Ken Follett has built a career on making enormous historical novels feel like page-turners. I really, really enjoyed ‘The Pillars of the Earth’, for example. It remains one of the finer examples of historical fiction; meticulously researched - somehow able to make cathedral construction utterly compelling. That's precisely why I found ‘Circle of Days’ so disappointing. I don’t want to be too critical - it isn’t a bad novel. Follett still knows how to tell a story. But this time, the richness that made his earlier books so memorable has largely been replaced by simplicity.
Date complete | Title | Author | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
11.01.26 | The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Milan Kundera | 5 |
07.04.26 | The Song of Achilles | Madeline Miller | 3.5 |
08.05.26 | Circle of Days | Ken Follett | 2 |
Set in Late Neolithic Britain, Circle of Days imagines the decades-long construction of Stonehenge through the lives of Joia (an ambitious priestess) and Seft (a gifted builder determined to solve the seemingly impossible challenge of moving and raising enormous stones). Sound familiar?
The greatest weakness for this book lies in the world-building. Follett divides prehistoric Britain into three distinct groups (woodlanders, farmers and herders) each defined by a familiar set of characteristics. The woodlanders are spiritual and nature-loving; the farmers are practical, gruff and often portrayed as rather slow-witted; the herders occupy their own predictable niche. Rather than feeling like complex societies, they come across as broad archetypes, and the extraordinary diversity of Neolithic life is largely lost.
The same is true of Stonehenge itself. Follett presents an engaging story of how the monument might have been conceived and built, but readers shouldn't mistake it for archaeology. Current research suggests Stonehenge evolved over many centuries through multiple phases of construction and changing ritual purposes. As fiction, Follett's account is perfectly enjoyable; as history, it's highly speculative. Those wanting a more evidence-based picture should look to Mike Parker Pearson's ‘Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery’, Francis Pryor's 'Britain BC', or Julian Richards' 'Stonehenge: The Story So Far'.
The dialogue, too, is… pretty poor to say the least. Characters have an unfortunate habit of saying exactly what they're thinking, often at considerable length, and conversations that should build tension occasionally become unintentionally comic. There are moments that will make readers smile, though perhaps not for the reasons Follett intended.
These shortcomings make the novel antagonising. It feels slow paced with repetition. Few writers understand narrative momentum as well as Follett. Murders, rivalries, romances, engineering puzzles and family drama arrive at exactly the right moments, and the pages turn effortlessly. Even when the dialogue falters or the characters feel one-dimensional, there's always another plot thread waiting around the corner.
Perhaps that's what makes Circle of Days more disappointing than unsuccessful. The ingredients are all there: one of the world's most iconic prehistoric monuments, an endlessly fascinating period of history, and a novelist who has previously demonstrated just how gripping historical fiction can be. This time, however, the result never achieves the depth or emotional resonance of ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ or Follett's finest work.
Long-time Follett readers will almost certainly enjoy the journey - but they're equally likely to finish it wishing he'd trusted both his readers and his prehistoric world to be just a little more complex.
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