The Pillars of the Earth

Rating:
Summary: Plodding plotting
Review: A disappointment. Slow, plodding, uninteresting and just boring. No real mystery, no deep character development and minimal insight into the thoughts of 12th century folks. Try something else for historical fiction. This one doesn't do much.

Rating:
Summary: Far fetched but fun
Review: A great read for a long plane journey and back but a little bit too far fetched and unrealistic. I would prefer to read something with a few less convenient coincidences to be more believable. Great fun though.

Rating:
Summary: The best book i've ever read
Review: Where do I start!?

This is my first review of anything at Amazon, and I have been a member for years now, and use it often. This alone may display to some how impressed I was with this story.

I was recommended this by friend's who knew of my Stonemason apprenticeship. All they told me was I'd like it (As I will now tell every living person I meet), and that I may like it especially because of my interest in Stone masonry. I have to admit I wasn't expecting much from it. I was expecting an informative read, and got so much more!

It was informative, to a superlative degree. Not only did in enlighten me about the old ways of the trade, which was a joy, but into the XI century. It was so informative in this regard that, as some have said, it bordered into nauseousness at times.

The characters were so intertwined I couldn't believe it. And it furthured one of the ideas of the story - to show an epic battle between the forces of good and evil (The "Pillars" of this earth), by showing so many intertwined characters and allowing us to put them into the proper categories (which won't take long!).

I was taken in from the moment I read it because it started off focusing on Tom, the master stonemason. Had I not been interested in his occupation, it may have taken me till page 100 to get into it (as another reviewer said). So watch out for that, and take all our words for it that you will adore this book.

I believe I will read this book again also, as others have said, and also as they have said, this would be the first time I do that for a purely enjoyable reason (rather than to find some detail or other).

The dialouge enhanced the story for the average century XXI reader and made it more approachable.

The story is so engrossing that whenever I had to stop reading and left on a section that dealt with sadness, the result would be my whole evening was ruined! I couldn't take my mind off of it. And I still can't now that I'm finished, thus my review.

My favourite book (and I never could choose one before, but there was NO contest at all once this story came into the picture).

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. I love the characters, the story, all of it. I only give it four stars because there is too much graphic sexuality.

Rating:
Summary: Long and action filled epic
Review: Follets ambitious work here makes a great tale and a very entertaining read, however, I'm not going to heap the same praise on it as some of the other reviewers have, this isn't a truly great novel, it's just a good one.

Being very long and having lots of twists and turns makes it a great epic, but it also contributes to some of the reasons why it falls short of being a really great novel. I think one of the problems was the lack of a clear protagonist through out the book, there are numerous people to root for, yes, but we are never given one main hero, one person whose thoughts and actions are the impetus for the story, there are in fact, multiple stories running throughout, parallel and intertwined, but separate.

For those that are critical of the predictability of the story, I don't agree that it was a problem in any way, the good guys had to win out in the end, they suffer plenty through out, the whole story would have been worthless if Follet had tried to get in some clever tragic ending here, he did the right thing by providing a bit of poetic justice and bringing the story to a proper ending.

For those that enjoy historic fiction, I give a hearty recommendation to this work (the period being the twelve century) Follet did some research into the building of churches and cathedrals of the era and much of it was quite interesting (although I admit I got lost a bit with all the architectural terms). There is plenty of violence, rape and murder, kings and knights vying for power, earls and bishops, sex and love, etc., to keep the story action filled and interesting from cover to cover.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic! Couldn't put it down.
Review: As soon as I started reading this story I was completely enthralled. I had to put everything else on hold until I finished this book. Loved it from page 1, could not recommend it more.

Rating:
Summary: Best book I ever read.
Review: There are real people in this book, not simple stick figures. There is deep mystery, that starts on page one and continues throughout. There is romance and adventure ... and kings and monks ... and churches and cathedrals ... even a bit of witchcraft ... along with a compelling view of the dark ages. If you think you might someday become stranded on a desert island, buy this book now so you will be prepared. And get the hardback version; it'll last through many reads.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of fun
Review: My mother (who is seventy-something) recommended this book to me (forty-something) and I recommended it to my daughter (twenty-one). We all enjoyed the heck out of it, which shows that it easily crosses generations -- assuming you can stomach the violence. Since we're all avid readers who know how to put those filters up when needed, that wasn't a problem.

Great literature it ain't. But we all thought it was a galloping page-turner. And yes, the characters are mostly all good or all bad, and while life isn't that way, we don't mind books that are.

I'm not a historian but I read a lot of history, and I respectfully disagree with the reviewer who said, "the author's premise seems to be that it's a miracle that mankind survived this period in history," as if that's altogether wrong. It was a difficult time in England's history, a time "when men said openly that Christ and his saints slept." And I've often, after reading a history book or historical novel, wondered how my English ancestors made it.

Rating:
Summary: 2-Dimensional characters and a horrible plot
Review: This book was very disappointing. First I should admit that I read only half of it (the book is about 1000 pages long and I read a little over 500) but I feel that I got a good enough picture of the story to tell you not to waste your time.

The characters are completely two-dimensional. The "bad guys" are so completely stereotypical that you expect them to twirl their mustaches while they cackle over the hero. They are evil to an unbelievable degree. As far as the characters that you will like, they are almost non-existent. By the middle of the book there was one character that I actually liked and scores that I hated and none that I cared about one way or the other.Hundreds of pages were spent with the characters ALMOST having some luck only to have it ruined yet again. Over and over.

The book was recommended to me by several people and yet I could not bring myself to finish it (something that I have only done one other time). The plot was boring and depressing, the characters had no depth and the author's premise seems to be that it's a miracle that mankind survived this period in history. It was awful.

Rating:
Summary: Follet's best work
Review: I am a true fan of Ken Follett. I have been reading his works since the early 80's. Time and again this is the book I compare all others too.

Mr. Follett weaves an epic tale covering several decades in the lives of the characters. It is truly incredible how he intertwines the story lines throughout the tale up to and including the dramatic ending.

He creates memorable characters and vivid scenes. His descriptions of scenes, buildings and circumstances contain incredible imagery.

I've always considered this to be a 'cant put it down' type of novel.