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janetreads's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Rape and Medical trauma