The Winter of the World

Still an immensely interesting book with historical characters and mostly ones developed true for the time. The scenes can be lustful, anguishing and loving. This covers Hitler and the war in Germany and a little of the affects in France and Spain. Characters carry on from first book but you can read and thoroughly enjoy this one, even if you haven't read no. I even read it in the evening, a sign, for me, that it was a great book!

This book continues the story from Fall of Giants. That book looked at the world events leading up to and including WW I and includes the Russian Revolution. This book starts up with events leading to and including WW II. The characters and their children continue from book one. The action occurs in the U. The stories move between each character and the world events affecting them. It is not great literature, but it is great story telling. I found it to be a real page turner. Don't be turned off by its length. It is over pages long, but once you get caught up in the story the pages carry you on until the end.

I've read the complete trilogy. It is entertaining and a great history lesson. See all 7, reviews. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Learn more about Amazon Prime. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers. Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally. Amazon Inspire Digital Educational Resources. Amazon Rapids Fun stories for kids on the go. Amazon Restaurants Food delivery from local restaurants.

ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics. East Dane Designer Men's Fashion. In this novel they are listed on five pages, which makes it a more intimate read. While the list is handily presented, at the beginning of the book, most readers—including those not having read Fall of Giants—will likely not feel the need to refer to it. Chuck, Gus, Woody, Boy, Maud, Lloyd, Erik, Volodya, and so on, are well chosen and recognizable representatives of their country of origin. The result is not only an entertaining reading of their love stories and sexual experiences, but also an insight into the calamity, the horrors, the pain and sufferings of these people, who lived through those tumultuous times.

Also, concurrently, we gain an insight into the monumental efforts made by the Allies to bring the Nazi menace to its knees. To accomplish this, Ken Follett has used the tools of an historical fiction novelist admirably. These give us the thrill of having shared the mental thoughts and lived through those events beside the characters. The actors happen to be, proverbially, at the right place at the right time, to meet the right person. Some readers might find this unnerving. For instance, in one scene a soldier, while serving clandestinely in France, rescues the pilot of a downed aircraft, who turns out to be his half-brother, on a sortie out of England!

However, this reviewer would agree with the dialogue between the characters: But, the ones he has covered, are presented movingly and the action sequences are in sufficient detail to bring them visually before our eyes, but not so monotonously—as in some war movies—to make them tedious. Possibly, because the topic, of the Nazi Concentration Camps for Jews and others, is well covered elsewhere, they only have a passing mentioned in this novel. They were, not coincidentally, also mostly of Jewish and mixed races.

The novel describes the thrilling bravery of the German teenage girls, Carla and Frieda, to collect evidence that through the efforts of German clergy and public opinion, which finally persuaded the Fuhrer to close the program. While there are many real and fictional politicians, spies and their clandestine activities abound in the novel. Here Follett, as a masterpiece thriller novelist, is on familiar territory. Since the story lines are those of the children of the characters in Book One, they are mostly teenagers or slightly older.

Yet, they perform remarkable feats of international espionage, with ease, which turns the course of wars and fates of nations. Such as the young Volodya, who after conducting several successful undercover activities for the Russians in Berlin, is sent all the way to Albuquerque New Mexico, in , when he is still only about thirty. The characters, children of the ones in Book One, now have kids of their own, who will undoubtedly play a prominent role in the Cold War storylines to come. However, will they live in peace? We will have to wait for the Book Three to find out.

Ken Follett, in the recent promotional interviews for the Winter of the World, disclosed that he had the typescript of the novel read by a number of notable historians. They are also mentioned in the acknowledgements. Finishing reading this page novel is a much easier feat, than writing it. Jun 26, Hailey HaileyinBookland rated it it was amazing Shelves: These books are so fascinating because they manage to cover so much information in only pages. This one gave such an interesting perspective on World War II and the homefront. I love how you get to see all of the facets of the war, not just the battles.

The characters were lovable as it follows the children of the characters from the first book so I felt like I already knew them. My one issue is that I think I had hyped it up a bit too much for myself. World War II is one of my favourite historic topics to study and read about so I had very high expectations for this and they were just let down a smidgen.

I was hoping one of the perspectives would be from someone in a concentration camp but instead there was only an outside view of the concentration camps. I just wish they had been more of a prevalent topic in the story if that makes sense. But, other than that I really loved it! Ken Follett really is an expert storyteller as he is able to create such captivating narratives and create a realistic portrait of the world in the crisis of World War II. I can't wait for the next one! Aug 31, Dem rated it liked it.

