Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - 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).

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stinekristin's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

3.0

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nadia's review against another edition

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emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I'm loving the concept of this series — books tied not by characters but by a fictional place! You get a little bit of a history lesson it too, with this one taking me back to the Dark Ages.

I read The Pillars of the Earth at the end of last year and decided to go for the prequel next (not in publication order, which is normally my jam, but I'm sure that's fine, given it's a prequel of what I just read!).

The Evening and the Morning was great! I very quickly became invested in the different characters' stories, and I love me a lot of political intrigue. Well done Ken Follett for making me care about bishops, monks, and Catholic churches!

There were moments where I felt the pace lagged a little and the plot points felt a little bit repetitive. I also wasn't as emotionally invested as I thought I would be come the later sections given how it all started.

But all in all, a great read! Love getting immersed in a chunky book!

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beanjoles's review against another edition

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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!

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