Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

9 reviews

goldenlake's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Addiction, Murder, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Stalking, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Bullying, Alcoholism, Violence, Sexism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Gore, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Dementia, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, War, Pregnancy, and Confinement

Minor: Colonisation, Genocide, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, and Cursing

ahinks's review

adventurous dark funny informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Torture, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, Death, Adult/minor relationship, War, Trafficking, and Incest

nadia's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I'm loving the concept of this series — books tied not by characters but by a fictional place! You get a little bit of a history lesson it too, with this one taking me back to the Dark Ages.

I read The Pillars of the Earth at the end of last year and decided to go for the prequel next (not in publication order, which is normally my jam, but I'm sure that's fine, given it's a prequel of what I just read!).

The Evening and the Morning was great! I very quickly became invested in the different characters' stories, and I love me a lot of political intrigue. Well done Ken Follett for making me care about bishops, monks, and Catholic churches!

There were moments where I felt the pace lagged a little and the plot points felt a little bit repetitive. I also wasn't as emotionally invested as I thought I would be come the later sections given how it all started. 

But all in all, a great read! Love getting immersed in a chunky book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Murder, Violence, War, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Grief, and Sexism

Minor: Alcohol

sirius_feanor's review

2.75

It was rather a captivating story. But the amount of rape and misogyny in it was almost off putting. I understand it was for "historical accuracy" or whatever, but still yikes. 

The sex scenes are one of the worst I've ever read! And most of them are told from a female point of view. They are so obviously written by a male it's just ridiculous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Slavery, Child death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Torture, Chronic illness, and Grief

vibrantautumn's review

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I enjoyed the other books in this series, and this book was no exception, and no different. At all. The characters and plot were the same as in previous books. Nevertheless, I was hooked halfway through. I had hoped that this book wouldn’t feature women being raped, but of course that was there just like everything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Slavery, Confinement, Sexual violence, Child death, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, War, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

kylieqrada's review against another edition

emotional relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 ⭐s. Not the best way to start off 2022, but I'll take it. I've read both of Ken Follett's sweeping historical epic series, and while my heart belongs to the Century Trilogy, the Pillars of the Earth is a very strong story as well. I do think that this entry added something to the saga, and it was fascinating to dive even deeper into history, this time into the Dark Ages, and see the beginnings of Kingsbridge. These books are a quiet comfort reading experience for me, which is weird to say because of my main critique of this book. I think that all of the misogyny, sexual assault, rape, slavery, abuse, homophobia, etc., while perhaps historically accurate, did get a little overwhelming and even gratuitous. I don't love trauma for trauma's sake.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Pedophilia

Minor: Grief and Infertility

carolined's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

If you've ever read any Ken Follett you know how it goes, the heroes are well meaning, ambitious and hopelessly naive; the villains are ruthless and cunning and unbeatable until the very end. The author does a lot of research and makes sure the reader knows it, I enjoyed the details of everyday life much more than the plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Suicide

Minor: Alcoholism

crystalmethany's review

emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Infidelity, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Trafficking, Rape, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, and Pedophilia

Minor: Infertility and Grief

more_books_than_days's review

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

There are several graphic depictions of women in this story as victims of extreme violence and sexual assault. By the end of the book I was emotionally exhausted by the toll of this constant oppression and powerlessness, which was developed into the fabric of the story from the very beginning. 

With a cast of characters who fell into predictable tropes, either good or evil with little in between, the plot also felt predictable, and very slow moving. I ended up skipping paragraphs and skim reading many pages rather than battling through sections of prose that did little to advance the story. This was a disappointment,
 because I very much enjoyed the Pillars of The Earth trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Death, Gore, and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Suicide, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexism, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Chronic illness, Excrement, and Kidnapping

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Infidelity