Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Title: Fall of Giants

Author: Ken Follett

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Bought

Published: Signet (September 4, 2012)

Type: Mass Market Paperback

ISBN: 9780451232854

Synopsis of Book: A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man’s world in the mining pits.…An American law student rejected in love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson’s White House.… A housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy.…And two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution.
From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes us into the inextricably entangled fates of five families—and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again.…

Why I read this book: I really liked this author’s book: Pillars of the Earth and World Without End so I thought I would try this series as well.

What I liked: I liked the historical part of this book. I also really liked Ethel and Maud.

What I didn’t like: For me this book had some very dry parts and I wish it would have had just a little less in depth talk of the war and a little more about the characters lives.

Overall Impression: I was so looking forward to reading this book that when a friend mentioned reading it I said I will read it with you. Well I was disappointed in this book. To me there were quite a few dry spots. I liked that they talked about the war and I learned a lot about it but the way it was done was very hard for me to get thru at spots. I enjoyed reading about the characters. The author did a great job in making them seem real. My two favorites were Maud and Ethel. They were both very strong women in their own right. I liked how Ethel was able to rise from her “class” and get some things done for all women. I also liked Grigori – he was a very nice guy who just wanted to do right by everyone and his brother was horrible and kept causing problems for him. I also liked how Germany, England, America and Russia were all intertwined in the book and the author told how each country was involved in WWI and how things happened after the war. I am going to give this book 3 stars.