The novel is the story of several families from different parts of the world. The stories do intersect throughout, but they also break off from time to time and we are able to see how historical events - The Great War, but also the Russian Revolution and the movement in Britain for women's suffrage - impact individual people.
It seems strange to describe a 985 page book as an easy read, but I really thought it was. The characters - including some real-life ones such as Lenin, Winston Churchill, and Woodrow Wilson - were all interesting (obviously some more likeable than others) and the history seems to be incredibly accurate. I did notice a bias toward a particular political view, but to me it did not affect the overall content of the novel.
This is the first novel in a proposed "Century" trilogy, and the ground has been laid with specific mention of the names of the children of the main characters in this novel. I suspect that the second volume will focus on the time around World War II, but that is just a guess; at any rate, I am eagerly awaiting its release.
In the meantime, since this was my first Ken Follett novel, I will have to move World Without End and Pillars of the Earth higher up on the to-read list.
Well you've convinced me to give this a go and it will also be my first Ken Follett novel. I'll have to wait for a little while before I can read it but it sounds really good.
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to read this book!! I've only read one Follett so far, and I loved that one -- Pillars of the Earth was absolutely incredibly!! I highly recommend it, and it was the same thing with that book as you experienced with this one -- who would have thought anything with that many pages would be such an easy read? Pillars of the Earth flew! You will love it! Now I've got to go pick up this book, too!
ReplyDeleteI've never read Follett but this sounds really neat :-) Everyone loves Pillars and I thought about starting there but I think I like the sound of Fall of Giants even more.
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