This book was a true pleasure to read. And I enjoyed reading it on my Kindle as well. I am now reading Ken Follet's sequal to this book, which takes place several hundred years later. I give it 5 stars.

I have read several of Ken Follett's books, and this one is pure yack. My opinion is that it was ghost written. It's disjointed, contrived, wandering, puerile and, as a result, almost unreadable. I've enjoyed his other books, but this one is junk. It's as though a few basic ideas and a lot of arcane words (repetitively used) were fed into a computer program and spat back out. Forget the sequel. Don't waste your money on either book...sorry, Ken, but this one is way below par.

I received this book as a gift, and I was not terribly impressed with it at first. With some encouragement from the gift-giver, I continued on. The story was lovely, and it was worth the almost 1,000 pages of effort. It is an informed and well-written story with some very interesting characters. There are some great morality points, too. You have your standard bibilical allusion winding through the novel. Follet was careful, though, to make it subtle, and I appreciated that. It would have been too easy to tell a Sunday school Bible lesson while talking about the building of a cathedral.
Having read the book, I am glad that I persevered, but I had some serious problems with this book, too. First, there are some really graphic scenes of sex and violence that just were not necessary. Of course, this book is about a period of time in 12th Century England called "the Anarchy," which saw its fair share of graphic scenes. I was very disturbed by the scenes, though, and I wish the author had a more graceful way of writing them. I think Follett went a little overboard with the architectural descriptions, too. I believe he probably was greatly inspired by the cathedrals he saw while doing research for the novel and wanted to share it with his readers. That is obvious with in the verbosity of his descriptions. I couldn't visualize what he was describing, though, so I was lost in much of the master builder's musings over his designs. Overall, the characters were good. It seems, though, that Follett spent a great deal of time thinking about his heroes and left the rest to develop themselves. The women in the novel are especially odd to me. They are your basic "strong women" as imagined by a male writer. I have never met a woman like Follett describes. I doubt he has either, but it seems like he wants to. The evil characters are also too much. One example is the man who can't get aroused unless he is with a child and only if he hurts her. It is just too easy to hate a character like that. Once again, I wish there had been more grace.
Having said that, I think there are some great strengths to the book, too. Although the characters are at times too much to be believed, I loved the fact that we were able to watch them grow, learn, and age. We watch their lives over the course of almost 40 years, and we experience with them all the great events of their lives. Follett did a good job with that. In fact, I think he wrote the characters better as they aged. I also loved the twisting and turning the story takes. So as not to give anything away, I will only say that the characters all experience some ups and downs in their lives. Just when you think Follett has said all he could say, a new story begins. Still, he connects them seamlessly. My favorite part of the story is the ending. I sometimes get very angry with authors of long books who write anticlimactic endings. This is not one of those.
If you are willing to give this book some time and effort, it is really an enjoyable read and an interesting look at possibly the most turbulent time in English history.

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!! MUST READ, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THAT TIME PERIOD AND ARE A FAN OF CATHEDRAL ARCHITECTURE. PLUS SO MUCH HOT AND STEAMY ROMANCE!

I was not excited at all to read this 970 page tome, but a friend loaned it to me and I have to return it in a couple of weeks.

This is not a fast read for me (too many twists and turns), but it is a great book. The characters are interesting and compelling and the building process is fascinating.

I will say that the writing style took some getting used to, but by page 100, I was good to go.

It's a great book.

I'll admit that the story is captivating at the start. But after a few hundred pages, I couldn't help myself from rolling my eyes as the story line was so contrived. Fun read and even entertaining, but definitely not a book of ANY literal value... it was what I call a mindless-guilty-pleasure.

To top it off I realized that around page 500, the author was clueless as to how to end it.

So to do as Follett writes (that is to repeat myself in a different context): 1) the book was entertaining but in a soap opera way not in a must-read literal way AND 2) if it ended shortly after the 500 page mark it would have been more entertaining than annoying.

This might be of note to some people, but reading Follett reminded me of a Philippa Gregory book (although a notch higher). So if you like her, than you will most likely love this author too.

Now this part hasn't a thing to do with the book but rather an irration that I have when I read reviews... "Share Your Opinion" does not mean summarize the story... Duh.

Do not read this if you enjoy good writing. This "novel" is a piece of cheap sensationalism.

