The Evening and the Morning

I read Pillars of the Earth back in 2009 and I loved it, so I was eager to jump back into Follett's world with this prequel to the popular Kingsbridge series. Set in the Dark Ages in England, with constant threat of Viking invasion, this is a saga about power struggles, good versus evil with a love story t'boot.

This is a decent read, but this isn't Pillars of the Earth kind of good. The first third had my full attention, but as the book progressed, I could easily see Follett's formula - constant battles for power, good and evil within the church and outside of it and an obvious and forced love story. This back and forth of planning, plotting and subsequent thwarting was set on repeat and with the long-winded descriptions of daily minutiae it got to be tiresome and predictable. And the Vikings? Don't expect to see a lot of them.

Unfortunately, the characters don't fare well either. They are a flat, cliched bunch where the evil guys have no redeeming qualities, the good guys have hearts of gold *cue halo ting* and there's not a lot of in-between. From plot to characters, it just felt overly simplified and forced, causing me to skim much of the last quarter of the book. I had had enough.

But what burned my biscuits were the handful of modern phrases Follett used. Terms like 'mollycoddle', 'namby-pamby' and 'that's a good point' clearly weren't phrases used in the Dark Ages. Those are glaring inaccuracies that should not have made it past early edits.

Overall, The Evening and the Morning was a bit of a disappointing read for me. It was okay, but not as engaging as I had hoped. But for readers who like things tied up nicely, Follett provides a nice big bow for y'all as this prequel leads into his popular Pillars of the Earth story.

Note: Fans of Pillars of the Earth may want to watch the 2010 miniseries of the same name which features Eddie Redmayne, Ian McShane, Haley Atwell and Donald Sutherland. Ya, those are some big names, and it was quite good.

 

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Ken Follett

Genre: Historical Fiction

Type and Source: Hardcover from public library

Pages: 913

Publisher: Viking

First Published: September 15, 2020

Opening Line: It was hard to stay awake all night, Edgar found, 

even on the most important night of your life.

Book Description from GoodReads: It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns.

In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined. A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when the only home he's ever known is raided by Vikings, forcing him and his family to move and start their lives anew in a small hamlet where he does not fit in. . . . A Norman noblewoman marries for love, following her husband across the sea to a new land, but the customs of her husband's homeland are shockingly different, and as she begins to realize that everyone around her is engaged in a constant, brutal battle for power, it becomes clear that a single misstep could be catastrophic. . . . A monk dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a center of learning that will be admired throughout Europe. And each in turn comes into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his wealth and power.