Nov 14, Matt Schiariti rated it it was amazing. There are reasons why Ken Follett is one of my favorites, if not THE favorites and Winter of the World is another shining example of why. WOW picks up ten years after the end of Fall of Giants. While it does have the original cast from the previous installment, it's more about the second generation: While its well researched and equally well told, it wouldn't be anything more than a history book if it weren't for a diverse and nicely constructed cast.

Winter of the World has that in spades. While putting his characters through all kinds of world changing and hellish scenarios, Follett never diverges away from interpersonal drama, relationships and subplots. What he puts his characters through runs the gamut from the uplifting to the downright terrifying. Loves are won and lost, families are born, battles are fought, atrocities are lived through and overcome. Each and every character is well fleshed out and reacts logically. Using a combination of personal motives and moral codes, Follett's characters react to the real world and historical events he's made them a part of in a believable and logical way.

They react to what's going on around them and make their decisions based on their beliefs and the state of the world around them. Nobody puts fictional characters into true events like Ken Follett. I don't know how he does it but he does. I've read many of the previous reviews and see the low average rating. As it turns out, many of the one and two star reviews are from people complaining about the price Rating a book solely based on the price before ever even reading it is, in my humble opinion, silly, uninformative and unfair to the author.

If it's too costly, go to a library. Complaining about price is a waste of everybody's time. You just can't help but get swept up in the characters and the time periods he writes about.

Nov 09, Erin rated it it was amazing. Think you could never empathize with a communist, a socialist, the elitist, anarchist, or aristocrat? Think again, because Follett takes you front and center into the lives of such people in his second book of the Century Trilogy with a passion and clarity that delivers the story of their struggles and triumphs to a place beyond our manufactured understanding and created historical boxes.

I love a great familial pan-Atlantic historical epic, and KF is incredibly precise in describing the minutia Think you could never empathize with a communist, a socialist, the elitist, anarchist, or aristocrat? I love a great familial pan-Atlantic historical epic, and KF is incredibly precise in describing the minutiae which transforms how the reader would otherwise have thought about the various settings.

I love to be humbled by this kind of knowledge. Strong female characters are a trademark, and I find it more satisfying that his plainer folk see most of the action and heroics. There is a slight tendency to make out characters possessing a greater share of beauty and riches to be antagonistic, but it certainly varies and blends well enough. His sex is bluntly male at times, but seems to lack a coarseness found in many of his counterparts, and I enjoy his intimate contributions. If intrigued, just read into the lives of those seeking to make a difference in the world as they understand it.

His stories come together with an uncanny realism, but let his critics not forget this is fiction, which is fantasy, after all, and will never read the same as biography. Had I forgotten the London Blitz or the bombing of Berlin and the civilians who lived, died, and fought for their lives? Our characters are in the midst of these, transporting us to the most basic emotions of compassion.

That would take more study than this post allows. I choose to remain faithful that KF will have me seeing the light. Oct 13, Kevin rated it it was ok. I finished it because I felt I had to. Hoping perhaps an unexpected plot twist, or something, might convince me that wading through pages would be worth it. Sadly, the last page turned left me as empty as the previous many.

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Each page turned revealed the expected, formulaic and dull running commentary of 5 families and their involvement in the history of the time. Characters such as Maud, so interesting in the first book, so glossed over in this — Ethel Leckwith so strong in the first book so I finished it because I felt I had to. Characters such as Maud, so interesting in the first book, so glossed over in this — Ethel Leckwith so strong in the first book so ignored as a character here.

Boy Fitzherbert should have been a character with a lot more to say about everything, except he's written as cliched fool. It seems Follett was so keen to race through History he forgot about what made the first in the trilogy enjoyable - his characters, their personalities and how they interact with each other.

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I will probably buy the third in this series just to see what happens. I just hope is better than this book - it's so disappointing in so many ways. A big shame because most of Follett's work I have enjoyed immensely. Quindi bravo Ken Follett. Le ultime pagine, tralasciando le ultimissime 10, sono davvero brutte. Di una svogliatezza sconcertante. Non rovinano di certo le decine di belle pagine che le precedono, ma stonano terribilmente.