This book is very good at the beginning, and I couldn't put it down when I first started reading it. The descriptions of medieval life and mystery at the beginning are very interesting. Here are the problems that caused me to give this book two stars instead of the four it could have easily gotten:

This is a very long book, and I get the feeling that the author had to come up with filler to meet some length goal he had. There is a lot of redundancy in the book, where he explains technical details about things like masonry repeatedly. Also, there seem to be random, graphic sex scenes which become more and more frequent in the latter half of the book. Most of them added nothing to the plot, and I'm not sure if they were simply filler, a marketing ploy, or a result of the author just wanting to write about sex. I couldn't finish the book because the last hundred or two pages got too boring and started to resemble a harlequin soft-core porn novel. It's as if he ran out of fresh ideas when the book neared completion and started to substitute real content with sex scenes.

There are also some problems with the characters. The main character at the beginning, for instance; the author makes it very clear that this man is deeply in love with his wife, and when she dies, he's crushed-- but then has sex with a woman he just met less than 24 hours after burying his wife. It doesn't make sense when you drastically change a character's values like that, and again, it seems as though the author was overeager to write about sex. It's a trend I've noticed in a lot of books these days. Also (and you'll see what I mean if you read the book), some of the other characters are introduced as truly good people, and then do some truly reprehensible things and have no regrets about it. It doesn't make sense. There's no consistency to most of the characters in this book. In fact, my favorite characters were the villains, because I could at least count on them to be consistently villainous, whereas I never knew what the "good" characters were going to do next.

Two out of five. Not worth your money.

This book is redundant beyond belief. Why did the author feel compelled to tell us over and over again what we just read. Also, I found three major type errors. Didn't anyone edit this thing? The four page + rape scene was pointless, graphic and added nothing to the story or character. I struggled to even finish the book. I skipped the beginning of each chapter because of the repetition. The characters were hollow and unbelievable, especially the "villan".

When my book club chose "The Pillars of The Earth" I was looking forward to reading this well-reviewed book. Unfortunately, this book is sloppily written and often redundant. The story might be a good one, but it continually gets lost in the minutia. Some characters are well-developed, while others border on being over-developed, and it could use a good editing to bring the wordiness under control.

Yes I read the whole thing and I kind of don't know why. the first 3/4 of it are ok and then the ending was just too short. It seemed like the story crashed.

over 900 pages & I could not put it down, nor did I ever want it to end. A different Ken Follett read, middle ages,12th century, historical fiction not to be missed

i dont know why this book is getting negative reviews. This book will keep you flipping the pages and not wanting to stop reading. It is good from the first word to the last. There is not one boring part is this entire novel unlike other books of this length.

I asked for this book for Christmas 2007 because I wanted to read it so bad. It was painful to try to finish it. I have not read this author before, but have heard very good things about him. Needless to say I will probably not consider him a favorite. I wanted so much to like this book but I was very, very disappointed.

My husband is a picky reader and not alot of fiction appeals to him. This book has got him. I can't wait to get it after him

This is a fabulous book of over 1000 pages but don't be daunted by the size of it. Many authors would have made this into a trilogy costing the reader 3 x $20.00 but this single book is very good value for money. The story follows three or four main groups of people through around fifty years of their lives with never a dull moment. It's a great reminder of how our ancestors used to live and how Medieval Britain used to be a savage, tribal country with much lawlessness. The story smoothly flows between monasteries, castles and the building of a cathedral. Although monks play a large part I certainly wouldn't say it is a religious book, on the contrary, it shows deviousness and politics between the monasteries and the people who run them. This book is a great find and very much look forward to reading the next book set in Kingsbridge - World Without End.

