“The Evening and the Morning” by Ken Follett

997 CE. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people, and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns.

In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined: A young boatbuilder, a Norman noblewoman, and a monk, each of them with dreams for the future that fate will see pulled from under their feet. And each, in turn, will come into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his wealth and power.

I enjoyed The Evening and the Morning, but it’s not Follett’s best work. And unfortunately, comparisons with the previous books in the series only serve to highlight its flaws. I felt the third book in the series had been notably weaker than the first two, and with this fourth story, we see a continuation in those diminishing returns. 

It is in this comparison to the rest of the series that the book really suffers. There were certain elements that made the first two books great, and while Follett may have wanted to avoid repeating himself, the loss of certain elements leaves this latest instalment lacking. 

Mainly, I felt we were missing two things: the cathedral, and a major historical event. 

The cathedral has always been a part of these stories, a character in its own right, controlling the destinies of the people around it. Its absence leaves a significant hole. With this being a prequel, focusing on the founding of the town of Kingsbridge, the cathedral is yet to be built. Not even the one that burns down in The Pillars of the Earth. Its absence gives the story a lack of focus. 

The other element is the historical upheaval. The first two books had grand events that changed the fabric of the world. The characters were forced to live with the threat of things out of their control falling upon them. This time around we’re teased with Viking raids in the opening, only for this to never be more than a distant threat at best for the remainder of the story. 

The idea of a sequel to the earlier books was a good idea, but I feel trying to match them was a mistake. For one thing, rather than spanning generations, this story only lasts around five years. But the book is the same length. 

I wonder if this had been a shorter novel it would have worked better. A tighter story about the founding of the town Kingsbridge we’ll come to know and love would have been an effective companion piece to the main stories. In keeping it to the same length, Follett gives us a tale that lacks the content to fulfil its epic ambitions. 

Also, the characters are a lot less well rounded than before. Not what I expected from Ken Follett. The heroes have no flaws, and the antagonists are nakedly evil. In previous books, the protagonists would be flawed, with pride and dogma marring their good intentions. And the antagonists would believe themselves in the right. They were the heroes in their own story. 

My final complaint is I hated how the builder protagonist - a required staple of a Kingsbridge novel - was so bloody proficient at everything. Yes, it was set up that he was supposed to be naturally gifted. But he starts off as an apprentice shipbuilder, and someone manages to leverage these skills to put his hand to farming, construction, carpentry, agriculture, masonry, quarrying, anything that’s needed for the plot. The most we get in the way of failure is when we’re told something didn’t work quite as well as planned, so he did it differently. 

That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy reading this book. While it suffers by comparisons to its forebears, it’s still written by a master of these long, sprawling novels. I was never bored, and things kept going at a good pace. But this one just didn’t feel as satisfying as I had hoped it would be.