This one’s a biggie. 1237 pages, so something you have to 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 1123, this one kicks off two centuries later in 1327.

I don’t actually think it’s quite as good. The Pillars of the Earth had me hooked right from the start, perhaps because I’d never read anything like it before, but World Without End treads some of the same ground. Many of the themes are familiar and a couple of the characters could easily have been replaced by characters from the other volume, which is a shame as they really should be unique and irreplaceable in each instance.

But that’s about as far as the criticism goes. Follett’s world is as big as it is convincing. He evoked a true feeling of the hardships of the time when food was scarce, suspicion was rife, plague was seen as punishment (and communicable simply by looking at someone else – it’s difficult to remember that these people had no concept of bacteria) and society was organised into a class system so severe that those who found themselves on the lower rungs could expect to have their lives controlled almost entirely by those above them.

It is this class structure that creates most of the conflict and tension within the novel, and the triumphs that mark out important plot points are themselves woven into that system. The ability of a woman to achieve a position of authority in a male-dominated world, the moment a serf gains control of his own land and the point at which a wicked nobleman is brought down by those who sit below him are so longed for and so well handled when they come along that you live the ups and downs of these characters’ lives with them – you don’t simply read about them from a passive third position.

It’s perhaps not essential reading for anyone who has completed The Pillars of the Earth, but it is an interesting and worthy continuation of the story and, should Follett ever undertake to write a third instalment, I’m sure I’ll be bagging a copy as soon as it appears in paperback.

Rating:

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