finished Pillars last night. Not surprisingly my review is mixed. Here are my thoughts. Follett definitely understands how to create characters and plots. He's very adept at weaving the two together. I just wish he knew when to stop. I was frustrated with the book for many reasons. First, it's not a bad story. Even though I found it irksome I wanted on some level to continue reading it--I always find that annoying. I had the same response to The DaVinic Code and The Bridges of Madison County. Follett definitely did his homework with regards to the historical research, but after a while I felt that the novel was just a justification for his research. The plot goes on and on, from one political upheaval to another with little regards to any literary merit or value. Secondly, Follett's male perspective on sex and sexual fantasy is almost unwarranted. While, I enjoy a good steamy love scene as much as the next person I found little value in various characters lustful wanderings. What was the point other than cheap thrills?
My true criticisms lie in Follett's inability to write without any literary skill. His syntax and idioms are far too modern for a work of historical fiction. Midway through the book it occurred to me that there were no metaphors, no similes, just conflict after conflict which drove the plot. He writes without mood, feeling, or anything that makes language meaningful and beautiful. Since the book is devoid of literary value, I began to examine its plot more closely, since that is the strength of the work.
At its core Pillars is about the rise of the middle class. The political machinations of Phillip and the drive of Aliena and Tom create a situation where the burgeoning feudal middle class begins to rise with some regularity. I found this interesting from sociological perspective and began to reflect on how different forms of government and church and state relationships foster the middle class and diminish it. Yet, William is always as a vehicle for destruction and a pawn of the powers that be. I grew weary of this tactic and began to wish for another villain. While, I found Waleran distasteful he lacked the gory sociopathic personality of William. Since so much of the novel focused on William I became interested in the psychology of his character. What had created such a monster? Follett gives a little insight into this when Regan dies and William has flashbacks of his mother screaming at him, but I wanted Follett to develop this more. If we had to spend so much time reading about William's raping and pillaging exploits, then I wanted to know what had created this monster.
Overall, a very mixed review. The violence, sex, raping, and pillaging may have been common and true of the times, but somehow Follett manages to turn all of this into cheap entertainment. Disappointing at best.

Without doubt, Ken Follett's 950+ page tome, THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, accomplishes at least one of the main pleasures of a lengthy (historical) novel -- to transport its readers convincingly to another time and place. In this instance, Follett opens up the world of 12th Century southern England at a time when the Roman Catholic Church shared power uneasily with the English Crown. It was also a time when architecture, in the form of grand cathedrals, was making prodigious artistic and technological leaps through increased understanding and use of such elements as pointed arches, flying buttresses, and stained glass.

The book opens with a young man's hanging and the curse pronounced by a pregnant, golden-eyed, 15-year old woman in the year 1123, and it is not until the closing pages (in the year 1174) that Follett reveals the full connection between this event and the rest of his story. For the many pages in between, the author traces the development of the small fictional town of Kingsbridge and the halting replacement of its decidedly rundown church with a magnificent new cathedral. A host of characters fill these pages: the son and daughter of a defeated earl, a striving family seeking to take their place in the earldom, a visionary young mason, a woman who lives with her son in a cave in the forest, a young monk of surprising managerial and political ability, and another clergyman whose sights are set on becoming a bishop or even more. Beyond the town limits, a seemingly endless stream of political battles and actual wars ensue, much of it precipitated by civil war over the English throne following the death of Henry I. During the period known in English history as the Anarchy, earls align and realign as the aspirants, King Stephen and his half-sister Matilda (here called Maud), seek a military resolution. The fortunes of Kingsbridge and its neighboring town of Shiring mirror those of Stephen and Maud (and eventually, Maud's son Henry Plantagenet). The Catholic Church is a powerful player in these struggles at both the national and local levels, vitally interested in the outcomes as it seeks to protect its own interests and further its wealth and power.

To Follett's credit, these external struggles flesh out the background to his main characters' lives without getting in their way. THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH is a solidly human story, told through the lives, aspirations, and fears of those individuals. Over the course of roughly forty years, the young monk Philip establishes himself as a successful prior, and his town of Kingsbridge grows in concert with its rising new cathedral. There are setbacks galore along the way, from rapes, massacres, and dirty tricks to famines, fires, and failed enterprises. Many are presented as nearly insurmountable obstacles, requiring all the cleverness and pluck of the book's heroes to overcome them. And therein lies the kernel of the book's greatest flaw.

For all the author's efforts to tell the story of an architectural wonder, his plot is filled with the melodrama of dangers escaped and impossible odds overcome. To sustain so many cliff-hanging events, Follett has to rely on over-the-top characters who are more caricature than simply human. Prior Philip is preternaturally cool, the mason Tom Builder and his successor Jack are gifted visionaries, William Hamleigh and his hideously boil-ridden mother Regan are sadistic evil incarnate, and the bishop Waleran Bigod is a bloodless, scheming worm. Lady Aliena - childhood rape victim, dispossessed landowner, 12th Century feminist, fearless fighter and horsewoman, bold rejecter of organized religion, world class entrepreneur - is certainly the book's most outlandish character, a sop to 21st Century political correctness. The heroes are heroic to the nth degree, the villains villainous in the same way; this tendency toward overkill applies as well to even many of the book's lesser characters.

