About:
Circle of Days by Ken Follett reimagines how the building of Stonehenge happened. Mr. Follett has written over 35 books, and sold millions of copies in 40 languages around the world.
- 704 pages
- Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 1538772779
My rating for Circle of Days – 3
Buy Circle of Days from Amazon.com*
More Books by Ken Follett*
Thoughts:
I enjoyed all the books I read by Ken Follett and was looking forward to reading this one. This time he tackles a mystery that archaeologists and historians are still mystified by, how and why was Stonehenge built?
This is an ambitious book, set circa 3000-1520 BCE and tells of the tribes of the Great Plain which don’t speak the same language, nor share a culture besides the yearly Midsummer ceremony. The herders, woodspeople and farmers all fight for parcels of land, where violence begat violence and bloody revenge.
I enjoyed the story, but if I didn’t know that Circle of Days was written by Ken Follett, I never would have guessed it to be so. The writing is simple, and didn’t connect with any of the characters, and that might have been my issue. Even though the book follows the same formula his other books do (a new guy in town, intuitively understands building and math, falls in love, a villain who wants to stop the project, etc.) in this case I simply don’t think it worked.
For me, the stars of Follett’s historical fiction novels are the history and the advances in architecture. I don’t know how much actual history is in the book, and the architecture part takes place in the last quarter of the book, and barley at that.
For a story that’s about the building of Stonehenge, it takes a very long time to get to the actual meat of the story. The world building is not very interesting or engaging, basically three tribes living in proximity fighting for precious land.
Synopsis:
Seft left his abusive father and brothers on the Great Plain to mine flint. He followed his heart and married Neen, started a family and became a carpenter within the herder community.
Neen’s sister, Joia, is a priestess with a talent for leading people. As the Midsummer ceremony commences each year, she dreams of a new monument, made from the biggest stones in the world, assembled in a circle. This monument will become her legacy but open warfare among the tribes puts the project in danger.
Buy Circle of Days from Amazon.com*
More Books by Ken Follett*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
