A World Without End, by Ken Follett

Sometime in the mid-90's, I read Ken Follett's thoroughly engrossing novel Pillars of the Earth. Then out of the blue in 2007, Oprah picked it for her Book Club. As luck would have it, Mr Follett had a sequel coming out just at that time. I wasn't going to buy the hardcover edition of the sequel at the height of its popularity. Even if it's as good as the original, it's not worth keeping around. So I waited until a few months ago when the paperback version of A World Without End come to our local bookstore.

In the meantime, words came out that this sequel is more like "a book without end." In my case, I had no difficulty finishing it, but I must say, it was a lame story, an almost exact copy of the original except this time around, the freshness is gone. There is a close to one-to-one correspondence of characters, except that instead of trying to build a cathedral, our hero is building a bridge. However, a bridge is not nearly as exciting as a cathedral, so other things are thrown in there as fillers.

Mr Follett had said he wrote Pillars because he had a keen interest in medieval England and its magnificent cathedrals. I can completely understand, as I find the topic fascinating myself, hence my enjoyment of his novel. However, the sequel seems more an attempt at capitalizing on the success of the original than a worthwhile story on its own.