World Without End

published	2007 by Dutton Adult
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0525950079 (isbn13: 9780525950073)
pages	1014
characters	Caris, Merthin, Gwenda, Wulfric, Ralph, Godwyn, Philemon, Thomas
setting	United Kingdom
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 publi...more [close] 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.</B> 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.
date added	12-07-06 edit book

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | more...

discuss this book

topics	replies	last activity
World Without End	2	04/12/2008 12:33AM

new topic

groups with this book

friend reviews (0)

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2941)

Alex rated it:

03/06/08

bookshelves: books-read-in-2007

Read in December, 2007

WORLD WITHOUT END BY KEN FOLLETT: There are books that you read, with vaguely interesting stories, that sometimes within less than a month have been forgotten, ignored, barely recollected except for title, author and a minor recall of plot. Then there are books that change your mind on life, that give you a thrill as you read them and think about how much you’re loving to read this particular book, and how it’s making such an impression on you, and how you’re going to remember it for a lo...more WORLD WITHOUT END BY KEN FOLLETT: There are books that you read, with vaguely interesting stories, that sometimes within less than a month have been forgotten, ignored, barely recollected except for title, author and a minor recall of plot. Then there are books that change your mind on life, that give you a thrill as you read them and think about how much you’re loving to read this particular book, and how it’s making such an impression on you, and how you’re going to remember it for a long part of your life. I don’t need to tell you which kind of book World Without End is. I’m also not going to give you a formal, regurgitated plot summary that you can find in just about any review of this book. I am however going to try to convince you why you should read this book with the intention that it will have the same pivotal impression on you as it did on me.

While I have never been a fan or proponent of the seemingly omnipotent Oprah and her book club, she nevertheless has the power to make a considerable number of Americans do, and more importantly, read whatever she tells them. In January of this year, Oprah nominated Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth for her book club and overnight people of all different kinds, and of unexpected types, picked up this lofty paperback tome set in the Middle Ages and documenting the fascinating building of a giant cathedral with immense architectural detail. It’s one of my favorite books, and to see so many people buying it and reading it made me happy. Naturally, once these people got to the last page of Pillars of the Earth, and assuming they enjoyed it as much as Oprah said they would, they would then turn to World Without End. Follett’s new book has been labeled as the sequel of Pillars of the Earth, which is not exactly correct, for none of the original characters are in the new book, and it is set in a later period, however it involves descendants of the main family in Pillars of the Earth, and there is the memory and impression left by characters both in historical record and physical form, such as the cathedral. But World Without End takes many giants leaps further forward as a deeper and more complex book than Pillars of the Earth ever did, equivalent to an ant making its way along a path, while a person looks down upon the ant as they walk by. Perspective is the key here, and if one has some knowledge of the fourteenth century, one will enjoy the book all the more.

Don’t look for the good guys to always win out, and the bad guys to fail in World Without End because, like real life, this world does not reward those who do good and punish those who do bad; it’s a harsh world that gives more opportunity to the survivors of the fittest. You must also remember that this is the fourteenth century, the time of the peasant and noble, a time where class distinction was at the most severe and was a defining character of every person. Though while there is all this suffering, one cannot help but think at some point it must get better for the characters you like, and worse for the characters you hate, and this is after all a novel, but don’t expect Follett to do anything you might predict.

The fourteenth century had a lot going on throughout Europe, and what makes World Without End an incredible novel, is that Follett uses the monumental and catastrophic events in microcosm focused on couple of small towns in England. There was a cooling of temperatures, which led to crop failure and starvation for many peasants, known as the Great Famine; coupled with this was the uprising of peasants against their noble overlords, who had subjugated and oppressed them for so long, known as the Peasant’s Revolt. There was the growing guild system, where anyone wanting to become skilled in a trade would have to be invited to become a member of a guild. Then there was horrific plague that was estimated to wipe out half the population of Europe, known as the Black Death. There was also the moving of the papacy from Rome to Avignon, France, which created a fission in the Christian faith and led to questioning and critique of the absolute religion. Finally there was the seemingly never ending Hundred Years War.

Follett skillfully uses these events in World Without End, weighing in at 1024 pages, but never overtly calls out any of them for what they are, partly because a lot of the terms and names for the events were not yet in existence, and because he seeks to be less overt and obvious, but to have these events occur in most cases beyond the scope of these small towns, to be events occurring far away that have little importance and effect on the citizens of the town – much like the Iraq War is for the American people today. At least this seems the case at first, and then the subliminal effects come into play, where men head off to war, craftsmen have to fight to get into guilds, peasants are suffering and in some cases starving, the church is overbearing in its control and being questioned, and finally with the arrival of the plague, the people’s lives and the towns are changed forever.

World Without End takes you on a journey through the fourteenth century, but not via a history lesson, but in the important and complex lives of some ordinary townspeople of varying classes, their loves and losses, their hopes and dreams, their despair and suffering. It’s a moving and some might say depressing book, but as I mentioned, the fourteenth century was a tumultuous time to say the least. But when you get to the last page, you’ll wish it had never happened, you’ll wish for more story, for more characters, you’ll wish to remember this incredible story for a long time.

FOOTNOTE: Just as World Without End has 1024 pages, conveniently (and maybe with a little effort on my part) these review has 1024 words.

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com....less

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

title link
avg rating
small image
med image
large image

World Without End

discuss this book

groups with this book

friend reviews (0)

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2941)

book data (includes all editions)

blog this book

popular shelves

other editions