A Column of Fire (The Kingsbridge Novels)

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Rollo, still determined to see a Catholic England, embarks on one final mission: to depose James and install James’ Catholic daughter on the throne. From his merchant cousin, based in Antwerp, Willard hears of the Hellburners, fireships employed against the Spanish during the recent Siege of Antwerp. I won't say much about the storyline - just know If you want to be hypnotized and mesmerized by some wicked historical fiction, Follett is the Man.If you fail to comply with this obligation, we may have a right of action against you for compensation. The plot includes extensive depictions of several important historical events of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. When I read the preface to Pillars of the Earth, I learned that Follett was not entirely comfortable with the subject matter when he first wrote that book. As depicted in the early chapters, the city of Kingsbridge is ruled by an oligarchy of rich merchants, who sit on the city council, with the most powerful family holding the position of the city's Mayor. He is one of the most respectable characters I've ever met in a book, and while he certainly does a few things that I'd consider wrong by today's standards, he was a visionary nearly 500 years ago.

It does a good job leaving the story where it did, in the reign of James I in England and Henri IV in France, pointing the way to an eventual reconciliation of the sects of Christianity with the Edict of Nantes on one side of the channel and the Gunpowder Plot on the other.The most heard complaints are, as far as I know, the weakness of the romance and the lack of depth when it comes to the characters, most likely due to A Column of Fire having a much wider scope than the first installments in the Kingsbridge series. As with all of these Kingsbridge books, there's lots of character arcs to follow but all keep moving in a realistic way and his villains, notably the intriguing but extremely devious Pierre Aumande, are well devised. In a sense, this is probably the only way to complete the trilogy - characters die, but memories of them may continue.