By: Ken Follett Publisher: Dutton Adult Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Dutton Adult Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 1024 Publication Date: October 09, 2007
Product Description: Ken Follett has 90 million readers worldwide. The Pillars of the Earth is his bestselling book of all time. Now, eighteen years after the publication of The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett has written the most anticipated sequel of the year-World Without End.
Unabridged edition read by John Lee
Amazon.com Review: Ken Follett has 90 million readers worldwide. The Pillars of the Earth is his bestselling book of all time. Now, eighteen years after the publication of The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett has written the most-anticipated sequel of the year, World Without End.
In 1989 Ken Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, a sweeping epic novel set in twelfth-century England centered on the building of a cathedral and many of the hundreds of lives it affected. Critics were overwhelmed--"it will hold you, fascinate you, surround you" (Chicago Tribune)--and readers everywhere hoped for a sequel.
World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroad of new ideas--about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In a world where proponents of the old ways fiercely battle those with progressive minds, the intrigue and tension quickly reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race--the Black Death.
Three years in the writing, and nearly eighteen years since its predecessor, World Without End breathes new life into the epic historical novel and once again shows that Ken Follett is a masterful author writing at the top of his craft.
Questions for Ken Follett
Amazon.com: What a phenomenon The Pillars of the Earth has become. It was a bestseller when it was published in 1989, but it's only gained in popularity since then--it's the kind of book that people are incredibly passionate about. What has it been like to see it grow an audience like that?
Follett: At first I was a little disappointed that Pillars sold not much better than my previous book. Now I think that was because it was a little different and people were not sure how to take it. As the years went by and it became more and more popular, I felt kind of vindicated. And I was very grateful to readers who spread the news by word of mouth.
Amazon.com:Pillars was a departure for you from your very successful modern thrillers, and after writing it you returned to thrillers. Did you think you'd ever come back to the medieval period? What brought you to do so after 18 years?
Follett: The main reason was the way people talk to me about Pillars. Some readers say, "It’s the best book I’ve ever read." Others tell me they have read it two or three times. I got to the point where I really had to find out whether I could do that again.
Amazon.com: In World Without End you return to Kingsbridge, the same town as the previous book, but two centuries later. What has changed in two hundred years?
Follett: In the time of Prior Philip, the monastery was a powerful force for good in medieval society, fostering education and technological advance. Two hundred years later it has become a wealthy and conservative institution that tries to hold back change. This leads to some of the major conflicts in the story.
Amazon.com:World Without End features two strong-willed female characters, Caris and Gwenda. What room to maneuver did a medieval English town provide for a woman of ambition?
Follett: Medieval people paid lip-service to the idea that women were inferior, but in practice women could be merchants, craftspeople, abbesses, and queens. There were restrictions, but strong women often found ways around them.
Amazon.com: When you sit down to imagine yourself into the 14th century, what is the greatest leap of imagination you have to make from our time to theirs? Is there something we can learn from that age that has been lost in our own time?
Follett: It’s hard to imagine being so dirty. People bathed very rarely, and they must have smelled pretty bad. And what was kissing like in the time before toothpaste was invented?
World Without End I received this book in perfect condition. It was sent to me on time and very quickly. Thank You!
A worthy successor to "Pillars of the Earth"! "World Without End" continues the story of Kingsbridge, a medieval town noted for the awe-inspiring Gothic cathedral designed and built some 200 hundred years earlier in the 12th century by Jack Builder.
Gwenda, a female medieval version of the Artful Dodger, is one of five starving children in a very poor family. Despite the horrific punishment that sees the hands chopped off a convicted thief, she's being raised by her father to be a cut-purse and a pickpocket. Ralph is a tall, strong boy whose hopeful family see him as destined for greater things. They imagine him as the young squire of a noble knight or (dare they wish for such an impossibility?) perhaps even elevated to the rank of knighthood and nobility itself. But Ralph is an aggressive bully and although he certainly seems to have the strength and the warlike skills to achieve such an ambition, he is sadly lacking in the ability to soak up any academic learning at all. Descended from Jack Builder, Merthin seems to be the polar opposite of his stepbrother, Ralph. Merthin is a kinder, gentler, more intelligent person whose innate pragmatic genius drives him to wonder how things work and how things are built. Caris, also a descendent of Jack Builder, shares in Jack's and Merthin's intelligence but she is determined to use that academic brilliance to study medicine, an activity strictly forbidden to mere women in the 14th century.