E la notte dei cristalli? Drammatica la presa di Berlino da parte dei sovietici. Sbagliato additare tutti i tedeschi come nazisti. View all 5 comments. May 19, Scott Hitchcock rated it liked it Shelves: Simple, easy and lacking substance. That's not to say they're bad. I just don't see why they're regarded as highly as they are. Continuously the simplistic conflict resolution.

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I could not be more furious, please I love you I'm sorry, I love you too, let's never fight again and they did not. If the real world was only that simple. Somehow again and again the same characters separate Book 1: Somehow again and again the same characters separated by oceans run into each other in random meetings. In fact their children run into each other years later in similar random circumstances. Example three, the story. Trying to be Epic Historical Fiction Follett gives a smattering of major events so he can cover the entire 20th century.

The problem is if you're going to do that you cannot miss entire storylines such as the Japanese work camps in America as one example. You also really can't cover other major events in full. You pretty much get the headlines with appearances by real historical characters and never anything in depth. Example four, the sex. Softcore fondling scenes that all seem repeatable between both of his series. These are entertaining and I'll finish them out but this really does feel like Kingsbridge 5 with Follett having his form where he changes names, dates and events but it's mostly the same.

Sep 21, Melissa Rochelle rated it really liked it Shelves: First, Follett does a great job of making a fat book fly by.

Winter of the World - Wikipedia

However, for a book that makes up something called "The Century Trilogy", I'm a little disappointed that the first two books only covered the first half of the century. Will the next book only make it to the fall of the Berlin Wall and then we're done? Second, Follett does a wonderful job reminding us that war is horrific. He really doesn't hold back. If you're at all appalled by the fact that humans can be truly AWFUL to each other, t First, Follett does a great job of making a fat book fly by. If you're at all appalled by the fact that humans can be truly AWFUL to each other, then just don't read this book.

I mean, this book serves as one big reminder that humans have this incredible capacity to just forget that others are also HUMAN. Third, Follett truly is an incredible author. He takes something as complicated as international relations and makes it into a story worth reading.

Winter of the World - CARTA A DAISY

Of course, I'm not a historian so I don't know how accurate he is, but as a reader I kept turning the pages. Can't wait to see what the next generation of Peshkovs, von Ulrichs, Dewars, Williams, and Fitzherberts live through. View all 3 comments. Y lo digo sorprendida porque no lo esperaba. Solo que no ahora. No de la mala manera, sino a nivel emocional. No me malinterpreten, Winter of the World termina bien si es que una guerra puede terminar bien , pero es la crudeza de sus hechos lo que me arruina siempre al final.

Y yo creo que es eso lo que se lleva las cuatro estrellas. He de hacer un alto con los personajes masculinos de esta novela: May 05, Gary rated it it was amazing. Thomas Macke - a sadistic, ambitious member of the Gestapo. A fanatical Nazi, Macke gains ownership of a restaurant owned by Walter von Ulrich's cousin Robert by threatening to persecute Robert for his homosexuality. He later orders the murder of Carla and Erik's father and nearly manages to uncover the German Resistance circuit run by Carla and her boyfriend Werner.

When Macke is injured during a bombing, Werner smothers him to death in the hospital where Carla works. Lloyd was a student at Cambridge University alongside his unknowing half-brother, Viscount 'Boy' Fitzherbert. Lloyd falls in love with Daisy early in the story, though she doesn't reciprocate it until later. When she is rejected by New York high society due to her father's reputation, she romances and later marries Viscount 'Boy' Fitzherbert in England.

However, their relationship soon breaks down due to his infidelities and her growing attraction to Lloyd Williams. Daisy drives an ambulance during the Blitz and becomes close friends with Lloyd's mother Ethel. After Boy is killed when his plane is shot down, Daisy remarries to Lloyd and starts a family with him after the war. A former student at Harvard , Greg is very much his father's son in his initiative, ambition and womanizing habits. He quickly rises amid the bureaucracy of Washington D.

An intelligence officer for the Red Army , Vladimir is the handler for several Soviet espionage cells in Germany and the U. S, including that of Carla and Werner. He fights in the Spanish Civil War and in the Battle of Moscow , and later manages to obtain covert intelligence on U. Over time, Vladimir becomes increasingly uncertain in his devotion to communism as he witnesses the brutal measures taken by Stalin.

Vladimir romances a beautiful physicist named Zoya and later marries and starts a family with her after the war. Woody Dewar - The son of U. Although drawn to politics like his father, Woody finds his true passion in news writing and photography.