Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • World Without End

  • Kingsbridge, Book 2
  • By: Ken Follett
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 45 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (3,844 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
World Without End cover art

World Without End

By: Ken Follett
Narrated by: John Lee
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Wandering Harlot cover art
Virgins cover art
Hyperion cover art
Knight's Acre cover art
The Alice Network cover art
New Spring cover art
Sacred Treason cover art
Belvoir's Promise cover art
Dynasty 1: The Founding cover art
The Town House cover art

Editor reviews

The marvel that is Pillars of the Earth written by master novelist Ken Follett swept over the world gathering millions of devoted fans and now the sequel is here in full unabridged audiobook, World Without End, narrated by the brilliant John Lee. Four young children hide in the woods and unexpectedly witness the brutal murder of two men. Throughout their lives they feel the constant tug of a powerful connection from the haunting of that fateful event. Then revolutionary change sweeps over the lands and the world they once knew is now more dangerous than ever before. Available now from Audible.

Summary

The historical saga that has enthralled millions of fans, Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series continues with World Without End.

On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.

As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.

Ken Follett’s masterful epic The Pillars of the Earth enchanted millions of readers with its compelling drama of war, passion and family conflict set around the building of a cathedral. World Without End takes readers to medieval Kingsbridge two centuries later, as the men, women and children of the city once again grapple with the devastating sweep of historical change.

World Without End is followed by the third of Ken Follett's Kingsbridge novels, A Column of Fire.

©2007 Ken Follett (P)2007 Penguin US

What listeners say about World Without End

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,913
  • 4 Stars
    704
  • 3 Stars
    157
  • 2 Stars
    42
  • 1 Stars
    28
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,565
  • 4 Stars
    383
  • 3 Stars
    61
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    8
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,305
  • 4 Stars
    543
  • 3 Stars
    129
  • 2 Stars
    32
  • 1 Stars
    18

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Bereaved when it ended

This story has taken over my life. I listen to it in the car, when I'm running and when I'm cooking.

It was just as good as the first book and I got totally wrapped up in it. Nice to not get wrist strain from the paperback. Desperately seeking something to replace now - a big task!

I highly recommend this book. Very exciting and engaging.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing and predictable

Although on the whole I enjoyed this audio book, I found the story rather predictable and in some respect a recast of Ken Follett's earlier book. The story was quite enjoyable in spite of being very predictable at times, however, it was greatly spoilt by some of the ridiculous and gratuitous sexual scenarios the author contrived and which at time's seemed to have no real place in the story.
It’s a pity that an author, who seems from some of his earlier work to be an erudite and capable writer, spoils his work by failing to recognise that sometimes less is more. I don't refer to the length of the work because a long book can be a pleasure to read or hear read. War and Peace is a case in point and the unabridged version on Audible was the best book I have ever read (listened to). The point is that the author of this book stretches the readers imagination too far at times so that the reader begins to find, what was up to that point an enjoyable story has become a silly crass and bawdy tail.
To be fair, this book probably does not seek to be recognised as great literature, it is merely popular fiction and many people will probably enjoy it. However, I chose this book because I had enjoyed one of Ken Follett's earlier works, particularly for its historical references and detail on cathedral building. The saving grace of this book was its little historical details thrown in about rural life in those times and it awakened in me an interest to read further on the subjects, particularly about building methods and architectural design.
This epic tale is epic only in length, not in quality and although it just about kept my interest until the end I will not be reading any more of this authors work. If you want a long story which is easy to read or listen too, with simple language and sentence structures and not at all difficult to understand, some light entertainment with a little bit of historical information thrown in, you may enjoy this. However, you have to be ready and able to suspend disbelief at times and to close your eyes (or ears) to some of the uncalled for vulgarity and silliness that is out of keeping with the rest of the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

An Emotional Epic Journey

I loved The Pillars of the Earth and put World Without End off as I could not see how that great book could be matched.
I was wrong.
World Without End keeps the PotE style of writing, but the plotting seems more heavier, more dramatic, more everything really, which some will like and some may not.
OMG, these poor character really do suffer through the story and the reader that inevitability gets attached to the characters, suffer with that agony as well.
Ken Follet may seem to be nasty with the misery that he puts his Characters (and readers) through, but do not let this put you off the book. All Metal in a forge gets stronger through fire and beating of a hammer and the characters in WWE do get stronger through their baptisms of fire.
This is a adult book with adult themes which may shock, but at the same time seem to fit the time period that this grate story is set.

World Without End is a well written period book, with awesome characters, and many many plots with in plots, woven into a classic piece of literature. Like PotE this book will be adapted for Film/TV. (I would put money on that.)