For those willing to accept these comic book personas as presented for the sake of an escapist historical novel, the rest is easy. THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH draws willing readers effectively into its medieval world, with only an occasional hiccup when his characters mouth words like "puke" that sound a touch too modern. Nevertheless, he creates an engrossing world filled with monks and peasants, knights and nobility. Follett is an adept storyteller, capable of making a book of nearly 1,000 pages read like something much shorter. That in itself is no small accomplishment as well as a sure testimonial that this book is an entertaining, fully transporting read.

This is one of the best novels that I have read in ages. I only wish I had discovered it sooner.

This tale starts an ongoing war with a lie and the murder of a man the reader knows is innocent from the start without being told. This death is the start of a fight for power and nobility among men who are willing to lie, cheat and steal for it. There are Bishops who are greedy enough to grant a known murderer absolution for doing his bidding. Kings who are guided by such religious men to do vile things. Knights and Men at Arms who would kill a child simply because they can, and then plunder a town and burn it to the ground. It's a combination of suspense, violence, mystery, and romance all wrapped up in one epic tale.

Ken Follet has written a story of fiction, based on true history. It forces us Americans who know very little of European history, to find out what actually happened, who actually existed, and lines that were actually said. If you are interested in reading this book, go for it, you have nothing to lose unless you lack a firm grasp on the English language, and you can't comprehend a level of reading beyond the 9th grade.

This is one of the best novels that I have read in ages. I only wish I had discovered it sooner.

This tale starts an ongoing war with a lie and the murder of a man the reader knows is innocent from the start without being told. This death is the start of a fight for power and nobility among men who are willing to lie, cheat and steal for it. There are Bishops who are greedy enough to grant a known murderer absolution for doing his bidding. Kings who are guided by such religious men to do vile things. Knights and Men at Arms who would kill a child simply because they can, and then plunder a town and burn it to the ground. It's a combination of suspense, violence, mystery, and romance all wrapped up in one epic tale.

Ken Follet has written a story of fiction, based on true history. It forces us Americans who know very little of European history, to find out what actually happened, who actually existed, and lines that were actually said. If you are interested in reading this book, go for it, you have nothing to lose unless you lack a firm grasp on the English language, and you can't comprehend a level of reading beyond the 9th grade.

The writer describes numerous scenes of rape and other torture which such relish that the book became extremely off-putting to me. Too bad, because other than the repetitive overuse of certain literary devices, scatterrings of melodrama, and too many tedious technical explanations of edifice construction that belong in an appendix with illustrations; this book had the potential to be a brilliant epic.

Some books can be read and are soon forgotten. Then there are others that change the way you think about books and reading in general. I've never been a fan of historical fiction, as I've always preferred to read the real thing. However, I picked up this book on a recommendation from a colleague who had read it years ago.

I read it and it changed me. I now tell everyone I know who is even remotely interested in history to read it. It is well written, descriptive and with adequate character development. It engrosses you in a sometimes complex subject of architecture that is in fact more about the construction of the lives that surround the buildings bringing them to life. This made me want to learn more about such things as naves, transepts, chancels, etc. As someone who is somewhat ignorant concerning the complexities of architecture, this accomplishment is quite a feat.

Some books gather dust on your shelves and you give them very little thought later. While others receive their very own exalted spot on your shelves and become a precedent on which all future books in that genre are judged.

Pillars of the Earth is such a book.

I loved this book so much that I e-mailed the author. It was a great read and gave me hours of reading pleasure.

The Pillars of the Earth was the pick of reading groups all over the country once Opray added it to her book club list. I found it tedious, over illustrated with poor characterizations other than the technical architectural description.

This is an epic novel about a bishop, a prior, and an earl who live in England during the 12th. century. Each of these men is ambitious and each has an agenda which comes into conflict with the others. Alliances are made and broken, fortunes are created and lost, and power grows and shrinks as each of these men attempt to gain influence in a time of shifting political fortunes. Yesterday's ally becomes today's enemy as Bishop Waleran, Prior Philip, and Earl William jockey for position and power. At the center of the story is the building of a cathedral in Kingsbridge, not just a place of worship but a pawn of politics, war, and ever-changing loyalties.

