Book Report #182 - Fall of Giants

Fall of Giants (Book One of The Century Trilogy) by Ken Follett

This is a mammoth book about World War One. It's the first installment of The Century Trilogy that goes through the 20th Century (the next book will be about World War Two).

We follow the lives of various people around Europe, America, and Russia as we witness the war unfold. We see it through the eyes of English, German, Russian, Welsh, and American people, some well-off and some poor, some for the war and some against it. It's the same kind of set-up as Pillars of the Earth: specific characters are followed to give a full picture of what's going on.

I was more interested in the relationships in the book than I was in the particulars of the war. But history buffs will probably be intrigued by the details around war tactics and the specific battles.

The book got me thinking that if this is how the kids were taught about history--through interesting stories and characters--they'd probably remember a decent amount of it.

General consensus: It wasn't my favorite Follett book, but it kept my attention.