Rating: 
Summary: Best historical novel I've read in 10 years
Review: I've never been a fan of Follett, and picked this book up with some misgivings - anyone these days can try to do an "historical" novel with some quick sex, some fake archaic new-speak, and a TV-movie-miniseries concept of history. While there are some minor flaws in this book, its sweep, characterization, tensions, and love of its subject are simply riveting. I could not put the darned thing down and have lost sleep for a week compulsively page-turning. Follett, unbelievably, seems to have made little splash with this book when it first came out - more shame to the critics who missed a "Gone With the Wind" from a conventional thriller author.His primary strength in the book is his magnificent characters. By the end, Prior Phillip, Aliena, Jack, Richard, "Witch" Ellen, William of Hamleigh, Waleran Bigod, and a host of supporting characters are as real as people you know. Their strengths and weaknesses feel as sound as earth. I've just reached the part where the Cathedral is finished, and its magnificent image, built in love, hardship, and devotion, colors the whole book like light through stained glass. And I suspect the ending will be as immensely "right" as the entire rest of the book in its proportion in spinning out complicated human lives and emotions. Follett manages to write of an age of religious devotion without tumbling into the two pits - making fun of medieval Christian faith, or uncritically adopting it. An IMMENSELY satisfying read. I could quibble with what I feel is some gratuitous sex, some slightly contrived plot twists, but that's like complaining about some flotsam in the river as you're going over Niagara. DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK if you love wonderful story-spinning and history. Well done, Mr. Follett!
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: Great Historical Novel - Great Book - A+
Review: After reading the prologue, I was not sure if the book would maintain its intensity and keep my interest given that the book is almost 1000 pages long. However, by the end of the second part of the first chapter, there was no question that this was going to be a great read. I can honestly say there was never a slow part in this book. It just kept getting better and better.
This is a book about the building of a cathedral but the building of the cathedral is not the main part of the story. At its most basic level, this is a story of good versus evil (the pillars of the earth). And this book has plenty of both - love, friendship, devotion, charity, rape, greed, murder, and revenge.
I came to feel for the characters in this book. I wanted Tom to succeed in his dream, I wanted Ellen to be happy, I wanted Jack and Aliena to be happy and felt for them when they could not be. I also wanted the evil character to get theirs in the end. I hated William Hamleigh, I wanted to see him suffer, and felt very little pity for him in the end. I also came to very much dislike Alfred, despite being Tom's son along with Bishop Bigod. For me to feel that strongly, the writing has to be absolutely fantastic.
This books starts you out in the prologue at 65 MPH and by the end you are at 175 MPH. It was very difficult for me to put the book down after reading for several hours. It is very easy to lose yourself in this book. It was on my mind almost constantly. I tried to predict what would happen next but was always surprised by what actually happened. I read the entire book in less than 2 weeks. I was shocked to be done with it that quickly.
I am so much looking forward to the continuation of this story.
Read this book! You will not be disappointed!
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.
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