I love Ken Follett's historical fiction, but I found that this book left something to be desired. I quite enjoyed it up until the last 300 pages. Maybe it was because I have very little interest in WW1, but the book just seemed to drag on interminably. Overall a good book, but I was disappointed with the last bit.

3.5 stars This is set mostly during WWI. The story follows multiple characters in Wales, England, Germany, Russia and the United States. It was good. Very long, but good. I found I wasn't as interested in the politics (no surprise here) and the war, but was more interested in the characters' personal lives, and the female characters, as well as the fight for women's right to vote. Throughout most of the book, I didn't think I'd continue on with the trilogy, but I think it depends what the sequel will focus on. I'd be more interested if there is more focus on Germany at that time period where this one left off, but I'll have to look into it. I listened to the audio, and the narrator was very good - he does amazing accents, and had so many to do in this book. I had to get past his voice, though, at the beginning, as he also narrated an audio I found incredibly boring.

I found this book to be a new type of Ken Follett book. You tend to see him focus on a more distant past but this book hits a little closer to home. He descirbes WWI in detail and in a way that is easy to comprehend. He still follows his typical writing style of intertwining the lives of numerous characters and it is this writing style that makes him unique and an interesting read. I can't wait to see what new-age experience he decides to focus upon next.

Like most reviewers I was very anxious to get into this book after my experience with Pillars and World Without End. However, I don't think the book measures up to the previous ones. As an example, I wrestled an extra suitcase onto a plane just so I could finish World--not something I would have done with this book. I don't agree with previous remarks that characters were not well developed although I did find some to be a bit unbelievable. For example, Lev was so totally rotten that I lost interest when he got into trouble--knowing that he would do the worst thing possible to get himself out of it. And I appreciated the rebellion in Maud. However, I found it hard to believe her love for Walter was sufficient to help her cope with her reduced circumstances--especially as a mother. I did like the background on the reasons for the war and the politics surrounding the League of Nations establishment because my knowledge of the era is limited. However, I did find that he went into way too much detail about some of the meetings--especially in the case of the Russian revolution--there was so much detail I got confused. I am looking forward to the next installment to see how these people make out although Lev is surely to die in a gunfight or spend the rest of his life in prison and Maud might be destined for sainthood!!

Ken Follett starts with a vast canvas for his historical novel set in the second decade of the 20th century. The action takes place in Wales, England, France, Germany, Russia, and the US, and as a historical novel encompasses many actual historical figures and events, with WWI of course central to the plot. Follett has clearly done his homework on the historical setting. Follett also does an admirable job of reminding us of the true causes of The Great War, and its tremendous cost and folly. He reminds us how closely related are the monarchies and ruling classes of Britain, Russia and Germany, something made even clearer as he weaves the theme of empowerment and equality throughout the novel. Working class characters struggle in their dead-end jobs and in their relations with the ruling class; the British struggle for universal suffrage; the Russians’ struggle and revolt against their tsar; and even in the US, with its egalitarian roots, the struggle is still evident, with divisions by class, position, new vs. old money, and even physical attributes. With all this promise, it’s unfortunate that Follett fails to deliver, unable to paint more than the broadest strokes on his canvas. Characters are poorly developed, and seem primarily a vehicle to stitch the plot together and to advance the themes - worthwhile roles, but they need to come to life, too, if we’re to engage with the story. As it is, their shallowness makes the narrative mechanical and so much less enjoyable. For example, characters often pop up half way around the world with the flimsiest of reasons, then appear back again to their home turf - apparently just so they can be present at some historical event. Descriptions of characters or their motives or backgrounds are repeated a few pages on, and often characters seem to fall in love after just a few minutes of conversation and then to quickly imagine themselves married and settled. Because of their lack of depth and Follett’s direct, simplistic language, the characters’ love lives and (frequent) intimate moments are clumsy and emotionless. This is the first historical novel I’ve read in over twenty years, since reading James Clavell’s excellent body of work, and unfortunately for both Follett and the reader, there are far better in this genre by authors with more refined skills and a richer grasp of the English language. For a long, light read it’s passable, but few will remember this almost 1000 page tome in a few years. Let’s hope the remaining two books in this trilogy deliver better.

I love these historical novels! I know the book is big but it is captivating.If you liked his Pillars of the Earth and World without end then Fall of The Giants is a must read.I can't wait to get into the next two books of the trilogy( Write fast Ken,write fast!)

This book was the subject of my recent book club meeting. I found that the majority of readers were overall satisfied with the book. Some complained that some parts dragged on with historical rabble, while others complained that there were too many plotlines spreading thin the character development. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It has invoked a dormant interest in me about World War I and got me Wiki-ing historical persons and events to expand my knowledge. Although there were several plotlines, I think the main characters were sufficiently developed and their stories immersible. It was improbable for none of the key characters to die during the war, but then again, it is a trilogy. I think that Fall of Giants can't entirely please any one kind of reader reader, but won't dissatisfy any. Ken Follett has expertly combined fictional characters and plotlines into real events with just the right balance that will please the casual reader as well as the non-fiction enthusiast. I plan on reading the sequel as well as the last book of the trilogy when they do come out.

I got this book for christmas, and I could not put it down. My favorite Ken Follet book by far, and I loved pillars of the earth and a world without end. Growing up Canadian, I was always led to believe that the Germans were responsible for much of world war I and II. But this book challanged that view by telling stories from all the different sides. And it beautifully describes how complex and horrible world war I was.

This historical novel begins with the history of the world previous to the First World War and proceeds through the years of WWI. It is related from the viewpoint of several men and women who hail from Great Britain, America, Germany and Russia. There is romance, war strategy, politics and probably a little more for every man and/or woman to enjoy. You won't want to put it down!

The cast of characters is long and the story is epic. Fall of Giants follows the lives of five interrelated families: American, Russian, English, German, and Welsh. We follow these families as they move through life during the times of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the hard struggle for women’s right to vote. Billy Williams is a thirteen-year-old boy who enters the mines on the day of this 13th birthday. He has now become a man like so many other 13-year-olds before him in the tiny Welsh town of Aberowen. Gus Dewar is an American law student who is rejected in love but finds a new career working for then President, Woodrow Wilson, in the White House. Grigori and Lev Peshkov, two Russian brothers who were orphaned set out on very different paths half a world away from each other when their plan to emigrate to the United States falls apart because of the war, conscription, and the revolution. Billy’s sister, Ethel, is a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts and takes a fateful step above her station as housekeeper just as Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German embassy in London. Each of these characters and a raft of others find their lives entangled as, in a saga of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity. The story moves from Washington, D.C. to St. Petersburg, Russia, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the hallways of power to the bedrooms of the mighty and beyond. Although the story was good, I was a tad disappointed as I did not find this story nearly as good as ‘Pillars of the Earth’ or ‘World Without End’. I think we were spoiled with those two novels and anything less than that is going to be a disappointment. I’m hoping the second book in the trilogy coming out in the Fall of 2011 will be much better than Fall of Giants.