Winter of the World: Book Two of the Century Trilogy

Following history through the lives of these characters in all different places during the war gave it such clarity. I feel like I learned a lot about WW2 and I understood it better. Sometimes I had to remind myself who the current character was for Russia because names sounded so similar and there were so many characters. I hated reading about the political stuff in London but it felt like a necessary evil. I feel I learned more what the different political parties are about too. Looking forward to book 3 and the cold war I imagine.

Small print for a hardback. it'll just take longer to read.

Ken Follett is one of my very favorite authors. I haven’t read anything by him in quite a while because, well, I’ve already read everything he’s written. This is Book 2 of the “Century Trilogy”. The book has actually been out for a couple of years, but I have been refusing to buy it because of the ridiculous expense (even the Kindle version seems abnormally high). I finally snagged the e-version on sale for about six bucks. I had read Book 1 about three years ago and was very impressed with it. The downside for me is that three years is a long time, and I had essentially forgotten everything that happened in volume 1 except for 1) the majority of the story took place during World War I -and- 2) The book had four main plot lines, each one taking place in a different country of the major players of the First World War.Well, fortunately, a photographic memory really isn’t necessary for this, the second installation. Essentially, most of the major players in Book 1 have been relegated to supporting roles, and the many offspring of those characters have now assumed center stage. And there are a lot of characters. Fortunately, Follett includes a “Cast of Character” section at the beginning of the book since it’s very easy to get a bit lost within the +800 pages. The author also does an admirable job of throwing in little snippets within the story to remind you of who the character is, what their background is, who they’re romantically smitten with, etc. etc.We have four main stories, or “sets” of characters. One in Russia, Germany, England, and the United States respectively. All of them are affected by the Second World War in different ways, and even though we have four different locations, all of these characters are somehow “connected” to each other in some bizarre way, so the plots do nicely fit in with each other.Like the first book, Follett is also attempting to give his readers a bit of a history lesson as well. Our characters find themselves right in the thick of many of the major events leading up to, and during and after, World War II. We find many of our main characters literally in the same rooms with Adolph Hitler, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin Roosevelt. So, yes, at times the book seems a bit “Forrest Gump-ish”, but I never found it too much of a distraction most of the time. Still, though, in an instance where we read about a couple going to Hawaii for a vacation in late 1941, well, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s about to happen to the poor couple.This book covers the years 1933-1949, and even though it’s over 800 pages, it seemed a bit as though Follett was rushing through too much (which is a sign of great book, if you think about it). I almost wish he would have fleshed this series out into more books and tell the story a bit slower. I’m reminded of John Jakes “The Kent Chronicles” that warranted eight books. Maybe Ken Follett simply didn’t have it in him to write that much, but I would have enjoyed reading more about these characters and their stories. I almost felt like I was reading an abridged version of the different stories. Ironically, the years after the war (1946-1949) he zooms by entirely too fast, and he mainly uses these years for all of the couples to miraculous give birth to several babies so we can have some protagonists for the third (and final) volume. Even more ironic is that when I went back and read my review that I wrote for Book 1, I made the exact same observations in that volume for the Post World War I years.The only complaint I have with this book, is that Ken Follett doesn’t know when to “shut up” during the sex scenes. With all of these young lovers running around courting one another, there’s an awful lot of romance, yet Mr. Follett feels obliged to tell us what is going on inside the bedroom in nauseating, pornographic detail. Some of the scenes within these pages would make Hugh Hefner gag. I mean, he can get really, really disgusting. Then, we have a scene where we see two (clandestine) homosexual lovers (there is a lot of homosexuality in this book) that are fighting for their country in the U.S. Navy, and they’re on a ship getting ready to do battle. For some reason, the author feels obliged to say something stupid like “In addition to fighting for their country, they also loved the fact that they could watch other naked sailors taking showers”. Or something like that. Mr. Follett, is this really necessary??So get past the pornography, and you really do have an excellent book here. It’s not really even necessary to read Book 1, but I would recommend it. Like this one, the first volume is outstanding as well.

Follett is a great writer, an easy read, a bit difficult with Russian & German names. I am anxious for book 3.

Can’t stop reading this trilogy. Starting book three now.It’s history from the perspective of characters that lived through it. A must read for all who want to make sense of the 20th century world.

