World without End (Ken Follett)

With the same setting as Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett invites comparison and criticism of this book with his previous work. An essentially similar struggle unfolds between church, state and town for control of people and wealth. But the novel stands up to the comparison. The characters are engaging, the story is credible and the pace keeps the story going … through the epic 1200 pages. This is a page-turner – hard to put down once I had started. A small criticism that some of the scenes/interludes just seem to be too similar to the previous work, and slightly diminish the overall effect – a foreign journey of discovery in Pillars of the Earth is repeated as a quick “there and back again” in this story. But this is minor in another classic tale of good and evil that captivates from the start.