Reviews with content warning for Violence - Winter of the World

Preferred the first book in series. But realy excited for the third. Some very challenging chapters and descriptions of events. LOVE the characters and relationships throughout the book

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janetreads's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I really enjoyed Ken Follet’s Medieval era trilogy. This 20th century trilogy has been disappointing in comparison. In the first one I still felt a sense if satisfaction and was engaged throughout. But in this second one, he seems to be trying to stuff every significant moment of WWII history he can in. In general I like Follet’s style of having main characters brush against these big players or moments in history — giving readers a peak at the world-changing events “first hand.” But there’s a limit to believability that we somehow have a character present for every single moment. (Also when you have a good sense of this period in history, it can become a bit tedious to run through characters being shocked at X event). While there’s always many characters in his books, the generational expansion of characters from the first book means that the reader is never spending quite enough time with any particular character to really grow to care about the character. By the second half/last third I was pulling my way through this. While the first book in this trilogy really had the villain as War, this one lacked that sense of “bad guy” — in part because Follet seems hesitant to force his own political views, but clearly his writing is still influenced by those views. All that said — if you are looking for a fictionalized account of WWII (mostly European theater) this book would be good! And it could be useful for readers who want to get a broad sense of the period and learn history better through narrative.

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morsa's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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leahisdudish's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

3.0

t/w obvs because this is about war but the r**e scene really unsettled me.
also the way of writes about boobs gives me the ick. if you borrow my copy you will see REALLY KEN written next to every boob reference

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lizzyfields's review against another edition

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adventurous sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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ricksilva's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The sequel to Fall of Giants brings in a new generation of characters, many of them the children of the main characters of the first book, as it covers the Second World War and the years preceding and following it.

As with the first volume in the series, Follett does a great job with the historical details, and he continues to be very clever in his ability to bring characters together from different backgrounds and to place them in the midst of historical events.

The soap-opera elements include some good drama and some interesting plot twists, although a few of the instances of star-crossed lovers begin to feel a bit repetitive. Still, there is enough variety to keep things engaging.

The horrors of the war are certainly not glossed over, although different characters experience them in different ways. There is a lot of war violence, and frequent references to torture, and I did find a particularly horrifying rape scene late in the story to be questionable in terms of plot necessity while it followed some tropes that are better left by the wayside.

I think the character arcs in this story didn't quite live up to those of the first book, but this story made up for that with more surprises, and a more global scope of events.

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margot_p's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

Encore une fois, mon cœur fond ! Le deuxième livre de cette trilogie est encore mieux je pense que le premier (mais le premier est iconique !). J'aime tellement les personnages (Carla, Walter, Maud, Ethel, Daisy, Volodya, Lloyd ❤️)

Même si ça me brise le cœur, j'aime le développement (et le descente en enfer) de Grigori qui tombe de plus en plus dans le communisme. La mort de Walter m'a fait pleurer et honnêtement je ne m'en remettrai jamais 😭
Le dernier chapitre est incroyable (bien que j'aurais aimé que Maud connaisse Lloyd en sachant qu'il est son neveu...)!

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motivationsloch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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