3.5

Well, this book has left me muddled, torn, and shook. It was great, but it was weighed down by its marketing as the next book in the Kingsbridge series. But I cannot think of a better book to have started off 2019 with.

Had this been a separate novel, I would have loved it more, but because it's Kingsbridge #3, I wanted Kingsbridge. I wanted something that was established in the two prior books to be at stake, like the way the Market was in WWE, adding to the level of tragedy that such thing was collapsing. Unfortunately, this dealt with a part of history on a large, political scale and I, at least, knew what would happen. There was no level of suspense to who would win or not because history is history and I doubt Ken Follett was about to change it for the sake of a surprising ending.

This also meant I was comparing every little detail to TPOTE and WWE but this book was so different from the romance to the plot that the difference made it fall short, even though this was a thrilling and compelling book. It really put a damper on Follett's talents because I just could not push Merthin and Caris and Jack and Aliena out of my mind long enough to enjoy Sylvie, Margery and Ned as individual characters.

Other than that, this book was quite a knockout. It had the amazing writing and world-building and characterization that I have come to expect from Follett as well as a fun plot. Unfortunately, this would have worked better if it had been separate from the other two works and treated a sole book because, in the end, my disappointment ended up hindering my enjoyment and lowering the rating.