Title: About 400 pages too long...
Product review: And with that title I am not saying that I do not enjoy a long, epic tale. War and Peace felt like Of Mice and Men to me, so seamless was the writing. Follett, however, writes like an eighth grader, and at times the prose was so akward and cliche smeared, and the actions and thoughts of the characters so disparagingly over-written that I wasn't just annoyed, I was insulted. Follett seems to believe that the fans of his mystery novels would be his readers here, though his subject matter is a drastic departure. This is where the book fails miserably. A well crafted story, some believable and well-motivated and depicted characters are lost and swallowed whole by horrific writing, anachronistic language, and far too much monotonous and unnecessary over-description. Shame - with a proper editor and a little restraint, this could have been a wonderful novel.
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