Book Thughts: "Fall of Giants," by Ken Follett

This was the first book of Ken Follett's that I've read, and I found it to be very enjoyable. His reputation for great historical research and detail is well deserved, and that is clearly the strong point of "Fall of Giants."

The book kicks off in 1911-1914, with a meeting of political minded folk at a dinner party for the king of England in Wales. From this meeting, strands go out into the story that cover five different families and their experiences during the World War I years. One family is a Welsh mining family, one is an English nobility, one an American high society family from Buffalo, one a German noble family, and the other a family of Russian workers.

Through the eyes of these characters we witness the dangerous lives of Welsh miners, inside looks at both the British and American governments during these critical years, the events that lead up to World War I, the Great War itself, the aftermath and horrific effects of the treaty of Versailles on the German people, and the Russian Revolution. It is an epic truly sweeping in it's scope.

First, the strong points. As I mentioned earlier, Follett's historical research and his ability to immerse the reader in time period is unmatched in anything I've read, and I've read a lot of historical fiction. The scenes are vivid and alive, from the royal halls of London, to the trenches in France, to the slums of Petrograd. The characters are also very vivid and believable. Follett makes you feel the emotion of love turned away, family betrayal, grief over war deaths, and the inflamed passions of revolution. His style in all of this is as smooth as silk.

Unfortunately, this smooth style makes the major weak point seem even weaker. I'd say the weak point is this: At times, Follett seems to fancy himself as an erotic romance writer. Generally speaking, when he tries, he doesn't pull it off, and the contrast between these horribly awkward scenes and the wonderful prose of the rest of the book is stark. These scenes are real clunkers, but thankfully most of them come near the beginning of the story. As it progresses and the characters themselves progress, the love scenes later in the story fit in much better.

In the end, the story is epic and well written. The action moves quickly, and it would be hard to notice that the book is nearly 1000 pages long. "Fall of Giants" is the first in a 3 book series and I can't wait until the next one comes out, according to Follett, it will cover World War II.