So I finished the third and final installment of Ken Follett’s Century trilogy, Edge of Eternity, and I can say with certainty that he’s still one of my favorite fiction writers. However, this was my least favorite of the three (Fall of Giants and Winter of the World), but that’s only because the pacing of the book was imbalanced, as were the politics of the characters. The bulk of the book is spent in 1960s – a huge chunk just in 1968 – and then all of sudden we jump to the mid-70s and get a short whiff of the 80s. Then boom – the Iron Curtain falls and the book ends. It was a glorious end, but we arrived there swiftly, which is odd to say about a book that’s more than a thousand pages.
The political persuasions of the characters would’ve been fine had there been a better balance of sides, however the only conservative Republican character was a self-centered, deceitful white man who was distasteful in every way. The only other characters that were equally despicable were the Communist leaders. It was an obvious slight that became annoying in the end.
Still, Follett is a beautiful writer and, per usual, I’m left feeling sad that his characters and I have parted ways. I’m mourning appropriately by starting a new book, Horrorstör.
Speaking of books, I’ve joined a group of BookTubers and thousands of fellow GoodReads members by taking the 50 Book Challenge – reading 50 books in one year. Click on the image in the sidebar to keep track of what I’m reading.
One down, 49 to go.
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