Edge of Eternity, Ken Follett
Edge of Eternity, Ken Follett
62 Rating(s)
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Edge of Eternity
Book Three of The Century Trilogy

Author: Ken Follett

Narrator: John Lee

Unabridged: 36 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 09/16/2014


Synopsis

Edge of Eternity is the sweeping, passionate conclusion to Ken Follett's extraordinary historical epic series, The Century Trilogy.

Throughout the trilogy, Follett has followed the fortunes of five families--American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh--as they make their way through the twentieth century. Now, they come to one of the most tumultuous eras of all: the enormous social, political, and economic turmoil of the 1960s - 1980s, from civil rights, assassinations, mass political movements and Vietnam to the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, presidential impeachment, revolution--and rock and roll.

East German teacher Rebecca Hoffman discovers she's been spied on by the Stasi for years and commits an impulsive act...George Jakes, the child of a mixed-race couple, bypasses a corporate law career to join Robert F. Kennedy's Justice Department, and finds himself in the middle of the seminal events of the civil rights battle...Cameron Dewar, the grandson of a senator, jumps at the chance to do some official and unofficial espionage for a cause he believes in...Dimka Dvorkin, a young aide to Nikita Khrushchev, becomes a prime agent both for good and for ill as the United States and the Soviet Union race to the brink of nuclear war, while his twin sister, Tania, carves out a role that will take her from Moscow to Cuba to Prague to Warsaw--and into history.

As always, the historical background is brilliantly researched, the action fast-moving, and the characters rich in nuance and emotion. With the hand of a master, Follett brings us into a world we thought we knew but will never seem the same again.

About Ken Follett

Ken Follett, a Welsh novelist has written important bodies of work, such as: Eye of the Needle, The Key to Rebecca, Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, Whiteout, The Century Trilogy. His genre includes thrillers and historical fiction. As a youth he was never allowed to watch television or movies, so out of boredom, he developed a keen interest in reading.

Follett had various jobs on his pathway to being a novelist. He was a general assignment reporter for the Evening News in London. He found that work to be very unchallenging, so he took a position as managing director of Everest Books and began writing fiction as an evening hobby. With the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978 he became not only internationally known, but also wealthy. Follett’s next project is a third book in his Kingsbridge series. The first two were The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, and is to be released in 2017.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tina on September 21, 2014

Sadly not nearly as well written as the previous books in this trilogy. The first third was as we're used to, descriptive and captivating. The rest seemed like he was in a hurry to finish, and is rushed and padded with a lot of clumsy sex. Very sad, I was so excited for the at installment and was le......more

Goodreads review by Dana on January 23, 2019

Ken Follett believes in the power of a good story. And he harbors no doubt about attention spans in an era when people avert their eyes to smartphone screens approximately every 1.2 seconds. Ken Follett again tackles great chucks of history in Edge of Eternity, the final installment in his Century Tr......more

Goodreads review by Gasperson on October 05, 2014

Review contains SPOILERS. Don't read further if you don't want some plot details spoiled. Are you a self important baby boomer who leans left in your political views? Well buddy, are you going to have the biggest rager of a boner reading this book. Don't get me wrong, I devoured this book, and it sta......more

Goodreads review by Shlomo on October 05, 2014

First off, I cannot review this book without spoilers, so please, please read at your own risk. SPOILERS AHEAD I was disappointed by this book. Maybe as a standalone version it would have been better received, but as the third of what had been a superb trilogy I was let down. First: Why drop so many ch......more

Goodreads review by Liviu on September 24, 2014

very strong first part covering roughly 1961 - 1963 (Berlin wall, fight for Civil Rights, the Cuban missile crisis), but then the novel starts scattering and after a while becomes almost an encyclopedia like recital of what happens as it follows the diverse group of characters until 1989 there are st......more