The characters are vivid and well-drawn; Tom Builder who begins the cathedral construction, his beloved Ellen, her son Jack, the intrepid Aliena, as well as Waleran, Philip, and William. Their lives intertwine and they suffer great pain as well as tremendous triumphs in an era when the church and the king were in constant competition and struggle.

I could not put this book down and I heartily recommend it.

I did enjoy this book, in fact I couldn't put it down. I could see its limitations though.

It had too much really nasty sex in it for my liking, some parts felt like a romance novel, and the ending was a bit too 'neat'.

Having said that I bought the sequel and am looking forward to reading it. Its a fun book, and it did have plenty of action.

Good book for a holiday or something. I thought the characters were alright. Its not war and peace or don quixote its just an entertaining light read set as an historical epic.

I took this book on vacation with me, looking forward to a satisfying read. Was I disappointed! Overwritten, ridiculous plots, corny descriptions, inauthentic dialogue- awful! A jumped up romance novel.

If you want to read a wonderful book about the middle ages, Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter is the gold standard to me. It's a rich tapestry of the time, authentic in every way, educational without being boring, and filled with unforgettable characters and events.

I got this as an audiobook - just something to listen to on the ipod while I cleaned the house and ran errands. It got really good reviews so I certainly expected to be entertained. I wasn't.

Here are my gripes. This has been mentioned before, but it bears repeating: the characters are one-dimensional. They have potential, but for some reason, they never live up to it. They flatline early on and stay there. Additionally, I could never really figure out if there was supposed to be a main character. I figured it should be Jack, but I honesty am not sure even after completing the book.

The story itself is also really dull. You could see all the plot twists and outcomes coming from a mile away. There was no suspense whatsoever. Nothing was shocking, which is odd considering how many people fornicated, raped, murdered, and died.

The descriptions of the architecture are pointless. Personally, I could only really envision about 20% of it. If you could picture all of it, then wow, I'm impressed. Good for you.

And my final big gripe: (spoilers if you have never taken a history class). The book wraps up with the murder of Thomas Beckett and the repentance of Henry II. WTF???? These people were barely in the book at all, and only popped up in the very end. I could have cared less about them, yet somehow they're used as the dramatic catalyst to wrap everything up? HUH???? I am guessing nobody complained about this before because most people did not finish the book. Well good for you, because the ending is disjointed and nonsensical.

I get why people give this good reviews. I know because I have had roommates just like those who give this good reviews. They have not read a book since college or high school, and even then those were only the books they were forced to read. Now they're adults and they realize its been about three years since they read a proper book. They pick this one up and they are just so proud of themselves that they read a) such a BIG book! b) actually finished it and c) it's, like, historical and stuff. So they are in no position to recognize that it's not a good book. It's really quite sad actually.

I agree with both the positive and negative reviews. The author obviously put a lot of research into writing this book. I learned a lot about that time period. It was educational without feeling that way. At the same time a fast-paced adventure, with mass appeal. The writing did make me cringe at times, not exactly literature, but overall I'd recommend it.

I guess if oprah says it's a best seller, then it is, what's wrong with America - what oprah says is far from Gospel. I couldn't get past the first 75 pages, it is written like modern fiction, but it is supposed to be a historical novel? Not quite. Don't waste your money - go to the library if you must.

This book was difficult to get into at first but gets you hooked after several chapters. I read alot of historical fiction, and this is one of my favorites.

This book was intense, rythmic and personal. The characters were well developed leaving me burning through the pages well past my bedtime.
In the end I found myself mildly disappointed that there were not another 1000 pages.

This book will make readers out of non-readers - it has everything from deviousness, piousness, and others twists and turns. It's a great book to share with others when done with it too. Have already ordered the sequel due out in October.

Even though the book is extremely lengthy, it manages to sustain interest because there is a lot of drama and suspense involved. The language is not incredible and some parts read like trashy literature. Nevertheless, the story is superb and revolves around the lives of three men (a prior, a bishop and a builder) and how the building of a church in 12th century England, causes so much chaos and upheavals. It also is a witness to the power of the belief in God and how that helps a prior face adversaries in the face of utmost hardships. The most interesting aspect of this historical novel is that it reveals the turmoil that results when political and religious ambitions collide.

