Edge of Eternity: Ken Follett (The Century Trilogy, 3)

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Welsh author Ken Follett's historical novel Edge of Eternity (2014), the third and final book in his Century Trilogy, follows a generation of families as they grapple with the Cold War and other historic events of the second half of the twentieth century. The book's characters are scattered across the Western World, living in the United States, the United Kingdom, East Germany, and the Soviet Union. According to Publisher's Weekly, Edge of Eternity is "the mesmerizing final installment in an exhaustive but rewarding reading experience dense in thematic heft, yet flowing with spicy, expertly paced melodrama, character-rich exploits, familial histrionics, and international intrigue." BAD: Republicans and conservatives in general have zero positive traits. They are literally the baddies in this book. Aside from the other left-leaning narratives that Follett fully embraces, he reaches his peak when he presents the end of Communism purely as a spontaneous combustion, while explicitly describing the US and CIA foreign policy efforts during the Cold War as completely useless, as having no effect whatsoever on the the fall of Communism. Therefore, every US foreign policy operation was totally stupid and worthless. Ugh!! *pukes* Is it too much to ask for some middle ground where someone sees things in a more balanced way? The problem is that many teenagers will read Follett's own lefty narrative as if it was the only way to interpret the facts of the 20th century.

The novel tells the story of the third generation of families developed in the first two novels and located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. The novel's characters become involved in a number of the most significant global events during the period, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the British Invasion, the Kennedy Administration, the Watergate scandal, and the Civil Rights Movement.As an avid fan of the first two installments of this trilogy ( Fall of Giants covering WWI and Winter of the World covering WWII), I was anxiously awaiting publication of Edge of Eternity. This was actually the installment I thought I would like the most, as I’ve always been fascinated with the Cold War and lived through some of the other events Follett covers. And, I did love a lot of Edge of Eternity, but it ended up being my least favorite of the three books. Norwegian novelist Jacobsen folds a quietly powerful coming-of-age story into a rendition of daily life on one of Norway’s rural islands a hundred years ago in a novel that was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize. Ken Follett’s masterpiece, EDGE OF ETERNITY, is the third and final installment in his CENTURY TRILOGY. But, be of good cheer! New readers to the trilogy or, indeed, even that small handful of readers who have yet to sample Ken Follett’s magnificent mountain of literary achievement, will be pleased to know it reads just fine as a stand-alone novel. In summary, it is nothing less than a fictionalized version of the 20th Century after World War II and the events leading up to and through the world’s hair’s breadth avoidance of all out nuclear war as the Cold War between the USA and the USSR unfolded.

For example, I get that this book was about the sexual revolution, however, did every character have to have an affair? Even minor ones and even Martin Luther King? I felt like this was added in to keep people's interest, because the rest of the story was just not up to what I would expect from Ken Follett. It would literally go, Cuban missile crisis, end of chapter about someone's affair. Civil rights protect, fellowed by an affair. Berlin wall goes up, affair. Just got old after a while, although it did make since for some characters stories, like the Hippies, it just felt like filler when it came to JFKs and MLKs affairs, or stories about people they had affairs with. Those are the things that disappointed me in a book I was soo looking forward to read. Sorry Ken, this onw gets only 3 stars. One of the most beautiful women ever to grace the silver screen, Hedy Lamarr also designed a secret weapon against Nazi Germany. And one small scene with Nicolae Ceausescu as protagonist. I was a kid but I remember how communism was: the wake up at 4 in the morning for the queues if you wanted to buy something, the fear of expressing yourself freely etc. Tanya Dvorkin, Dmitri's twin sister, a journalist and star reporter for the official Soviet TASS news agency, publicly adhering to the official party line - while at the same time secretly writing and disseminating anti-Soviet articles and smuggling out forbidden writings for publication in the West - very dangerous activities, that could have dire consequences if discovered.

Masterfully sweeping stories . . . political intrigue, amorous episodes, suspense, and drama. History comes to life.”