World Without End

De: Ken Follett

Narrado por: John Lee

In 1989 Ken Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, a sweeping epic novel set in 12th-century England that centered on the building of a cathedral and the men, women, and children whose lives it changed forever. Critics were overwhelmed, and readers and listeners ever since have hoped for a sequel.

At last, here it is. Although the two novels may be listened to in any order, 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.

Three years in the writing, World Without End once again shows that Ken Follett is a masterful author writing at the top of his craft.

Listen to The Pillars of the Earth.©2007 Ken Follett (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Fans of Follett's previous medieval epic will be well rewarded." (Publishers Weekly)

Exceeded my Expectations

I debated buying this because of the lenght, don't worry about it. Ken Follet does and excellent job of keeping the story line going.

Pillars of the Earth is one of my all time favoite books and this one is as good as Pillars.

Like "Pillars of the Earth" only more so

Its like Follett decided that the first book was so successful that he should write another one just like it--same cardboard characters (with different names), same plots (on a different timeline). The only thing different is that this second book includes the Bubonic Plague and lots more sex. You can tell the author is a "man's man" because of all the endless sexual encounters. Frankly, it got so repetitious that I started to fast fwd through the rapes and the inevitably detailed sexual descriptions. zzzzz.

Almost As Good as Pillars, Two Caveats

This was as engaging a story as Pillars of the Earth. It is a real pageturner. The characters are well developed, although the main female character is too much of a feminist to have lived in the 14th Century. I highly recommend this Narrator.
So why 4 stars? One reason is, as with Pillars, the unfortunate tendency of the author to dwell on violent rape and sexual scenes. I alternated between thinking he had a perverse fascination with sadism and feeling he wanted to sell books. Such scenes only occur every several hours, but you tire of them. The other caveat is the treatment of Christians. Follett states he is an atheist in the intro. He does give a somewhat balanced view in that there is one "good" woman of God (although she questions everything the church believes) among many evil ones just as there are evil and good outside the church. I will be the first (along with Luther, et al) to admit that there were many abuses in the medieval church, but there were surely devout men with good motives in many church positions.
Overall, this was a gripping tale and worth the credit if you have time for a long book.

A Masterpiece!!!

I read (listened to) this book before reading "Pillars of the Earth". I found it extremely engaging and simply a great story. I cannot explain my engagement in this book, except to say I found myself caring very much about each of the main characters. I learned a lot about what life might have been like in those times and was completely fascinated by how real the story seemed to me. Later, I read "Pillars of the Earth" and was equally caught up in that story, although there were many similarities between the 2 books. Ken Follett has become one of my very favorite writers, and I look forward to many more of his books. Yeah, ...both are very long, but I really didn't want either one of them to end.

Wonderful

This may be one of the two best books ever written. The other would be Pillars of the Earth, both by Ken Follet. This author can transport a listener back in time and put you down in the 12th or 14th century and make you feel you are really there. His knowledge of how life was and the interaction between complex people is nothing short of brilliant. It seems like he knows too many things for this book to be fiction. It really seems to have happened just as he wrote it. I cannot tell you how many times I was mad at religion or the church, or the lords, or the king during this story. It does deal with sensitive issues such as burning witches, and stupid practices such as bleeding a patient with the plague. It is also in the time of the black death and the horror of that disease is evident. If you have not read/listened to this book yet, get it and Pillars of the Earth too. I cannot say this is the best book ever written because I have not read them all but I have over 1,000 audio books in my library and this stands far above all of them.

GREAT!

This is a great follow up to Pillars of the Earth, but you don't have to read (hear) them in order. There is a reason why the author is always on the best selling lists: he is a great story teller. The reader of this book has done a fabulous job, and it comes highly recommended

Never wanted it to end!

I recommend listening to "The Pillars of the Earth" first. John Lee is by far Audible's best narrator! Follet's storytelling and his knowledge of history during that era brought the characters to life to the extent that I felt as if I were standing inside the story as an invisible witness. I would stop listening purposely because I didn't want it to end..I hope he comes out with a third book to follow these two, and a fourth, and a fifth..with Mr. Lee as narrator. Buy both books, you won't regret it!

believe the hype

Just finished this this morning and I was very satisfied...It is just as good as the first book (The Pillars of the Earth) even after a slower start. Like the first one, many of the characters were very well created and made choices consistent with their character (as maddening as it was to me, the reader, at times). There were also some very distinct similarities between the two books when dealing with the good / evil characters. I do believe there were some 21st sensibilities worked into this 14th century novel and felt it was a stretch at times, but not a 5 star deal breaker. I've decided on 5 stars because it is really a 4.5 and giving it a 4 star review after eagerly turning each of the 1024 pages seemed too little. I guess I was figuratively turning the pages since I read it on a 40+ hour audiobook.

Amazing book

Loved this book, and Pillars of the Earth, the first in this series. Ken Follett's writing is fantastic. This book is so worth your credits! Great listen! You will be absorbed in this world in a matter of minutes.

Epic Extremely Long - Enjoyed every minute!

This book and The Pillars of the Earth by the same author rank very high on my all-time favorite books list. Each book is around 40 hours if I remember right, broken into 6 or 7 parts and when first downloaded seem absolutely daunting. That said, if you download these books (start with Pillars of the Earth, the first of two books in the series), you will not want to take your headphones out of your ears (or quit driving the car with the book playing). Such great stories of life in 12th century England. Highly recommend.