World Without End by Ken Follett

Published by Dutton Adult

Amazon review:  World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women of an extraordinary cast of characters find themselves at a crossroad of new ideas--about medicine, commerce, architecture, and justice. In a world where proponents of the old ways fiercely battle those with progressive minds, the intrigue and tension quickly reach a boiling point against the devastating backdrop of the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race--the Black Death.

World Without End is a sequal to The Pillars of the Earth.  Don't be prepared to whip through this book in a day ... or even a week!  It is 1024 pages but fairly easy reading.  Follett does an okay job of including the important details and glossing over the rest.  He isn't afraid to skip ahead 5 years to get to the action.  I read The Pillars of the Earth about 8 years ago, and, while I recall the basic plot, I don't remember a lot of the details.  This wasn't an issue when reading World Without End.

I found some of the characters annoyingly predictable.  It isn't a surprise when Godwyn and Philemon back people into a corner to achieve their goals.  Merthin and Caris never seem to decide if they are really important to each other.  The nasty people are nasty and the stupid people are stupid.  It is pretty predictable.  Then the plague comes and it is even more predictable.

I don't as a general rule like historical fiction.  This was palatable and good for the four 4+ hour plane rides I had in a two week period.  However, I probably wouldn't have finished it otherwise.

Follett has some much better books.  I would recommend The Key to Rebecca, On Wings of Eagles, and Eye of the Needle before I would World Without End.