By: Ken Follett Average Rating: Binding: Kindle Edition Format: Kindle Book Label: Dutton Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 1024 Publication Date: October 09, 2007 Release Date: October 09, 2007
Book 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.
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?
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. 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 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."
Second Verse, Same as the First WWE has basically the same plot as POTE. Some obvious similarities: Jack-Merthin Lady Aliena-Philippa William Hamleigh-Ralph Fitzgerald The list goes on. This book is repetitous and has the same pattern as POTE, good versus evil with a lot of architectural jargon thrown in. I loved Pillars abut soon tired of WWE. Follett is a gifted writer. He deserves to write a book about a subject that fascinates him. It was just too much for this reader.
It's no wonder why Follett is so popular... When I came across Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" I was very intrigued to see a historical fiction receiving the praise it did and continually gaining such popularity over the years. It's a historical fiction after all--those aren't supposed to be popular! It struck me after reading this book--"World Without End" is emblematic of his works--as to why his historical fictions maintain such popularity. The reason is that they aren't historical fictions.
They certainly take place in historical settings and probably contain many elements of what happened during the time period he writes about (the High Medieval), but those historical elements are only there in order to dress up the elements that modern dramas thrive on (i.e. sex and violence). With so much lurid sex and sensational violence, it is no wonder why these books are so popular--they fit right in with the other popular books and tv shows and movies of the day--The Tudors is an example of another titillating historical that isn't historical. Who can resist the fascination? All the sex and violence we want and the facade of a significant history to validate it all!
The problem is not necessarily that sex and violence did not occur during the time period described. Indeed, it probably did take place to a great degree. But it is not a historical fiction if the sex and violence are the main elements in the story. A historical fiction must have as its overriding theme the ideas and mood of the past time. In the High Medieval period, the ideas and mood of the time was highly spiritual, devout, pious and decidedly nonsexual and nonviolent. You can't write about the period without fully believing in and bowing to the period's beliefs. Follett indulges his own beliefs.
Look at the art and poetry of the time period to gain a better idea of how it was like then, and read Monaco: A Novel for a good recently-written historical fiction the way it should be recited.
Green Eyes Are Bad When a novelist resorts to a green-eyed heroine, I know I'm in for a pretty hackneyed novel -- it's the cheapest shortcut to "exotique." It only took a few pages for me to discover that I was right. On the good side, this saved me from reading hundreds of other stale, hackneyed, predictable pages.
Ridiculous! There was so much about this book that was implausible, one has to believe Follett was being paid by the word. So much dialogue and so little said! I was very disappointed since I have been a fan of Follett for many years, beginning with Eye of the Needle. Age has softened him I guess--even the rape scenes in WWE seemed like walks in the park and the victims got up and walked away with little or no physical damage! Follett should have talked to a couple rape victims before he wrote these passages. Descriptions of the Black Death have been done much better in other books. Could never recommend this as a good read--I was so bored I couldn't even finish it.
Continuation of an unusual subject. Way tooooo long. I am a Ken Follett fan. I enjoyed his previous book in this series entitled "Pillars of the Earth." One thing I really enjoy about this book is the descriptions of life in early England. A second is the unusual underlying theme-construction of early English cathedrals. It is obvious that the author has done a ton of research. The big disappointments are the multiple number of plots and the huge cast of characters that, at times, seems to number in the thousands. About mid-book, you realize you may need a guide or program to remember who they are and how they fit in the story. It is a great book that suffers from too little editing; reducing the number of pages by 200-300 would improve it immensely.
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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? 
