Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)

This is a strong, interesting, well written and superbly performed historic pot boiler which may on occasion play a little fast and loose with the facts but makes up for that with a compelling narrative drive. Dont get me wrong, this is a very good book. Its a long and at times harrowing read which deals with the rise of Fascism and World War Two through to the start of the Cold War. What is a little irksome is the structure which relies on coincidences which draw the main actors to just the right place at the right time. Its a device he used to great effect in Fall Of Giants but its wearing a tiny bit thin in this second episode. In his much under rated movie Zelig Woody Allen has his character show up in pretty much every major news event of the 20th century to great comic effect. The frequency with which his protagonists pop up at just the right place and time to witness firsthand the salient event of WWII does stretch credibility just a little here and there. Having said that, its still a terrific read. I was a little troubled by a couple of historic inaccuracies which I noticed.for example one plot line features the Nazi T4 euthanasia program which actually happened in a Berlin suburb but Follett sets in a remote small town well outside Berlin. Follett dwells in gruesome detail on the mass rape carried out by the invading Red Army but almost completely ignores the entire Holocaust. Working through the events covered in this book its almost inevitable that the political bias of the author will show through from place to place. Its pretty clear that he has a soft spot for the working class heroes of the British Labor movement with a healthy contempt for aristocracy of any kind. These books are also fairly racy, certainly not for the under 16 set. If you enjoyed Fall of Giants you will likely love this book. If you havent read FOG yet, start there and you will likely follow straight on to this second book with your eye on the release date of the third in the series.

The wonder of this book is that most of us intimately understand the subject matter, and Follet does a wonderful job of creating the emotion and devastation associated with this tumultuous era in World History. He seamlessly weaves the characters together in a believable and dignified way. The comparisons of cultures and the representative actors is achieved in a subtle and believable manner. I could not be more impressed with his point of view on what it would have been like to witness some of the 20th Century\’s most notable events. I highly recommend this book, as it is exactly what an audio book should be: entertaining, representative of a unique point of view, and enjoyable!

Winter of the World is just as engrossing and just interesting as Fall of Giants. We meet characters we love, and a few we despise. Follett expertly puts his characters into all the major events of the 1930\’s and 1940\’s, and he does so without straining the readers/listeners credulity. Hitler\’s rise to power, the burning of the Reichstag, Pearl Harbor, Midway, the development of the atomic bomb, the struggle of Russia against Germany, it\’s all here. Follett never has been one to avoid tragedy and in Winter of the World people you don\’t think will come to harm are killed off. This is realistic and adds to the believability of the novel. When a great story is narrated by someone as fantastic as John Lee it next to impossible to stop listening. There were many days where I was engrossed for 5 or 6 hours at a time. Get this gem and enjoy.

I enjoyed this book a lot its very typical of all of Ken Follett books he is an epic story teller. I think I enjoyed Fall of Giants more though. Having been 2 years since that book came out it would have been nice just to have a clearer understanding of the characters genealogy. However IF you have not read Fall of Giants this book is still one you can pick up and enjoy without having read the previous book. I don\’t think the book focused enough on the holocaust but I think that is a point not many Germans from my understanding knew what was going on at that time.

in all three catagories! More than a great story. I love a novel that educates. Reader is perfect. Lost a whole weekend because I couldn\’t turn it off…

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