Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Le crépuscule et l'aube

I loved revisiting King's Bridge, learning about the origins of the town I already spent hours of my life reading about. The story is easy to follow and the three main characters' lives are interwoven in a very skilful way. I feel like I learned slightly less about the historical period and certainly less about architecture in this book than the last, but I still throughly enjoyed reading this book and think it is much improved from Follett's last installment of the Series (Column of Fire).

Content Warnings

sramac's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

mvanhaas's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

vibrantautumn's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed the other books in this series, and this book was no exception, and no different. At all. The characters and plot were the same as in previous books. Nevertheless, I was hooked halfway through. I had hoped that this book wouldn’t feature women being raped, but of course that was there just like everything else.

Content Warnings

beanjoles's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

4.5

Amazing audio production - John Lee made the 24 hours fly by!

This was my first Ken Follett read. I picked it up as a skip-the-line loan on a whim and I’m very glad I did! Other reviewers have mentioned that the characters don’t have a ton of depth, and that’s true, but it was still a really fun, tense, and informative listen. Spoiler for the ending:

Even though I know the ending was way too pat, with the good characters finally getting their heart’s desires and the villains finally being punished, it felt incredible to see our long suffering protagonists have something good happen to them for a change. I was thrilled by Aldred getting his bishopric and Ragna and Edgar getting, at long last, to enjoy their love and be married.

One of my favourite aspects of this novel was the keen attention paid to the minutiae of English life in the Dark Ages. I learned about shipbuilding, construction, and life for common peasants. It was interesting seeing the beginnings of the landlord system and how the laws regarded people of different statuses and genders. I also learned a lot about the horrors of slavery practised by the English, something I didn’t realize they’d been doing even way back then. I’d say I enjoyed the book as much for its world building as I did for the plot and characters.

I liked this enough to put a hold on the Pillars of the Earth, and I’m excited to see where the story goes next!

A content note: As you might expect of a book written about this era, there is a good deal of sexual violence in this book. Some of it is gratuitous to the plot but does contribute to worldbuilding (unfortunately). Id probably stay away from this book if sexual violence and r*pe are triggers for you. Examples:

Several female slaves are prostituted against their wills, and one of the protagonists is subjected to repeated rapes during a nearly year-long kidnapping that result in an unwanted pregnancy. It’s a lot!

Content Warnings

More...