I read this book years ago but still has remained very fresh in my mind. Great masterpiece, full of passion, action, middle ages atmosphere, cruel as the times were. Pity there are not so many books like this one. Read recently World without end, also very good but not up to Pillars. If anyone can recommend to me similar type of book as Pillars I would be grateful.

Fascinating reading, involving interesting characters as well as what life was like and how cathedrals were built in 12th century England.

Follett slogs along where Michener or Kingsolver might have soared. Michael Crichton gave us more excitement and far more valuable historical insights in "Timeline." The ongoing theme of cathedral building is a compelling notion, but the author's handling of the characters and their interaction eventually becomes as tedious to read as the book is weighty to hold (nearly 2 pounds in its paperback form.)

I haven't enjoy a book some much in a long time.I was so happy when he wrote a sequel.
It's a book that you can not put down,You just forget everything that is going on around you.

I haven't enjoyed a book as much as this in quite awhile. You need no knowledge of the time-period to enjoy the story. I found the book to be a page-turner from the very beginning. I didn't want to put it down at all. The ending was anti-climatic for me though but the book was so good throughout that it didn't matter at all.

I love this book and will miss the characters when I am finally done. Fewer than 100 pages to go and dreading coming to a close (as my friend indicated when she recommended the book). The characters are so well written, you feel you know them. I am surprised that over 200 people rated this 3 or less - I would be interested in what they include on their list of favorites. The building of the cathedral, though central, was simply a way to bind the characters, but those with an interest in architecture or cathedrals should find this aspect very interesting. I have always enjoyed visiting the churches of Europe and this gives me an even greater appreciation. Though 900+ pages may seem daunting, I read it in less than a week during my commute and often could not put it down once home. I was not a reader of Follett, but will likely read many many more of his novels if this one was any indication of his writing style and depth. Bravo Follett!!

I read this book when it first came out in 1989 and I remember enjoying it. When World Without End came out, I wanted to read that, but figured I should re-read Pillars again, but admittedly a 900 page book wasn't appealing.

Still, I started the book and eagerly read it till the glorious end. I am baffled by the reviewers who knock the characters and say they are one dimensional. I think some people have no patience and can't take the time to enjoy a good book, but feel they need to skim entire sections. They just missed out on something good and then they wonder why the story didn't work for them.

If you can hold your attention for awhile and can see the value in learning about life in the 1100's in England, and how people built amazing buildings, then you can easily enjoy this book.

Yes, there is sex in the book, probably like there was in the 1100's. It covers sex from violence, from prostitutes and from true love. Honestly, I can't see that the book would have been as poignant without including it. If it really disturbs you, maybe there are other issues you should worry about. It is not a central part of the book, but I think some readers can't get past it.

The author was an atheist? Oops, didn't know that, so I guess it isn't reflected in his book.
Criticisms on historical inaccuracy? This is fiction, and the story took place 800+ years ago. How can a reader be so certain Aliena wouldn't have acted a certain way. Heaven forbid a woman be smart back then.

The book is enjoyable, intense and entertaining. Now I must go start World Without End.

This book took me to places in my soul that have not been touched in a long time. The intensity and cadence of the stories and characters drove me from the first word till the last. I took my kindle everywhere and literally read non-stop to the end. Then, afterwards I went back again to re-read various parts to satiate my hunger for more. One of the most splendid readings of my life.

Is it possible for a person to be ALL good or ALL bad? Yes! If you are a character in this boring, silly book. I managed to wade through over 500 pages of this collosal time waster before I finally tossed it in the bin. Ken Follett could really have created a great story if he had invested more energy in developing his characters into real people instead of cardboard personalities. Sheesh. What a stinker!

I finished The Pillars of the Earth today and all in all, I enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of historical fiction and was interested in the details of "everyday" life, although based on some negative reviews here I'll have to research to find out what Follett incorrectly portrayed. No historical novel is perfect.

As others have noted, this is a character-driven novel. Expect to love it if you enjoy books which immerse you in personalities and personal conflicts rather than grander, larger struggles. Each of the main protagonists was well developed and felt believable.