Not as captivating as the first in the series

With a heavy heart, this is only the second of nine books I've reviewed for Follet that I haven't given five stars. I'll explain why I gave four stars, still a good rating, and why I didn't give it five stars, a great rating. By the way, if I could rate the book something like a 4.25, I would, as four stars doesn't quite do justice, but rating five stars would be a little too much.Why I gave it four stars: In my opinion, one of the greatest signs that a book is entertaining is that it doesn't even feel like you're reading a book. Pages flew by for me, with the many storylines all being interesting and the characters once again very compelling. Follet doesn't really develop his character's with emotions, instead he develops them through dialogue, with the things they say, and actions, with the things they do. It's a little difficult to keep track of all the characters, though the major ones are easy to follow and each of the five or so storylines are almost equally enjoyable. Not only are many new characters introduced here, including the six or seven main characters, but previous characters from Fall of Giants appear frequently and sometimes play an important role in the events that take place. It can seem daunting, but the stories blend nicely and become easier to follow as the book goes on. As a reader, I can only applaude Follet for writing another story such as this on a grand scale, and keeping everything mostly in order. If you've read Fall of Giants, then you know what you're getting with this book. Fiction and history blended together *almost* seamlessly. For me, not knowing a whole lot about WWII, it was exciting because I had no clue what might happen next, and what way things would go. If you're very knowledgeable about the war, I could see how it might not be as exciting.Reasons why I didn't give it five stars: Mainly in the first half of the book, things seemed too coincidental, such as two characters running into each other in a large city like Washington D.C. However, even though these characters may have last seen each other only 50-100 pages before, sometimes a year or two has passed in that time, so it still was somewhat believable.Also, mainly again in the first half of the book, some things happened which felt a little "soap opera-ish", like a character falling in love helplessly in such a short time span. It might of helped the fictional aspects of the book become more exciting, but to me it came off as slightly unbelievable. Then again, it IS fction, so I'm not sure what to think.A minor complaint I had was the storyline with Lloyd Williams was focused on a little too much the first two-thirds of the book. I would of enjoyed reading more about Lev Peshkov or the Von Ulrichs than was featured throughout the book. Again, this is only a minor complaint, and during the last four hundred pages it was much more balanced.The last reason why I couldn't give five stars is because I felt like Follet may have tried to stick just a little too much history and too many events into the book. This causes some short-term storylines to feel a little thin. An example would be the Chuck Dewar or Erik Von Ulrich storyline. I guess I can understand why some evnts had to be hastened, as the book would probably end up around 1500 pages had Follet not skimped on the details.So, here's my bottom line. If, like me, you enjoy Follet, and especially Fall of Giants, then Winter of the World will almost certainly please you. It's worth the time and money in my opinion, and I do fully plan to read the third book. Although this wasn't my favorite book, I have an enormous amount of respect for the work that Follet puts in. Between Fall of Giants and this book, it's pretty much a 1900 page story concering five families and the events surrounding them during thirty years and two world wars. Phew! I have nothing but extreme admiration for Follet as author.If someone asked what I thought were Follet's best books, unfortunately I wouldn't say this. However, if someone asked me if I would recommend this, my answer would certainly be yes.

Far be it from me to review an author like Ken Follet, but for me this trilogy has a lot to offer as a history lesson and a great read!

Llegó la pasta trasera doblada.

Grande secondo capitolo della trilogia del 900 di K Follet. Appassionante come il primo. Da leggere. Amazon perfetta come sempre.

Nachdem der erste Teil der Century-Triologie mich so begeistert hat, war dieses Buch ein Muss.Den geschichtlichen Hintergrund kennt man natürlich zur Genüge (in der Schule rauf und runter), aber ich habe noch kein Buch gelesen, in dem die Geschichte so greifbar erschien weil sie durch die agierenden Charaktere einfach sounglaublich belebt wurde. Mal wieder begeistert Ken Follett mit seinen lebendigen Charakteren und dem Mut, allen Seiten eine Stimme durch Personen zu geben und schonungslos jede Grausamkeit darzustellen - nie zu viel davon, nur gerade genug um zu spüren, in welcher Situation sich die Personen gerade befinden.Und obwohl man den Ausgang der Geschichte historisch ja bereits kennt, verliert das Buch nie an Spannung, weil man ständig um das Überleben der vielen Hauptfiguren hofft und bis zum Ende unsicher ist, was mit ihnen geschieht.Ein sehr, sehr gutes, fesselndes Buch, das einen wunderbaren (groben) Überblick über die Historie vermittelt und einem unglaublich nahe geht. Sehr empfehlenswert!

Obviamente para quien gusta de temas históricos narrados a manera de novela. Muy bien ambientada en su época y con datos históricos muy interesantes y poco conocidos. Si te gustó la trilogía de Los Pilares de la Tierra, esta es mejor ya que es más contemporánea (casi) narrando hechos del siglo pasado.

Der Meisterrechercheur und Spannungsspezialist hat den zweiten Teil seiner großen 20.-Jahrhundert-Saga vorgelegt. Während der 1. Teil ("Sturz der Titanen") sich dem 1. Weltkrieg und seiner Vorgeschichte widmet, steht nun der 2. Weltkrieg im Mittelpunkt. Aber während im 1. Teil die Familiengeschichten der Protagonisten aus ganz Europa kunstvoll miteinander verwoben wurden, trifft nun die nächste Generation in einer kaum enden wollenden Aneinanderreihung von Zufällen aufeinander - wäre das nicht etwas subtiler gegangen?An sich durchaus ein 4-Sterne-Buch, aber für die lieblose Konstruktion gibt's einen Stern Abzug.