I love the Kingsbridge series. This one is just as fabulous as the ones before this, or the ones that come after, chronologically in the story.
You can read these books in any order but if you haven't started, yet, I would recommend you start with this one. Then you see how everything develops. The small place called "Dreng's Ferry" is going to become a very important town called Kingsbridge and you can see over the years how England and the world grows, how lives change from one century to the next, well the next but one. There are always about two hundred years between the stories, nobody from the book before is alive anymore, nobody knows anyone from the book before. However, the families are known and once you get to know them, you can follow their destiny.
This one is especially interesting since it takes place about a thousand years before us. A whole millennium. We can see how much has changed - and how much hasn't. Impressive.
Everyone is depicted in the novel, good people and bad people, rich and poor, intelligent and not so intelligent, ambitious and cruel, crafty and talented, just like in real life.
Most times were hard, there have been wars all the time, all over the world, this time is no exception. They were different from our times but they were not any better.
You can't read the 900 pages in a couple of days but you'll be surprised how quickly you get through this story. The further you get, the less you can await the end. Just a brilliant book by an amazing author.
From the back cover:
"It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns.
In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined. A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when the only home he's ever known is raided by Vikings, forcing him and his family to move and start their lives anew in a small hamlet where he does not fit in. . . . A Norman noblewoman marries for love, following her husband across the sea to a new land, but the customs of her husband's homeland are shockingly different, and as she begins to realize that everyone around her is engaged in a constant, brutal battle for power, it becomes clear that a single misstep could be catastrophic. . . . A monk dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a center of learning that will be admired throughout Europe. And each in turn comes into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his wealth and power."
And here are the other books in the series:
"The Pillars of the Earth" (Kingsbridge #1) - 1989
"World Without End" (Kingsbridge #2) - 2007
"A Column of Fire" (Kingsbridge #3) - 2017
I wouldn't mind reading another book from Kingsbridge, either from the year 800 or 1800, no matter.