In 1327, these four children slip away from the confines of Kingsbridge and play in the forest, a dangerous activity forbidden to them by their parents. But who among us hasn't ignored a prohibition like that at one time or another? When, to their horror, they witness a killing that they cannot understand, their lives become inextricably entwined together and it is not until many, many years later that any of them will understand the dark motives behind the brutal event in the forest that unfolded before them that day.
Of course, "World Without End" is a sequel to Ken Follett's runaway bestseller, "Pillars of the Earth" and, as you might expect, Kingsbridge Cathedral, the priory and Merthin's skills as an engineer, a mason, a designer and an architect, all play a central role in the continuing story. Caris' cousin, Godwyn, also a descendant of Tom Builder, becomes a monk at a very early age and sets his career sights very high indeed. With an abundant supply of self-confidence and arrogance, he is absolutely convinced that it is in Kingsbridge's and his own best interests that he become no less than the Prior of the cathedral. Of course, this is still the 14th century and, clearly, Godwyn, the priory and the authority of the Catholic Church will have no small part to play in the history of Kingsbridge as the story of the four children's lives begins to play out against the rich medieval backdrop that Follett provides.
Feudalism, medieval law, the iron hand of the Catholic Church, the innate male chauvinism of the day, the nobility, ongoing war against France and, of course, the Black Death that savaged Europe in the second half of the fourteenth century, all play a major role in Follett's epic tale, "World Without End". Given the setting of the story in terms of time and place, this shouldn't come as a surprise. What may come as a surprise is that, although readers of "Pillars of the Earth" who waited so long for this sequel were desperately afraid that Follett couldn't possibly repeat such a literary triumph, their worries were quite groundless. Follett has provided his fans with an epic tale that veritably leaps off the pages - bloody war and battles; greed, ambition and power; lust, love and loyalty; suspense and intrigue; and, of course, a realistic, astonishingly well developed historical setting that will transport delighted readers to the heart of medieval England.
"World Without End" is a doorstopper weighing in at a hefty 1000+ pages. But, without a doubt, it's the fastest 1000 pages that you're ever going to read and you'll still be sorry to see it end. What a story!
Paul Weiss
Book Without End Lousy book. How could he stand to write so many words so poorly?
Has anyone in history had as eventful a life as the main characters, Follett's Merthin & Caris? At least Forrest Gump was sweet and funny. This was ponderous, boring and wildly unbelievable. Mindnumbing trash, I only finished it because I bought it at the airport to read on a transatlantic flight.
Pillars of Jack the Builder This book is not the same as Pillars of the Earth. I loved world without End. I loved Pillars of the Earth. This book revolved around a persons's life span. Pillars around a couple of generations. It had some relationship with Pillars, relying on some key characters but that is about it. Still I enjoyed it. Not as good as Pillars, but I think Pillars was the best book I ever read. But I am so glad he wrote it and I didn't want it to end!
Even better then the 1st one Fantastic read. Compared to the first book the lines between good and evil are more blurred - which gave the characters more depth. One minor weak point in the book is the integration of the battle of Crecy into the Story - I thought this was not the strongest part of the book. However - given the length this part is only short and everything else makes you want to read every page. One of my top 5 books of all time from now on.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
Amazon.com: What a phenomenon The Pillars of the Earth has become. It was a bestseller when it was published in 1989, but it's only gained in popularity since then--it's the kind of book that people are incredibly passionate about. What has it been like to see it grow an audience like that? 
