The Pillars of the Earth

This is a challenging book to review, mostly because there was just so much of it. The setting was very Robin Hood vibes. I really enjoyed the characters and thought that they were believable, if a little black and white. The good guys always ended up doing the right thing and the bad guys never stopped being terrible, self-serving, and unlikeable. I loved the story, how it carried over the decades that it took to build the cathedral, and getting to see each stage in the process. And the author seemed to do a great job portraying the political and religious environment of the 1100's, which I found very interesting to learn more about. That was my favorite part of the book: getting to see such a detailed picture of life in an ancient era and all of the small differences I would never have considered. I was interested and entertained all the way to the end of the book. Overall, I would definitely say it was worth the read ONLY if you're willing to skip over some parts.

I do, however, have some complaints. I truly HATED reading the primary antagonist's POV. He was vile, completely self-absorbed and using his power to take whatever he wanted from people and do whatever he wanted to people. It was so frustrating, seeing this character without a single redeeming or positive quality continue to maintain power and destroy in moments the hard work of hundreds of others. Maybe that's the point of his character, but I hated reading from his perspective. Connected with that complaint, this book has an unnecessary amount of adult content. I think I probably skipped 10-15 pages total, which is a small percentage of the book, but way way more than was necessary for the author to include. Lastly, towards the end it just felt a little unbelievable that so many major world events happened to connect to one small town in England and a few specific people.

Age range: 18+
Very violent, medieval combat. Graphic depictions of SA, and some non-violent adult content. Strong language that honestly felt a little out of place for a story that took place 900 years ago, pretty modern cursing.