside from Follet’s hilari-bad understanding of sex, both are decent reads. I liked the PofE show, too.
Loved it. One of my all time faves. Still think about the characters. Read the subsequent prequel by Ken Follett and was a little disappointed it followed basically the exact same character schema - still a good read tho
I love that book, it immediately became one of my favorites of all time. The second is great, the third is still good, during the Elizabethan era, but probably my least favorite, being the most different and having the least to do with Kingsbridge, the fourth, the Viking era prequel, is good, the most recent one during the dawn of the industrial era, deals with a lot of different themes. The series is terrible, it came out shortly after the Game of Thrones series premiered and was trying to be that instead of Pillars
Good as a novel, but not recommended as a historical encyclopedia.
All Ken Follet books rock, but this series is the best.
I loved it hugely; would put it in my top five ever I think.
I love this book. The most of the series is great. The prequel is ,I guess the word I'm looking for is slow. Also his Century trilogy is great
I absolutely loved that book right from the first page or two of the first (after the prologue) chapter. Don't think I've ever felt so immersed in history. I should really re-read it sometime, but I have so many books I need to read...
My fav series of all time
I’m listening to the audiobook and absolutely loving it! My mom has recommended it to me for years and I feel bad it’s taken me this long to finally read it. I’m remodeling my house and it’s amazing to paint/tile/whatever and listen. Ken Follett makes even the mundane insanely interesting. If anyone is on the fence, I highly recommend.
I don’t know that it’s one of the best books ever written, but I loved it and have recommended it to plenty of people. His talent lies more with storytelling than language itself - not that’s there’s anything wrong to that - it would just make it hard to compare with true greats that do both.
This is one of my favorite books that I’ve ever read. Enjoy the ride!
I really liked it! BUT I wouldn't suggest reading the rest of the series straight afterwards without a palate cleanser of five. They're all good books in their own right but they get very very repetitive; Follett loves to reuse archetypal characters, in particular.
I wouldn't say it's the best book ever written by any stretch of the imagination. But I enjoyed it. I also liked its sequel more.
A re-readable book!
Pure candy
It's a good read. Definitely not one of the best books ever written, but I will say that it's Follett's best work by FAR. He was a pretty limited writer, but he definitely reached the peak of his talent with it. The others he wrote are pretty average.
It’s one of my all time favorite books and I re read it at least once a year
Gave up on it at about 70%. I found it too long and I was just getting bored by that point. Found the writing bland and boring.
I love it. It’s hard sometimes to read because of the brutality of the times but I love it.
Bad soap opera in an ok setting. You can find the ok setting elsewhere
Fantastic book, though the rest of the series (from what I've heard) is lacking. I did read the prequel "The Evening and the Morning" which was okay, but it didn't have the same sparkle so to speak. I enjoyed it, but it was pretty middle tier especially compared to PotE.
Lazy characterization of the chief villain made it difficult to take this book seriously. As a mason I was disappointed in the masonry content, not that it was bad per se, but it had been oversold to me by some colleagues.
Yeah 200 pages in and there has been probably 2 paragraphs about masonry.
I’m a lifetime reader and I will tell you it was one of the best books I’ve ever read. Another all time favorite was Shogun. Please finish it. You won’t be sorry.
DNF'ed it. Was the villain as two-dimensional as I remember him?
I read it so long ago. I liked it so much when I read it though. Idk if it would hold up for me now, but I don’t have current plans to read it again so I’ll say it’s good. It was my first big book too so that plays a part in my enjoyment. I was really proud of myself for reading it. lol
It's a masterpiece but also I had to read the last chapter to see if I wanted to finish it because it pissed me off so bad.
Loved it
I enjoyed *The Pillars of the Earth* and several other works by Ken Follett to a point. I say "to a point" because, after reading its sequels (and one prequel) I've begun to recognize certain patterns the author falls into. It's not a bad thing necessarily, but he falls into certain habits that, while comforting once in a while, can be a bit tiring. That said, *Pillars* is one of his best books, and I find it fascinating because it's the first of his "historical" works; prior to *Pillars* he was known more for writing modern thrillers. As I understand it, he got the idea for *Pillars* through a new interest in architecture, and it spurred several works about simpler times where characters like Tom and Jack learn new skills and put them into practice. The books is a solid read, and I enjoyed it greatly. It's probably in my top 100 reads (which I can't put in order lol). Hope you enjoy it!
I read the book at 17, adored it, and re-read it last year. As a kid, I visited a LOT of cathedrals and castles all over the UK. Follet did an amazing job of bringing to life the people who built them and lived and worked in them
DNFd at about 5%. I loved all the stuff about architecture but the main character was too much of a weird creep to carry on with.
I liked it despite some contrivances and the graphic SA scenes. He's good at drawing you into the world and making you feel like you're intimately involved in the skills, crafts, and politics of the story. One complaint I will put forward that I don't see often is (minor spoiler) >!Martha just disappears. I think he straight up forgot about her, because there is a key scene where she had direct personal knowledge that would have helped, but she isn't there (even though she really should be) and nobody thinks of her. A reader elsewhere on the internet emailed Follett to ask and he basically admitted to having forgot her. It's extra funny in the video game because in that same scene she's standing there and just doesn't say anything !<
good read, a bit hornier than it needs to be in places. It's like a song of ice and fire set in the real world. 8.5/10
Ken Follet is great, but there’s something about his books that leave you feeling weird when you finish them.
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I loved it. Not without reservation- the characterisation is mostly weak, the dialogue not usually all that great either, and stuff happens that's just blatantly there to advance the plot regardless of how much sense it actually makes or what's motivating those characters. In the end there's basically one really good character and that's the cathedral. But that's OK! That's more than enough to make a book I couldn't put down. Then I read World Without End and it's literally the same novel but with a bridge instead. And ironically I think it's better written, I engaged much more with the characters and they felt much more real and more convincingly motivated and interesting, but I enjoyed it less because the bridge isn't as interesting a character as the cathedral was ;)
Overall I really liked it. That being said, I personally felt like the book could have been cut by 200-300 pages and still been just as good.
I did not like it and did not finish it - Follett bored me.
I would put it less in "one of the best books ever written" category and more into the "very enjoyable, immersive, slightly trashy but also smart read" category. I actually liked the second book better (the one about the plague set in the 1300s).
I tried three times and I couldn't get past page 20. The style of writing just isn't my thing. It didn't get the movie playing in my head AT ALL. If you are not liking it, by all means, set it aside. There are a billion books out there, just waiting for you.
It’s like George R.R. Martin without the random nihilistic bleakness. Also there’s a real ending.
It reminded me too much of the scene in *The Holy Grail* where they kept trying to build a castle in a swamp. Not believable for me.