The Simpsons should have died a long long time ago. Unfortunately, feeling the same way about kingsbridge after this latest novel.

Same!! Never was fantastic storytelling and very relevant for today (scarily relevant to today unfortunately). I really liked the characters and their story lines and it all felt unsettlingly plausible. The ending was one of the most emotionally impactful moments in any book I’ve ever read. I’m glad to have read this recently, otherwise I would be worried that he was losing his touch after reading Armor of Light which is by far my least favorite of his books

I definitely agree, this was my least favorite kingsbridge novel by far. My only disagreement was that Hornbeam was actually my favorite character (not saying much because the rest of the characters were so one dimensional whereas hornbeam at least had some depth/backstory). In fact, I would say he is one of the least cartoonishly evil villains of the kingsbridge series (William Hamleigh anyone?). Other than him, none of the characters felt remotely convincing to me. None of the relationships really had any rhyme or reason. Kit and Rodger basically had one scene where Roger defended kit when he was a 6 year old, then they fast forward to them randomly falling in love? Spade/arabella and Amos/Elsie were weak too. Spade and Amos are just Good Guys TM. Elsie likes children and Amos, and did Arabella have a single character trait other than she liked her rose garden? Jane was just Shallow Woman and Sal was just Strong Woman. None of them had any compelling story lines or motivations, and didn’t have much justification for them all being friends, whereas in previous kingsbridge novels it felt more like the characters were woven together through interesting circumstances. The plot just kind of happened with the first two-thirds being about workers rights and the last part about the war.

I just finished the book tonight and immediately went to see what other people are thinking about the novel, glad I’m not alone in my disappointment.