Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I, too, was a fan of Pillars of the Earth. When I read about this book's imminent release, I was very excited. I suppose I would feel cheated about the total lack of payoff that the sequel provided but it was so bad that, at times, it was good and provided me with some measure of entertainment. Some measure. Right now I'm still marveling that I made it through all 1,000 pages. Reader beware: spoilers will abound in this review. Where to start? How about with the controversial issue over the sex scenes. I agree with the reviewers who wrote that they were gratuitous--were they ever. It's one thing to have sex scenes in a book if they propel the plot but that certainly wasn't the case with this book. The sex scenes were unnecessary and so poorly written that they were unintentionally humorous. I felt like I was reading the lascivious ramblings of an adolescent male. The scenes were all more or less the same and even when they were supposed to take place between characters deeply in love they were completely devoid of emotion. What's more, I found some of the terminology used to describe the bodies of female characters rather offensive. As for the plot...well, there is no real plot. Instead, there is a series of episodes that are linked together to create a tale of the less than compelling lives of the characters. Some of it is interesting, such as the recounting of how the social and monetary structure of towns and villages fell apart in the wake of the plague. Some of it was just graphic and grotesque, such as the detailed description of a flaying. Some of it was just plain absurd, such as two nuns traveling unprotected through very hostile territory as they attempted to track down the English army and bother the bishop with their petty--when compared with the fact that people are at *war* here--concerns. Perhaps the worst thing about the story is the unrelenting misery that falls on the heads of the characters. Tragedy is heaped on the good characters in such copious amounts it's a wonder any of them manage to get out of bed in the morning. By contrast, the evil characters experience triumph after triumph. Sure, it's all tied up very neatly in the end--practically with a bow--but it's certainly not satisfying. Perhaps the sitcom style-ending is appropriate to a book that is pretty much one big medieval soap opera. As for the characters, with whom should the reader sympathize? For the most part, they are all so stereotypical they might as well have their roles tattooed on their foreheads: hard-working peasant, strong female character, noble builder, evil prior... There is precious little internal dialog and so the characters are very stunted. Merthin should be the character for whom the reader roots but he's so boring and his devotion to his brother is just unfathomable. Caris is little more than a self-centered harpy who is so out of character as a medieval woman that it's laughable. I certainly don't object to the idea of an unconventional female character. In fact, I welcome it. However, she must still be within keeping of the spirit of her times if she is to be believable. The love between her and Merthin is inexplicable and his supposed devotion to her is made cheap by his hopping into bed with various other women the minute he is slighted by her--and then Caris has the nerve to be mad about it. How can Merthin be such a sex object when he's so unexciting? How can Caris be the love of his life when she spends most of the novel using him in various and assorted ways? Ralph is unrelentingly evil and his occasional twinges of guilt with regard to how Merthin views him were completely unconvincing. Godwyn is much the same, though his evil is more of the ignorant and arrogant nature than Ralph's. Either way, both characters would have benefited a great deal from a healthy dose of nuance. If evil characters are to appear in a book, they should at least be interesting. If they're meant for nothing more than to just be evil, they should take up a whole lot fewer pages than these two do. As for Gwenda, she is a woman who more or less sells her body and then commits several murders. Though the first two are clearly a struggle for survival, the last two are appalling. Yes, the two men she kills are evil but that doesn't justify her taking their lives simply to protect a secret that she brought upon her own head. I was very disgusted with her character in the end, though I didn't like her all that much when she tried to seduce Wulfric into marrying her rather than Annet. However stupid Annet is, it hardly justifies the depths of Gwenda's deception. The reconciliation between the women is so cheesy. My other big gripe about this novel is its repetitiveness. Did no one edit this thing? How many times does the reader need to be told that the people of Kingsbridge come to view Caris as something of a saint? Why does the reader need a rehash of everyone's pasts when he or she reaches the last section of the book? The book is bloated enough without everything being repeated over and over ad nauseam. I really have no idea why this book is earning so many rave reviews.