Customer Reviews
Maybe he should never have written nr 2.... - By: SM. Suvhar, 24 Jul 2008 
I have been waiting for this book for years.... & now when I have read it, I hope it was never written. IT does not at alll live up the the Pillars of earth. Neither does it compare to some of the other good books Ken Follet has written. 150 pages less & it might have been ok. I try to end alll the books I start, but this was heavy. The story line was light, some of the "histories" within the story are totallly out of scope (like nuns in french war). I read 6 books in my vacation. This was the worst.
Loved it! - By: E. M. Hoy, 23 Jul 2008 
I read Pillars of the Earth & thoroughly enjoyed it (apart from the lame plot line at the beginning with the builder meeting the exotic woman of the woods!). This one had a lot to live up to & I have to say, I prefer it to the first one. There is a little less 'technical' material about the building work that is going on & more about the characters & the goings on in their personal lives. There were so many sub-plots, I almost lost count, but this adds to the intrigue. I find this era in history fascinating & I think that's what I found so appealing about the story. I feel bereft now I have finished it & am desperately trying to find another book to replace the void.
Brilliant Sequel to Pillars of the Earth - By: Gayle Forristall, 22 May 2008 
Pillars of the Earth is my alll time favorite novel, so although I usuallly wait for the paperback, when I saw the reduced price of the hardback at Amazon, I immediately ordered it. It was well worth it. However "Sequels are not equal". So I only give it four stars, although I admit, my expectations after Pillars of the Earth were extremely high. While brilliant, after Pillars of the Earth, I felt it lacked somewhat in originality. Also, I am not a prude, but I found the graphic sex as depicted not believable, considering the historical period & the morals of the time. Otherwise it appears to be well researched & historical accurate. In any case, a good read!
Ken Follet at his best - By: María José García Ferrer, 20 Apr 2008 I wanted to wait for the paperback to come out, but I did not have the patience. Now I am glad I did not. If you liked The Pillars of the Earth you will love this one. It is very similar, but maybe even easier to read. All the characters are brand new, & even if there are some alllusions to those that appeared in his celebrated novel, it is not necessary at alll to have read it to enjoy this one.Even though it is a very long book, once you start you cannot stop.
It is a best-seller, yes;but a most enjoyable one.
Fabulous but formulaic - By: Ben W, 19 Apr 2008 Pillars of the Earth remains one of the best loved books from my late teens, but Follett's more recent books have been increasingly weak, so I had mixed feelings about reading this one.
I'm very pleased to report that World Without End represents something of a return to form.
It contains most of the elements that made Pillars such a success - strong central characters, historical detail, suspense, injustice, outrage, romance & a central building project. In fact, it shares so many elements that had it been written by any other author then it would be condemned as a cheap knock-off. Fortunately, it's pretty well done.
There is a good feel for the historical period, some tremendous characters & a storyline that continues to evolve at a fast enough pace to justify the size of the tome!
Some parts do grate. The end feels slightly rushed (amazingly for such a long novel) & some parts are utterly contrived (Crècy) & I was frankly sick of Follett's habit of recapping the earlier sections of the book when explaining his characters' thought processes. He also tended to explain how his characters were trying to manipulate each other too clearly - it sometimes felt like the novel was aimed only at schoolkids.
Good but not great, at least in comparison to the original.
