A Column of Fire

This is a book that is exciting to read. It is historical fiction during the reign of Elizabeth I. Ken Follett keeps the reader on the edge of his seat explaining how certain historical events in Elizabethan England took place and makes the reader feel they are part of the events that happened. It is a love story about Ned Willard in that time and Follett draws you into the story as an observer. I found myself recoiling in disgust at the villains and wanting to cheer for the hero who made the most of his situations. More than once I read well past bedtime because I became engrossed in the story. Ken Follett is one of those authors who can describe the complex time and make you feel you are living in that era. This book is as good as his first book in this series (Pillars of The Earth) and well worth reading.

Follett delivers another engaging read! I enjoyed the characters and how they all tied together throughout different countries and decades.

This book is the third volume in the Kingsbridge series. It is similar to the others in some ways but much different in others. Like the earlier two books, Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, this book is sweeping in scope, covering more than 50 years. People are married, have babies, and the babies grow up. Like the others, this one is set in a historical period and has lots of authentic detail drawn from written sources. But while the others were set in periods that have been relatively neglected by recent authors, both historians and novelists, A Column of Fire happens against the backdrop of the Protestant Reformation and the changes England experienced after King Henry VIII died without a male heir. Here, we the readers are on somewhat more familiar ground. The 16th century has been covered in many movies and TV shows in addition to nonfiction literature. There are only a few novelized versions, most not recent, so I’m not aware of other historical novels set in this period so there’s little to compare it with except the actual history. The author does a thorough job of setting his story, with some fictional characters and other historical persons, in an authentic plot derived from historical sources. I dare say it’s possible to learn the history from this book, always a scary thing to think about when discussing a novel. The familiar history of King Henry’s break with the Catholic church and the chaos that introduced into what was then a provincial and unimportant country is the enabling event that sets the plot in motion. As such, the book differs from most of today’s fiction in that it is driven by theme and plot more than by character, although the characters are deftly drawn. Familiar names come up frequently for the moderately well-read history buff. Erasmus, Calvin, and of course Martin Luther play a substantial role although they don’t actually appear. The Pope at the time also plays a role, alas, not a very helpful one. We meet Guy Fawkes, whose attempted terrorist act closes out the action. The difference between Protestant and Catholic sects is made as clear as it’s possible for a modern book to make it, although to me it leaves a mystery as to what the tie-in between Calvin, Erasmus, and Henry VIII might be. Mary Tudor and Mary Queen of Scots are characters. The book is huge and sweeping because it’s trying to follow the consequences of Henry VIII’s creation of a new breakaway church. It does a good job leaving the story where it did, in the reign of James I in England and Henri IV in France, pointing the way to an eventual reconciliation of the sects of Christianity with the Edict of Nantes on one side of the channel and the Gunpowder Plot on the other. Amazingly for a plot that spans 50 years, it seems taut and action packed. People are put to death for their beliefs and there’s a great tie-in with the Pilgrims’ voyage to America. No American wouldn’t get it. Now for the few, the very few things I didn’t like about the book. It’s small format and therefore rather hard to read. For this long a book, it’s certainly worth making the print and physical size of the pages bigger. Then there’s the use of somewhat less familiar versions of some of the characters’ names. Mary is more often “Queen of the Scots” than the familiar schoolroom “Queen of Scots.” French characters from the nobility have their titles translated into English, except for Philip II, King of Spain, who is “King Felipe.” I am still moderately literate in French from my school days and I remember some of the French characters with their French titles, like the Duc de Guise. It seems odd to see them anglicized. I also found myself confused by the “Marquess” being male and the “Marchioness” being female. More objectionable though is that the maritime parts were clearly written by a landlubber. The author studiously avoids almost all naval terms. He seems unaware of how much work it is to furl or set sail, and how easy it is to heave to with the sails set, one mast thrusting in reverse and the other ahead, with the result that the ship holds position fairly well but is ready to fill and gather speed very quickly. He’s done his homework on what actually happened in the Spanish Armada, but with a seaman like Ned’s brother Barney telling the story there’s no excuse to dumb it down. In spite of these minor lapses, I felt the book deserved 5 stars. It’s a masterpiece.

While it took a little more time to get into this book, it proved a very worthwhile investment. Follett weaves a brilliant tale around actual events where the characters seem almost like real individuals, they are so very well painted. This book was a delight to read, as are all the others in this theme, which I can highly recommend.

