Who Would Like This Book:
If you love getting lost in a richly detailed world, "World Without End" is an epic, immersive dive into 14th-century England. Follett knows how to bring medieval life to life - complete with cathedrals, plagues, power struggles, and just enough historical spice to make you Google things. Fans of sweeping historical fiction, intricate plots, and stories where personal drama intertwines with major historical events will eat this up. Bonus points if you’re fascinated by architecture, medicine, or strong women bucking medieval conventions. If you enjoyed "Pillars of the Earth" or love series like "Game of Thrones" (minus dragons), this is your jam.
Who May Not Like This Book:
Some readers found this book repetitive, especially if they’ve recently read “Pillars of the Earth” - it treads familiar ground with similar character types and story arcs. At over 1,000 pages, it’s a serious time investment, and for some, the pacing drags or the constant back-and-forth drama can feel a bit soap-operatic. If anachronistic characters (hello, 21st-century attitudes in the Middle Ages!) or persistent romance and sexual themes aren’t your cup of tea, you might get frustrated. Also, if you prefer deep literary prose over accessible, page-turning writing, you may be underwhelmed.
About:
'World Without End' by Ken Follett is a historical fiction novel set in the 14th century, serving as a sequel to 'The Pillars of the Earth.' The book follows the lives of various characters in the town of Kingsbridge, 200 years after the construction of the medieval cathedral. The narrative delves into the challenges faced by the villagers during the outbreak of the plague, exploring themes of ambition, love, greed, revenge, and the role of the church in society. Despite being a lengthy tome, the book intricately weaves together multiple plots and characters, providing insights into the day-to-day struggles and ordeals of individuals living in the 12th century.
Genres:
Tropes/Plot Devices:
Topics:
Notes:
Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Triggers and content warnings include graphic violence, sexual content (including rape), and themes related to death and disease, as well as social injustice inherent in the historical setting.
Has Romance?
There is a strong presence of romance throughout the book, focusing on the complex relationship between Merthin and Caris, interwoven with themes of love, longing, and societal expectations.
From The Publisher:
#1 New York Times Bestseller
In 1989, Ken Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, a sweeping epic novel set in twelfth-century England centered on the building of a cathedral and many of the hundreds of lives it affected.
World Without End is its equally irresistible sequel-set two hundred years after The Pillars of the Earth and three hundred years after the Kingsbridge prequel, The Evening and the Morning.
World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroads of new ideas-about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In a world where proponents of the old ways fiercely battle those with progressive minds, the intrigue and tension quickly reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race-the Black Death.
Three years in the writing and nearly eighteen years since its predecessor, World Without End is a "well-researched, beautifully detailed portrait of the late Middle Ages" (The Washington Post) that once again shows that Ken Follett is a masterful author writing at the top of his craft.
Ratings (94)
Incredible (17) | |
Loved It (48) | |
Liked It (25) | |
It Was OK (2) | |
Did Not Like (1) | |
Hated It (1) |
Reader Stats (154):
Read It (102) | |
Currently Reading (1) | |
Want To Read (33) | |
Did Not Finish (2) | |
Not Interested (16) |
4 comment(s)
This book was just amazing. Loved every second of it and I literally disappeared into the world of kingsbridge. Wish it could have just gone on and on.
This is the second book in a series but it takes place 150 years after the events in the first book. Four kids are witnesses to a brutal attack of a Knight, that after seeks shelter in church. The event shapes the kids lifes as they grow up. The craftmentship of this novel is something extra, its so beautifully done and even though I didn't really like any of the characters, I still cared what happened to them. At no point of this over 1000 pages, did I get bored. Can't wait to get my hands on the next and last book in the series!
This is a great big soap opera, and it's a good enough soap opera that I kept reading it to find out what happened to the people. That's no small achievement, given that it's over 1000 pages. But it's not a terribly good soap opera for all that. For one thing, Follett kept reminding the reader who the characters were and what their mutual history was. So the text often says things like 'Glenda had never trusted Ralph since he had broken Wulfric's nose' (not a direct quote, just a hypothetical example, but that kind of thing is all over). These days my brain is a bit fuzzy for recall of detail, so I actually found that somewhat helpful, but I also found it a little intrusive, and I imagine someone with less brain fuzz would find it even more intrusive. There's a lot of sex, not all of it consensual, and some of the coerced sex is presented in a somewhat voyeuristic way. There are some key points where characters behave, well, uncharacteristically in the service of making the plot points come together. There's a point, for instance, where someone who usually reacts to negative pressure with successful guile responds with shrieks of protest instead because the plot needs her to be overheard. Overall, I enjoyed it, but without actually thinking it was well-written.
the most overrated writer of HF, but readers cannot get enough of Jersey Shore characters running around a tabloid version of middle ages.
What can you read after
World Without End?
About the Author:
Ken Follett is one of the world's best-loved authors, selling more than 160 million copies of his thirty books. Follett's first bestseller was Eye of the Needle, a spy story set in the Second World War.
In 1989 The Pillars of the Earth was published, and has since become the author's most successful novel. It reached number one on bestseller lists around the world and was an Oprah's Book Club pick.
Its sequels, World Without End and A Column of Fire, proved equally popular, and the Kingsbridge series has sold 38 million copies worldwide.
Follett lives in Hertfordshire, England, with his wife Barbara. Between them they have five children, six grandchildren, and three Labradors.
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
