I put off reading this one for ages because, let’s face it, it’s long. Very long, if we’re being honest, and the thought of hauling around a 1100-page book for as long as it would take me to read on a daily commute didn’t appeal.

What a mistake. I’ve never read so many pages so quickly.

The Pillars of the Earth is a saga in the truest sense of the word – a sweeping story of the middle ages and the building of the fictional cathedral of Kingsbridge. Hugely frustrating when the villains get their way, genuinely edge-of-seat when the heroes get close to their goal, racy when required – slow when you need it, it’s a masterpiece that had me hooked from about 20 pages in.

Now admittedly with such a long and sweeping story some elements have to be glossed over, and there is a fairly key event close to the start that isn’t entirely believable on account of the fact that our main character doesn’t get enough time to mourn one particular event, but once beyond that it’s a non-stop rollercoaster to the very end.

And there’s real peril, too. This isn’t one of those books where everyone you like makes it through to the end, which is a refreshing, and at times shocking change to the norm.

The story is 20 years old this year and to celebrate, Ken Follett had written a new intro that you really, really, should skip – I can’t stress this enough – as it gives away the end of the book, which is just plain stupid. Nonetheless it remains his best-selling book to date, and I can quite see why.

So much so, that I’ve bought the sequel – World Without End.

Very excited to see that they’re making it into a TV mini-series.

Rating:
Title: The Pillars of the Earth
Author: Ken Follett
Price : £5.25 from Amazon
ISBN: 978-0330450133

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2 Responses to “The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett: review”

1. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke « Meeester Nik says:

   December 8, 2009 at 6:19 pm

   [...] 1006 pages in all, although that’s not the metric I’d use when declaring it lengthy. The Pillars of the Earth is longer, but it isn’t lengthy. That’s because it’s the right length for the [...]
2. World Without End by Ken Follett « Meeester Nik says:

   June 13, 2010 at 5:31 pm

   [...] commit to. Fortunately that’s not difficult – particularly if you’ve already read The Pillars of the Earth. The two books are set in the same city of Kingsbridge, but while that first instalment was set in [...]