I started plodding through this book and then in no time realised I wasn’t plodding any more but eager to get back into it at every chance I got. Having followed the fortunes of Kings Bridge and Shiring from 1100 AD in Pillars of the Earth and then from 1300 AD in World Without End through to satisfying conclusions in both books I thought it would be very difficult to become interested in this new story which begins in 999 AD. I was quite wrong; although the hero is once again a clever, inventive, morally upright but low-born builder and the heroine a brave, strong, intelligent woman of noble birth their story is a fascinating parallel to what takes place in the later centuries, rather than a same old same old re-hash.
There are evil aristocrats driven by a lust for power and evil peasants driven mainly by greed and envy. There are very bad monks and also very good monks; the priests on the other hand are mostly all bad. There are marauding Vikings and cruelly treated slaves. Justice is harsh and swift but through all this hard and seemingly hopeless time opportunities are still there for someone brave, strong-minded and smart enough to rise above the almost insurmountable obstacles of every day life in the tenth century.
When we were visiting England years ago we came upon the ancient ruins of an abbey which we found almost as mind-blowing as our first sight of the York Minster. I have kept both images in mind when reading all three of these books.
Bravery, treachery and the triumph of hope over despair. 5 out of 5.
Published by Macmillan.
Nice one, I may have to get back in the Kings Bridge game.
ReplyDeleteIt didn’t have the impact of Pillars of the Earth, of course, but it worked well with lots of beautifully drawn characters.
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