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  • Fall of Giants

  • Century Trilogy, Book 1
  • By: Ken Follett
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 30 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (3,326 ratings)
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Fall of Giants

By: Ken Follett
Narrated by: John Lee
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Summary

The first in Ken Follett's breathtaking Century Trilogy, Fall of Giants is a captivating novel that follows five families through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for votes for women.

A World in Chaos

1911, a thirteen-year-old boy, Billy Williams, begins working down the mines as George V is crowned king. The escalating arms race between the empire nations will put not only the king but this young boy in grave danger.

A Terrible War

Billy’s family is inextricably linked with the Fitzherberts, the aristocratic owners of the coal mine where he works. And when Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German embassy in London, their destiny also becomes entangled with that of Gus Dewar, an ambitious young aide to Woodrow Wilson, and two orphaned Russian brothers whose plan to emigrate to America falls foul of conscription, revolution and imminent war.

A Revolution That Will Change Everything

When Russia convulses in bloody revolution and the Great War unfolds, the five families’ futures are entwined forever, love bringing them closer even as conflict takes them further apart. What seeds will be sown for further tragedy in the twentieth century and what role will each play in what is to come?

Continue the captivating Century Trilogy with Winter of the World and Edge of Eternity.

©2010 Ken Follett (P)2010 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Fall of Giants

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    5 out of 5 stars

This is a gripping story very well narrated.

Gripping story that was extremely well narrated. Highly recommended. I could not stop listening.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

My first read/listen of this author

Spellbinding storyline, I was hooked from page one & delighted to learn that there are two follow up stories.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

I had not expected to enjoy this book so much. It was fantastically engrossing for such a long listen. The characters were well defined and despite this being a work of fiction, the descriptions of historical events were so well written that my knowledge base of WW1 and the Russian uprising are now so much clearer in my mind. Better than any monotonous history lesson. Narrated beautifully and with swift changes of language and pronunciation it must have been a difficult book to perform so smoothly.
I was disappointed when the end came.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • JW
  • 01-05-12

A thoroughly enjoyable listen .....

The only problem was that it came to an end !!! I never cease to be amazed at Ken Follett's ability to write about such diverse subjects and periods of time. This book is amazing in how it links many people from different walks of life and different nations during the period of time just before and during the Great War. This book has many heroes (and a few villains), a variety of plots, and addresses a number of issues, but I found it gripping. Well worth listening to and highly recommended.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fall of Giants

I have really enjoyed this reading, but wish I had listened to it before listening to the sequel. I like the reader but he has difficult pronouncing some Welsh words and one French town in particular. Other than that he does the accents very well and brings the characters to life.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

amazing story

This is a great novel reads by a good speaker, accion and speed Are quite good for a great audiobook. Just highlight that voice of the speaker sound a bit old and a younger one or female one could improve the listening experience. Enjoy this wonderful bookof Ken Follet.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible story, slightly annoying accents...

This book is excellent. It centers around the first world war; historical information is presented in an informal manner through the characters' lives. A holistic picture is given as the characters range in class and nationality. The narrating is slightly annoying as John Lee's accents can be rather cliched but after a while this is unnoticeable and even good fun. Would recommend as a pick-up-and-put-down novel, I'm listening on my 30 minute walk to and from work and getting through it nicely.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

I wasn't expecting to like it...ended up loving it

I started listening to this book in lieu of the one I wanted not being downloaded to my iPod. I imagined this would be a stop gap until I could get the other book downloaded however from about 20 minutes in I was pretty hooked. A BIG story with lots of characters, all brilliantly realised, spanning a couple of decades and covering WW1 and times after, gripping and exciting. I will definitely be listening to the second part very soon.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant

Loved the book so much I had to buy the series. I found the storylines compelling and the social history very interesting especially because the time period is simultaneously looked at from many angles.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fall of Giants

A well written story and as well as entertaining I found it quite enlightening as although very aware of world war 1,my knowledge of events and those times are sketchy at best . I thought John Lee read it well and the drama flowed along nicely. I am looking forward to the next book in the trilogy.

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