Rate: 4/5
Medium: KindleBook
Overview (No Spoilers): While I’ve been aware of The Pillars of the Earth for years the synopsis and sheer length of the book had always made me hesitant to pick up the lengthy novel. I fully admit that the excuse of a weighty book has little credibility due to my love of novels series such as Game of Thrones, Outlander, and Lord of the Rings, however I struggled to see how the building of a 12th century cathedral could be all engaging. Thanks to a friend encouraging me to pick up The Pillars of the Earth, my hesitation was proven misdirected. Follett did a masterful job detailing not only the colorful characters but the mood and ever shifting political atmosphere of the era. The book was a constant struggle between good and evil, moral and immoral, all played out in a tiny corner of the English countryside. Throughout the book, for every win or progress the ‘good’ side made, the evil William and Bishop made a counter-move twice as devastating making the old saying of good over evil seem impossible. Overall, the ending is perfect, and satisfying after successfully making it through the marathon of a book.
The Critiquing Chemist 
This is one of my favorite books! And I felt the same way going into it – the length is intimidating and how can building a church be that interesting? Now we know 🙂 I went on to read it’s sequel World Without End, and highly recommend it!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ll have to add the sequel to my reading list! It was such a marathon reading the first book I’d been procrastinating looking into the second!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I LOVE Follett and, yes, its long, but it goes quickly. You should definitely check out World Without End. I think it was even better than Pillars, imho. He also has a century trilogy. It follows an English, American, German, and Russian family through WW1, WW2, and the Cold War and it’s also lengthy but really good!! Especially if you hate history like I do! Great way to learn it! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve heard enough people recommend World Without an End that I need to add it to my list! The Century trilogy sounds fascinating. I hadn’t heard of it before. Thanks for the recommendations!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t let the length intimidate you! You’ll be drawn in before you know it! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person