I know it's been forever since I've written. I could give you as many excuses as my seventh grade students give me (I had to babysit, I'm really into this TV series right now), but here's my best one...this book is a behemoth. Nine hundred and eighty five pages!
I first read Ken Follett because my father-in-law insisted I would love his books about the building of a cathedral in the Middle Ages of England. And I did. They were fascinating. I loved learning about the changes in culture, architecture, government, and church that occurred over the generations in the two books. It really is a sweeping history, as book reviewers sometimes say.
Which leads me to this book, the first of three in a series. It's about World War I instead of the Middle Ages, and it has major characters in five different countries. Clearly also sweeping. But unfortunately, I don't have a lot of love for that era and I really didn't like all the war tactics and battle scenes.
I did like some of the characters, especially the suffragettes in England, and the ways that the characters end up meeting is interesting. I do like it when an author can weave it all together like that. I also learned a ton about how the war developed and if I read the sequels it will be to find out more about the next phases in history. Ok, now I sound like a nerd. I like sequels, though, because they offer new stories but with some comforting familiarity. I just know I definitely need a break before cracking open another thousand pager.
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