The antagonists were, I must say, a different story. William of Hamleigh was such a cape-swishing, mustache-twirling villain stereotype that I found it difficult to get into hating him at first, he was just SO bad. We do get a peek into the basis for William's terrible personality but it comes so late in the book that one will already have decided to take him as a cardboard cut-out of a bad guy and enjoy the book in spite of his flatness or one will have abandoned the book long before.

In spite of the somewhat flat "bad guys," though, the interactions between the well developed "good guys" really makes this book hard to put down. I found no problem with the few sex scenes - they were tastefully written and highlighted the love between the characters; they were not what I'd call "gratuitous." Nor did I have any issue with the violence. While a lot of violence occurs, it never felt out of place or over the top to me. The rape scenes were hard to read through but did much in establishing the characters involved and as such did not feel gratuitous either.

Like me, the author is an atheist and I think he did an admirable job of portraying many different points of view in his characters, from the utterly faithful to the unbelieving with all stops in between. He never makes mock of religious beliefs, nor does he make his atheist characters more admirable or worthy than the very religious. His characters simply are what they are, and he explores most of them fully and well.

Minus one star because some judicious editing would have been welcome in some areas; and I also found myself wondering frequently, "Is Aliena REALLY worth all this?"

Did I enjoy this book? - Yes.
Was it too long? - Yes.
Was there too much repetition? - Yes.
Was there too much sex? - Yes.
Give it a three.

Purchased by Oprah's recommendation. The author is an athiest. I can not support his material.

For anyone who is interested in the early days of the Church in England, this is your book.

You will be apalled at the hardships people endured just to cling the the skirts of survival.

I wish I had read this before I visited England and toured so many cathedrals. They are awe inspiring and you just have to stand and gape and wonder how these magnificent edifices could possibly have been built without the benefit of our modern cranes.

I recommend this book to anyone who is planning a visit or has visited any English Cathedrals or wishes they could.


Patriciaa R. Cramer

This book is absolutely awesome. It had all spectrums of emotions combined with a great story. This is my favorite book of all time and I was sad when it had to end. I just wanted to keep reading it. Ken Follett has a way of describing the scenery and characters that makes you feel like you know them and where they are. And when it comes the emotions you'll feel overjoy, sad, mad, elated, angry, proud and on and on they go! I just can't say enough how much I enjoyed this book!

If this book could have lived up to the promise of its cover design, it would have been literature; as it is it's a cartoonish artless mess. It has all the credibility and narrative tension of a Redwall novel, and none of that series' character development. Peppered with false dramatic moves and momentary conflicts that go nowhere and are quickly resolved, it grows bored with its own subject, architecture, at moments when it should be most clear, and devotes pages to distracting side stories (I was skimming by page 75). At its best it most right along; the writing is transparent, which is a kind way of saying without style, grace, or flare (and is thus no delight to read but neither is it a chore) but at least it tells its story. However at it's worst it becomes preposterous, as when central character Tom's wife dies and he abandons his newborn son, and literally within minutes he's seduced in the middle of the woods by a mysterious beautiful forest maiden who lives a lot like Bilbo Baggins. Follett's narrative style is loaded with contemporary terminology and his characters speak as if this were a Monty Python sketch. I got the feeling Follett was making a play for Umberto Eco status but ended up Douglas Preston in sackcloth. Everything interesting about this book can be had from David Macaulay's "Cathedral The Story of its Construction," the illustrated paperback. I was genuinely disappointed; it was like opening a leather-bound edition of Shakespeare only to find the plays draw out in stick figures.

I can say without hesitation that going in to this book I did not care or know anything about medieval times in Europe or the historic cathedrals that occupy the cities and townships. And, frankly, I didn't care about this lack of knowledge. I have no idea why I decided to dive into this book, but I did and am thankful about that! I don't know about how much of the book is rooted in historical fact, but I can say that Follett did an incredible job at creating a world which I not only feel immersed in, but a cast of characters that I feel like I know personally (and some I would rather not meet!). This was an epic of "epic proportions" that moves along swiftly with a story that spans decades (although some decades went by a little too fast!). I can recommend this book without reservation. Ignore the few "haters" who slammed this book and pick it up. You will, no doubt, be swept up in the book like the vast majority of reviewers on Amazon and around the world.