World Without End by Ken Follett
I haven’t written much recently for a very important reason. I had a wisdom tooth out and was incapable of doing anything except complain, take painkillers and play violent games on the PS4. I was also in bed a lot, reading World Without End by Ken Follet – a colossal 1100 page tome. My wife had just bought me the third Kingsbridge book, so I thought I might as well read the second.
This review can be pretty easily summed up as – if you like Pillars of the Earth (book one of the trilogy) then you will like this. It is an epic tale of medieval life with plenty of excitement and dastardly things going on. The good guys are good and the bad guys are complete arseholes. There is also a lot of history going on in the background and it was a fascinating period to look back on, although a really shite one to live through. I really, really enjoyed it and if you are after some page-turning escapism, thoroughly recommend giving it a go.
You don’t really need to have read Pillars of the Earth to read World Without End. I read the first one over a decade ago and had to read a synopsis on Wikipedia to bring me up to speed, only to find out it was unnecessary. Having said all that, you should read Pillars as it is also bloody great. I haven’t seen the TV shows for either but, having watched a trailer, it seems a bit like a completely different story but with the same characters. So I will probably avoid it. As the ancient saying goes: “the book was better”.
Unless you read solely at home, I would recommend the Kindle edition purely for the sake of your spine. If you already have the hardback and are in your 40s with an impacted and complicated wisdom tooth extraction to look forward to, then you are in luck. Otherwise, it really is a good example of why e-readers can be great. Frankly, like the first book, it could be twice as long and I would happily have carried on reading. Recommended.