Quotes

Praise for Edge of Eternity 

"[Follett] is a commanding storyteller who has taken on an impossibly large task and accomplished it with passion, intelligence, and skill. Like its predecessors, Edge of Eternity is a solid, rigorously researched work of popular fiction. It's an honest entertainment that brings back vivid, sometimes painful, memories of the not-too-distant past." 
—The Washington Post

"Edge of Eternity is as compulsively readable a mighty page-turner as its two predecessors."
—The Seattle Times 

"Hugely ambitious, the trilogy serves as a massive history lesson as well as an example of good, old-fashioned storytelling."
The New York Daily News

"Follett never forgets he is telling a story. The historical events are the backdrop but the characters are the focal point. Good storytellers know this and Follett is an excellent one."
—The Huffington Post

"Mesmerizing . . . flowing with spicy, expertly paced melodrama, character-rich exploits, familial histrionics, and international intrigue."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Worth the wait. . . . Once again, Follett has written pitch-perfect popular fiction that readers will devour."
—Library Journal (starred review)

"A glorious conclusion to a remarkable trilogy that is wonderful, exhilarating reading for all ages. Fine, fine historical fiction."
—Historical Novel Society 

"Follett does an outstanding job of interweaving and personalizing complicated narratives set on a multicultural stage."
—Booklist

"Follett . . . knows how to turn in a robust yarn without too much slack . . . a well-written entertainment."
—Kirkus Reviews

"A fascinating, sprawling, epic conclusion to Ken Follett's Century Trilogy."
—The Minneapolis Star Tribune 

Praise for Winter of the World

"This book is truly epic. . . . The reader will probably wish there were a thousand more pages."
—The Huffington Post

"Some of the biggest-picture fiction being written today."
The Seattle Times

"Follett's real gifts are those of a natural storyteller: swift, cinematic pacing, the ability to juggle multiple narratives coherently, and an eye for the telling detail . . . a consistently compelling portrait of a world in crisis."
—The Washington Post

"Gripping . . . powerful." 
—The New York Times

"Masterfully sweeping stories . . . political intrigue, amorous episodes, suspense, and drama. History comes to life."
—The Louisville Courier-Journal 

"Follett is so good at plotting a story, even one that takes on such a complex topic as the World War II era. That's what makes Winter of the World so hard to put down. You want to know what happens next."
—The Associated Press

"An entertaining historical soap opera."
—Kirkus Reviews

"The man tells a story so well. . . . Follett can make things glow with some beautifully written episodes. . . . If you read Volume I, you'll have to read Volume II. And once you read Volume II, you'll be committed to reading Volume III. See you in a couple of years."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Clips along at a brisk pace. . . . He knows how to keep the pages turning and how to make the reader feel a kinship with the characters' struggles. . . . No matter the ultimate destination, readers can expect to savor the journey—and agonize while waiting for the final book to arrive."
—The Christian Science Monitor

Praise for Fall of Giants 

 
"Follett is masterly in conveying so much drama and historical information so vividly . . . grippingly told."
The New York Times Book Review 

"Fall of Giants: Follett at his finest. . . . [a] sweeping epic that will thrill his fans for hours on end." 
—The Huffington Post

"Follett conjures the winds of war."
The Washington Post 

"Tantalizing."
Newsday
 
"A good read. . . . It’s a book that will suck you in, consume you for days or weeks . . . then let you out the other side both entertained and educated."
USA Today

"Follett entwines fiction and factual events well. . . . This is a dark novel, motivated by an unsparing view of human nature and a clear-eyed scrutiny of an ideal peace. It is not the least of Follett's feats that the reader finishes this near thousand-page book intrigued and wanting more." 
—Chicago Sun-Times

"Follett once again creates a world at once familiar and fantastic. . . . A guiltless pleasure, the book is impossible to put down. . . . Empires fall. Heroes rise. Love conquers. After going through a war with these characters, you're left hoping that Follett gets moving with the next giant installment."
—Time Out

"Grand in scope, scale, and story."
—The Associated Press
 
"Suspenseful, tightly constructed, sharply characterized, plot-driven."
The Seattle Times