Review of 'Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
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English language
Winter of the World
by Ken Follett
4 stars
(5 reviews)
Winter of the World is a historical novel written by the Welsh-born author Ken Follett, published in 2012. It is the second book in the Century Trilogy. Revolving about a family saga that covers the interrelated experiences of American, Russian, German and British families during the 20th century. The novel follows the second generation of those families, born to the main characters of the first novel, Fall of Giants, and is followed by a further generation of those families in the third and final book in the series, Edge of Eternity. The story starts in 1933, with the Nazi seizure of power, includes World War II, and concludes in 1949 in the early stages of the Cold War.
Review of 'Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Winter of the World continues the saga begun in Fall of Giants, with the events within happening in the years 1933 to 1949. Most of the characters from the first book are still here, but the focus has shifted to the following generation. The writing felt a bit formulaic this time round. There's always a couple destined to be together. In the first book this was Lady Maud Fitzherbert and Walter von Ulrich. In this book it's Daisy Peshkov, daughter to the now American scoundrel Lev Peshkov, and Lloyd Williams, son of Ethel Williams and Earl Fitzherbert. Woody Dewar was definitely pretty much a copy of his father in the first book, and Volodya's chapters were a lot like Grigori's, the Russian who supports Communism but has his doubts about the system. And so on. The characters are all still a bit flat, rather one-dimensional. They could have been so …
Winter of the World continues the saga begun in Fall of Giants, with the events within happening in the years 1933 to 1949. Most of the characters from the first book are still here, but the focus has shifted to the following generation. The writing felt a bit formulaic this time round. There's always a couple destined to be together. In the first book this was Lady Maud Fitzherbert and Walter von Ulrich. In this book it's Daisy Peshkov, daughter to the now American scoundrel Lev Peshkov, and Lloyd Williams, son of Ethel Williams and Earl Fitzherbert. Woody Dewar was definitely pretty much a copy of his father in the first book, and Volodya's chapters were a lot like Grigori's, the Russian who supports Communism but has his doubts about the system. And so on. The characters are all still a bit flat, rather one-dimensional. They could have been so much more.
I have few quibbles aside from that. I probably liked Fall of Giants a little better because I previously had little knowledge about World War I. As a historical lesson, Winter of the World is wide-spread and covers just about every large-scale event that happened during WWII. From the rise of the Nazis to the war in Spain, to the Blitz over London, to Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway, to Hiroshima and the beginning of the nuclear arms race. It's a massive book, it's exciting to read, and it even picks up on stuff like homosexuality in the navy and the mass-rapes of the Red Army reaching Germany.
I should note that Ken Follett has the habit of focusing quite a bit on sexual relationships when it comes to his characters. As such, there are many, somewhat cringeworthy (or lol-worthy) sex scenes. You have been warned.
That said, I am looking forward to the concluding book which will come out later this year, with a focus on the cold war.
