Product Description

In 1989, Ken Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, a sweeping epic novel set in twelfth-century England that centered on the building of a cathedral and the men, women and children whose lives it changed foreverand ever since fans have hoped for a sequel. And at last it is here. WORLD WITHOUT END takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge. On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed. As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #495637 in Books
• Published on: 2006
• Format: Unabridged
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Beautifully read; well-mastered CD set
The story is great. Yes, some may call it a bit obvious at times, or even predictable, but I found it to be a great story for a long daily commute.

Plenty has been written about the story itself, so I'll mention the things I found important with the audio CDs.

One of the things I have come to love about certain mastering processes with these audio books is when they let you know the disc is over. And not only that, tell you which disc to put in next. I know, I know; I should simple put the next disc in, ha ha. But when you are driving 70 MPH on the freeway and the coffee hasn't kicked in yet, this little note of the next disc's number is very helpful, especially when I have 4-5 discs scattered about the passenger seat.

The narrator did an amazing job of being consistent throughout the book. Good numbers of narrators experience character inertia (where the character's voice trails into non-dialog), but that doesn't happen here. No long pauses to get out of character. No mispronounced words. No forgetting the characters' voices (like I have experienced from others.) Just a good story with good characterization and the right amount of inflection at the right time.

The reading was passionate, without being overacted or cheesy. The characters' voices were pleasant to listen too.

I highly recommend this book for long drives, short summers, or even while you work.

audio is worth every penny
The narrator, John Lee is superb - I know I wouldn't enjoy it as much reading it - the dialects make the story come alive, I wish it would last forever! It really is worth every penny, a little more than a dollar an hour to be so splendidly entertained!

45 hours of my life well spent
Rented this from the library and needed to renew to get through. Listened mostly in my car and found myself many times sitting in my garage waiting for the track to finish. Thankfully my audio automatically shuts off 5 minutes after I turn the car off or I would have probably spent an entire night enthralled with "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?" always in the front of my brain.
The narrator was brilliant and perfectly captured the tones, sexes, accents and dialects of the vast assortment of characters. It really is worth the investment of time and would be fantastic on a long road trip.
Makes me want to visit a Renaissance Fair and swig some ale straight away.