The Armor of Light – Ken Follett
As I write this in 2024, I have a serious question: Do they still show soap operas on daytime tv? I remember being a kid in the 1970s when soap operas were the only thing on television from the late-morning until the early-afternoon. I’m guessing, between the 3 networks (which is all we had back then), there were probably about 20 different shows. Being a kid, this was the worst part of the day if one wanted to watch TV. Once I started college, my roommate and I did start to watch “As the World Turns” fairly regularly (he was a fan before we became roommates), and I probably was a devout watcher for about six months.
I quickly became bored and frustrated, though, and gave up. The show was too contrived, too forced, too redundant, and the same characters had the same problems (usually around love, sex, infidelity, etc.) over and over again. I just thought it was a cheap way to try to tell a good story. I’m ranting about soap operas because, sadly, this is exactly what the majority of Ken Follett novels are. They’re essentially boring repetitive soap operas. A lot of people like them though, so Follett keeps churning them out and probably enjoys regular meetings with his accountant. I just can’t really take it anymore.
This book is the 5th of his “Kingsbridge” series. The first book in the series, “The Pillars of the Earth” was outstanding, and as much as I tend to dismiss Follett, he does have a few outstanding offerings. “Pillars” is one of the very best of any author I’ve read, and there are multitudes who agree with me. Maybe since it was so successful, Follett chose to keep telling the story? It’s sad because he hasn’t come close to replicating the original, and every one of these “Kingsbridge” books are essentially exactly the same. Now, I think the first book took place in 11th century England. By the time we get to this one, we’re now in the early 19th. If I was highly astute, I may be able to remember everyone in this fictitious history, and I might be able to remember who is a descendant of whom etc. but none of that is really important. This is the same tired old soap opera. In fact, one thing about soap operas that even admirers will concede, is that you don’t have to watch the episodes every day. You can tune out for a couple of weeks, resume watching, and basically not miss anything. Same is true here. My guess is that if you stop at page 200, and then skip to say, page 350 and resume reading, you won’t miss anything important. I didn’t actually do that, but now wish I had.
Since we’re now in the 18th and 19th centuries, the textile industry is front and center. This is how our characters make their livings in this story. We read about all sorts of groundbreaking inventions and gizmos that these characters use to work easier and faster due to the impact of said gadgets. There’s an awful lot of detail of how these new-fangled machines actually work. Yawn. Of course, most of these characters aren’t well off financially and there are plenty of mean-spirited rich aristocrats in the towns who hate everything decent and are dumped into this story to make our heroes lives even more miserable. Everything is crooked in dear old Kingsbridge, and fate conspires to make our protagonists lives much more miserable than they really need to be. Did I mention it’s like a soap opera?
Then, of course, there are plenty of women who are also oppressed, and they’re all married to abusive, uncaring brutes. So the women stray and mess around with the poor, but good-natured characters. So of course we have several unwanted pregnancies with these women trying to “conceal the truth” as to who the real father is etc etc. You really wish Ken Follett would write about something else for a change, but again, I guess his fans like the same old same old.
There’s also lots of conflict (as there always is in his novels) around religion. Follett is never necessarily antagonist towards belief, but he’s constantly bashing the state churches in his books and every clergy member is as evil as evil can be. This book talks a lot about the “invention” of Methodism and how these Methodists are trying to break away from the Church of England to be more of who God thinks his worshippers should be. Not a bad idea to include in a story, but Follett’s treatment just comes across as cheap and unoriginal.
About 70% through the book, the focus changes to the perpetual war with France, and all of our heroes (male and female) are now thrown into what seems a separate novel. The war, rather than the textile industry is now the main focus. We read about real leaders in real situations, but the treatment is rather poor. By now the book is a boring slog.
I’m not sure how many books Ken Follett has left in him, but since I’ve (unbelievably) read every one, I’ll probably continue to keep reading them. I really need to stop. I guess I keep hoping that somewhere in his brain, he has the capability to deliver another “Eye of the Needle” or “The Man From St. Petersburg”, but I’ve been mostly disappointed with his books over the last 30 years.
At least I didn’t have to pay for it. I got this as a digital library book. A small victory. Very small.
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