...oh yes the narrator is fantastic. Thank you MR Lee.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Well, well, well

Well written

Well read

Well Done!

I don't know how this book could have been better. It was a long haul, but I was still sad to see it end. This is literally like a roller-coaster, you will NEVER be bored, and the longer the better.
There was a slight imbalance between the four initial characters, with two of them receiving more prominence than the others, but that worked well, as the tale wieved and bobbed around them.

I have no regrets on spending a credit on this book, and I am sure you will feel the same.
Literally no faults whatsoever!

BUY IT!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great for long journeys

I have read Pillars and thought why not, I spend a lot of time driving and Pillars was enjoyable. Ken certainly knows how to tell a great tale and cleverly turns every day events from the past into a fascinating tale of both ordinary and not so people into a great story. The bits that annoyed were often around how he seems to translate the thoughts and ideas and words of the 21st century mind and presented them as if they would have been the usual beliefs for people who lived in medieval times. along with this the first four parts had numerous graphic sexual scenes, I thought much of them over dominated the story and unessacary. It was intersting that as the book progressed the detail of such incidents became less dominant but the story remained completely in tact. My other concern is how Ken's characters always seem to have siblings who are so different from them that it is difficult to understand how so many characters can be related to such heinus brothers or sisters, that did t times become far fetched. Apart from these issues that at times really iritated me I completely enjoyed the book, it was not easy to work out what would happen next so many surprises awaited. I learned much from the detail around the everyday life of the era. I wonder if another saga of Kingsbridge is about to be released.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Trashy

I had enjoyed Pillars of the Earth, despite finding the sex scenes clumsily written and out dated. However, in this book they are even more frequent, more badly written and totally gratuitous. The characters and dialogue are wooden and both the characters and the plot seem a rehash of Pillars. Historical accuracy is poor. I'm disappointed to have wasted a credit on something which is so trashy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Too much like pillars

This is a catchy story with very convincing characters and interesting turn arounds, just like its predecessor, Pillars of the Earth. In fact, that is the biggest problem of it. There are so many obvious parallels between the two stories and characters that it becomes predictable. It may be nice to read on its own, but not as a sequel. But, then if you are to choose between the pillars and this one, I would certainly recommend the pillars. And then again, what is the point of this book anyway? One thing has to be said: John lee is fantastic narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars
  • LJ
  • 04-07-15

Glad it's finally over

Firstly I have to say that the Narrator is superb and would love to hear more of his work.

But this book was not nearly as good for me as Pillars of the Earth was. In fact I'd even listen to Pillars again but not this one. And the characters in Pillars were great in my opinion.

I'm content with the ending of this book but it felt SO anticlimactic, and listening to this story and it's stupid characters was like pulling teeth. I did not like a single character! I honestly felt like their flaws were so stupidly annoying that they all deserved every bad thing they got.

I honestly can't say I'd recommend it to anyone at all, not even enthusiasts who might have just finished Pillars.

I'm glad I listened to it and many parts made real-life events in history interesting but I'm so glad it's over.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

It's a rerun

If you loved Pillars of the Earth, you may very well wish to skip this listen. The characters are distinguishable from those of Pillars only by name. The baddies are the same kind of baddies, doing more or less the same things. Ditto for the "goodies".

Even the plot is more or less the same... this time it's a bridge and a tower, rather than a cathedral. This time the heroine becomes a healer instead of a merchant (though she too starts out this way...) This time the impediment to marriage is forced nun-hood rather than a mistaken marriage. This time, the bad guy is brother to the builder. No wait, that didn't change at all! BUT - he's rolled up together with the bad earl! The good, kind clergy person is the prioress instead of the prior....

But for goodness sakes - they are all just interchangeable paper figures!

I like Ken Follett. Hopefully next time he'll write a new book instead of recycling an old one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Pillars of the Earth the re-mix but thats not bad

I read and loved Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and so thought I would give World Without End a go as well. I also loved World Without End but it is very similar to Pillars. What Ken Follett has done is to take the characters, themes and locations of Pillars of the Earth and mixed them about a bit to create World Without End. That is not necessarily a bad thing as Pillars was a brilliant book and therefore World Without End is also excellent and it does have some differences such as the plague which are interesting. Another nice difference to Pillars is there is a lot fewer sex and rape scenes which meant strangers on the tube weren't throwing me worried glances over my facial expression. I would definitely recommend reading it, it does reference the characters and events of Pillars in it but you don't have to have read Pillars to understand it. A very comforting book and you feel you really get to know the characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful