The Armour of Light by Ken Follett

This novel is the next in the series of Kingsbridge novels, following the famous Pillars of the Earth and its sequel World Without End. There does seem to be a pattern in the way that Follett writes his novels: usually he introduces characters and the setting at the beginning, evolves their relationships throughout the bulk of the novel, and then finishes the book off with the description of a historical event of some kind in which he places the characters. This book is no different. It takes place at the turn of the 19th century – at the time of the French Revolution and Napoleon, and runs through up to the Battle of Waterloo and the time of change for the rights of workers through looking at the effects of a parliamentary act called The Combination Act.

The book was, for the most part, entertaining, especially while things remained unpredictable to some degree and Follett kept me wondering. Though planning can be a good thing, planning without a few careful passes can lead to an ending that feels a little wimpish and undramatic.

Towards the end, it did feel as though the author was rushing through the tail end of an outline, giving it a cursory fleshing out. The last few pages wrapped up the loose ends in the novel, which was nice, and in a way relieving, since the book towards the end had started to become a rather predictable case of a happy ending, where everything turns out well for everyone. I know that Follett is famously rigid about sticking to deadlines, but the last chapter especially felt as though he hadn’t had the time to flesh out the notes.

The last 20% or so of this novel recounts the events at Waterloo, with the characters playing an invented role in the events. It was nice to see them in it, but at times it did feel more like a historical sketch than a novel about the characters themselves. Though I do recognise that it’s difficult to write about such dramatic historical events without their overshadowing whatever else is going on. Perhaps to some degree this was a consequence of the contrast between the richness of the characters of the novel and historical figures like Old Nosey. There was a rather simplistic split between the “good” and the “bad”, so there was little complexity to keep them differentiated. I found myself at some points questioning who a particular character was, since I felt you could have easily substituted in a number of other “good” names and had similar outcomes.

The book overall, however, was a decent read and kept me amused. There were a number of complicated relationships that evolved throughout the book that provided sufficient drama and intrigue, and there were dramatic climaxes where you really did feel tension, which redeemed the novel. I do think that had the latter part of the novel been written in a more involved way and not felt so much as a narrative recount of events, it would have been better.

Overall, it was a decent story, with a fairly complex interweaving plot and carefully planted early devices that could come in useful later on, but at times it didn’t necessarily feel as much real and immersive, so much as planned. Follett could have done with thickening up the rope with which he tied up knots at the end to carry through to a more substantial finish. They started off as ropes, became strings with occasional thicker bits, and ended up as shoelaces tied up in a neat, but predictable, bow.

Despite all this, it was nice to return to the world of Kingsbridge and I probably will again. I think Follett is strong at weaving fiction into historical narrative and vice versa. Readers always learn something through reading his novels. In the Pillars of the Earth, it was about the nature of Cathedrals and building them, which was a fascinating and fairly unique thing for a novel to focus on. This novel focused more on the relationship between masters and workers in the late 18th and early 19th century, the impact of industrialisation, the French Revolution, and Napoleon’s rise. It was interesting to learn about these things through the novel, and it was good to see Follett bring to life the battles and military decisions leading up to Waterloo.