The Pillars of the Earth

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.