This is a sequel to Ken Follett's 80s classic The Pillars of the Earth; Pillars wrapped up its characters stories quite neatly, so Follett wisely decides to keep the setting, 200 years in the future, and trace the development of Kingsbridge. The first novel, set in the Anarchy that followed the death of Henry I, saw the area go from a monastery on a backroad on the edge of being usurped by the town of Shiring to a cathedral town with a bustling population, all under the wise guidance of the visionary Prior Phillip, while the displaced children of the Earl of Shiring struggled mightily to regain their birthright. Since then, the town continued to grow, until the reign of Edward III, but the main characters' sacred blood and institutions have, to a great extent, rotted. While some of the main good characters are in fact descendants of Jack and Aliena, the main line, the holders of the Shiring earldom, mostly seem to have become arrogant jerks typical of their social class (excepting Earl William, partly due to having a good wife); meanwhile, the Kingsbridge priory, which under Phillip was a force for good out to forge a new community and advance the cause of God and civilization, has become hidebound, held in the course of the novel by a series of conservatives liable to quash progress. Both are entirely realistic outcomes, and it's a nice bit of unsentimentalism (actually, there are a couple of elements here that almost feel like Follett cynically commenting on some of Pillars' more optimistic moments; here, there is also a devout, hardworking monk without selfish motives, but he is ruthlessly sidelined instead of advancing to the priorship through good fortune, as Phillip did). Even the foundations of the cathedral are flawed.
Our main characters are two brothers, Merthin and Ralph; Caris, the daughter of a prosperous merchant; and Gwenda, the daughter of a convicted thief. While playing in woods one day, they witness a battle between a knight named Sir Thomas Langley and some footsoldiers of Isabella, Queen-consort of the recently-deceased Edward II of England; Langley trusts Merthin to guard the location of a secret letter (as a sidenote, as an historian, I was absolutely convinced I knew what the secret was (indeed, the characters speculate about it), but I was surprised; well done, Mr. Follett), and then secludes himself in the monastery. Unlike the mystery of Jack's father's death in "Pillars", this mystery is pretty slight, but the individual characters' stories are fairly strong.
One can certainly see certain character types recurring (some, such as the similar profession and proficiency of Jack and his descendent Merthin, are actually noted in-text). One can line up Aliena and Caris (and, to a certain extent, Gwenda); William and Ralph (although Ralph seems somewhat more sympathetic, although he is ultimately just as vile); Warren Bigod and Godwyn, etc. The last of those is rather interesting, since he initially seems to be a good monk in the style of Phillip in the first book, and is even something of a viewpoint character early on, but he quickly becomes a ruthless obstacle. Merthin and Caris' (extremely) lengthy, (extremely) troubled courtship is very similar to Jack and Aliena's, including each having a sojourn to the continent (apart, in the case of this novel), and lengthy periods where marriage is impossible; Caris has an additional wrinkle, since, like many romance heroines, she isn't sure marriage is what she wants, with this taking on particular significance in an era when women became property (many have noted that there's a lot of 21st century feminism present here, and that's true, to be sure, much as with most modern entertainment). Gwenda (despite some similarities with Aliena) is a very different character than can be found in Pillars of the Earth however, and she often seems to suffer for it in the narrative (that's on top of all her literal sufferings in the narrative); she doesn't really belong in the same world as Merthin, Caris and Ralph, all ambitious middle-classmen with big dreams success (building England's tallest structure, independence, earldom), while Gwenda, the luckless serf, just wants freehold tenantry (which is as big a dream as most in her class will ever realize). Her narrative coequals reach epic heights and depths; she goes as low, but never gets nearly as high, and she is mostly separate from the lives of Merthin and Caris, the latter nominally being her close friend. Through her, Follett does chronicle a revolution in the land organization of England, brought on by the Black Death.
The first book was heavy on cathedral architecture description (something Follett has an evident passion for); there's less of that here, but a lot of talk about bridges, which is actually quite interesting. Follett's writing style is about the same as always, familiar to those who've read Pillars or any of his past work; there's a lot of explicit sex, and some very gruesome violence, most notably a graphic description of a man being flayed alive. It's compulsively readable.
Our main characters are two brothers, Merthin and Ralph; Caris, the daughter of a prosperous merchant; and Gwenda, the daughter of a convicted thief. While playing in woods one day, they witness a battle between a knight named Sir Thomas Langley and some footsoldiers of Isabella, Queen-consort of the recently-deceased Edward II of England; Langley trusts Merthin to guard the location of a secret letter (as a sidenote, as an historian, I was absolutely convinced I knew what the secret was (indeed, the characters speculate about it), but I was surprised; well done, Mr. Follett), and then secludes himself in the monastery. Unlike the mystery of Jack's father's death in "Pillars", this mystery is pretty slight, but the individual characters' stories are fairly strong.
One can certainly see certain character types recurring (some, such as the similar profession and proficiency of Jack and his descendent Merthin, are actually noted in-text). One can line up Aliena and Caris (and, to a certain extent, Gwenda); William and Ralph (although Ralph seems somewhat more sympathetic, although he is ultimately just as vile); Warren Bigod and Godwyn, etc. The last of those is rather interesting, since he initially seems to be a good monk in the style of Phillip in the first book, and is even something of a viewpoint character early on, but he quickly becomes a ruthless obstacle. Merthin and Caris' (extremely) lengthy, (extremely) troubled courtship is very similar to Jack and Aliena's, including each having a sojourn to the continent (apart, in the case of this novel), and lengthy periods where marriage is impossible; Caris has an additional wrinkle, since, like many romance heroines, she isn't sure marriage is what she wants, with this taking on particular significance in an era when women became property (many have noted that there's a lot of 21st century feminism present here, and that's true, to be sure, much as with most modern entertainment). Gwenda (despite some similarities with Aliena) is a very different character than can be found in Pillars of the Earth however, and she often seems to suffer for it in the narrative (that's on top of all her literal sufferings in the narrative); she doesn't really belong in the same world as Merthin, Caris and Ralph, all ambitious middle-classmen with big dreams success (building England's tallest structure, independence, earldom), while Gwenda, the luckless serf, just wants freehold tenantry (which is as big a dream as most in her class will ever realize). Her narrative coequals reach epic heights and depths; she goes as low, but never gets nearly as high, and she is mostly separate from the lives of Merthin and Caris, the latter nominally being her close friend. Through her, Follett does chronicle a revolution in the land organization of England, brought on by the Black Death.
The first book was heavy on cathedral architecture description (something Follett has an evident passion for); there's less of that here, but a lot of talk about bridges, which is actually quite interesting. Follett's writing style is about the same as always, familiar to those who've read Pillars or any of his past work; there's a lot of explicit sex, and some very gruesome violence, most notably a graphic description of a man being flayed alive. It's compulsively readable.
) and I absolutely adored it. 