I read Ken Follett's A Column of Fire not long after Yuval Harari's Sapiens. The Sapiens is one of the books that leave great impression behind. It puts together historical facts in a light that suddenly makes sense, guaranteeing several aha moments. The Sapiens' overview of our human history provides a fantastic background to the Column of Fire. Ken Follett wrote this novel as a third member of his Kingsbridge series, featuring a fictional, medieval English city with its magnificent cathedral. But almost as importantly, he wrote this one after finishing another of his series, the Century Trilogy about the 20th century. The scene is the 16th century England, placed about 200 later than previous book, World Without End. We are in the middle of the religious wars, when new forms of Christianity searched their places in England. The Catholic church tried to hold fast on the tradition and on its earlier prosperity, but it had to fight with not only the pope-opposing royal family but also the theologies of the Swiss Calvin and the German Luther. The book was, for me, an exciting and very personal elaboration of Harari's intriguing lines about the some of the last centuries of the Roman era: "[I]f we combine all the victims of all these persecutions, it turns out that in these three centuries, the polytheistic Romans killed no more than a few thousand Christians. In contrast, over the course of the next 1,500 years, Christians slaughtered Christians by the millions to defend slightly different interpretations of the religion of love and compassion." Follett's book made you personal friends and foes. To see people fall who you know and whose homes, neighbours and neighbourhood you know, is of course much more relatable than than the written word "millions". The style of the book reminded me to the Century Trilogy. It changed between locations and between the characters' eyes through which the storyline unfolded. By this, we got a good image not only of England but also of Seville, Paris and America. And also, the different characters helped understand the motivation of petty, greedy, great or stubborn people. This added a lot to the joy of reading. By the travelling between cities and perspectives, Ken Follett created a global, human atmosphere: this era is after all the beginning of our globalised world. I enjoyed the book A Column of Fire thoroughly. It is exciting, romantic, cruel, intimate and historical. As a bonus, it also explains Harari's another line from his TED talk "Humans control the planet because they are the only animals that can cooperate both flexibly and in very large numbers." Religions live in the heads of people, and if a religion starts spreading then followers can achieve almost anything. And that was the case in the Reformation, which I had learnt in school, yet never really comprehended before this book.

If you read the Kingsbridge novels in chronological order, this would be the fourth, but it was the third novel to be released. You absolutely do not have to read them in any order, as they are completely standalone, but I think you might enjoy reading at least Pillars of the Earth first. This is another great book set in the town of Kingsbridge, taking place in the sixteenth century while Queen Elizabeth gains the throne of England. It centers around two main characters with a forbidden love, but it is heavily focused on the political and religious intrigues of the world around them. Follet is a master writer of historical fiction, and I found this one to be just as good as the other books in the series.

Ken Follet has always been my favorite writer and my first book by him was the Eye of the Needle which I think remains the best spy thriller ever written. Since then I has always eagerly waited for every one of his new releases until the Pillars of the Earth which I did not finish. I continued to read his other releases most of which remain highly entertaining. There were perhaps one or two disappointments such as the Third Twin. However, Column of Fire literally took my breath away because of its scope and in-depth research not to mention the historical background and multitude of lively and meticulously constructed characters with his style of writing as crisp as ever. What is most impressive however is his signature plots which never stop surprising you, and this time he did it all under a very intriguing historical backdrop which makes this book truly stand out. I ended up going back to reading and finishing his previous two books in the series including the Pillars. I cannot heap enough praise for Mr. Follet’s tremendous ambition and success for this series and I don’t think any other writers have succeeded the way he has been able to. No modern writer comes close to him, may be James Clavell in 1-2 of his books or Louis Cha. Mr. Follet is our modern day Alexander Dumas and the Chinese novelist LUO Guan Zhong who wrote the all time classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms, combined. If you like intriguing plots, realistic characterization, non-obtuse writing, boundless imagination but not Stephen King, all under a historical context, READ Ken Follet.

So far I love this book and the depth of eqch character you, "meet". Not everyone is simply portrayed as good or evil and we get to see each diverse character's multifacted ways of thinking and feeling based on their own lifes experiences and family dynamics and traditions. Follett knocks another book out of the park in this stor. Covers a lot of history that is based upon true events which took place. You won't want to put this book down.