Book Review: Fall of Giants

The first book in Ken Folletts Century trilogy is worth revisiting before the final release of the series next month.

By Catherine Groves

Three years ago, best-selling author Ken Follett released Fall of Giants, or book one of his Century trilogy. With the third and final volume due in September, loyal fans can reacquaint themselves with the first two books in the trilogy. New readers as well can read books one and two and discover why the series has captivated readers all over the world. Review after review refers to the Century trilogy as a magnificent historical epic.

The story follows five interrelated families from two continents. These families, their fate, and their stories move through life as world-shattering events, such as World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for womens rights, happen in dramatic fashion all around them.

As a young teenager, Billy Williams enters a mans world in the pits of a Welsh mining town. Meanwhile, a continent away, American law student Gus Dewar finds himself with a surprising new career working within President Woodrow Wilsons White House. Two orphaned Russian brothers, Grigori and Lev Peshkov, seek different paths after their plans to emigrate to America disintegrate in the face of war, conscription, and revolution. Bringing together the rest of the families, we find Billys sister, Ethel, a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts, reaching above her position. Meanwhile, Lady Maud Fitzherbert enters forbidden territory as she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German embassy in London.

These characters and many others unfold in a dynamic never-ending saga and complexity that keeps readers attention. Fall of Giants takes place when events from the United States to Russia dominate the world stage. The author seamlessly folds the grit and grime of a Welsh coal mine and the glitter from palace chandeliers into one interconnected story. The story moves effortlessly from forbidden romance to blood on the battlefields. Within the five families, we see each of them as they are involved in major upheavals of the early 20th century that will grip readers with the first page. By chapter two, Fall of Giants will be hard to put down as it brings together different countries and different classes.

While the story is involved and lengthy, Follett goes to great lengths to ensure the accuracy of historical events woven into this magnificent work of fiction. This first volume in the Century trilogy tells a big story that will leave readers eagerly anticipating the remaining books in the trilogy. The good news is that new and loyal fans can relish in the intrigue and intricate stories of the first two books as they await Edge of Eternity, the final volume in the Century trilogy, to be released on Kindle and hardback on September 16.