Winter of the World Review

I finally knocked this beast of a book off of my tbr. Let’s review Winter of the World.

Synopsis

Carla von Ulrich, born of German and English parents, finds her life engulfed by the Nazi tide until daring to commit a deed of great courage and heartbreak . . . . American brothers Woody and Chuck Dewar, each with a secret, take separate paths to momentous events, one in Washington, the other in the bloody jungles of the Pacific . . . . English student Lloyd Williams discovers in the crucible of the Spanish Civil War that he must fight Communism just as hard as Fascism . . . . Daisy Peshkov, a driven social climber, cares only for popularity and the fast set until war transforms her life, while her cousin Volodya carves out a position in Soviet intelligence that will affect not only this war but also the war to come.

My Thoughts on Winter of the World

I knew I was going to love Winter of the World as much as I loved Fall of Giants. I pretty much gave it five stars from the beginning. And honestly, I think I might have liked this one even more.

The thing that hooks me with this series is the character work. I know I’ve said that Brandon Sanderson is the king of character development, but Follet might have him beat. The fact that he can sustain a cast of characters this large is impressive in itself, but these characters have a depth and backstory. Each character’s life is intertwined throughout the story in such a beautiful way.

Now while the character work is the star of the show (in my opinion), I can’t neglect the research that he did to make sure this account was historically accurate. I’m sure he took some liberties, but for the most part I could tell just how much work went into this story.

Overall, I can’t say enough good things about Winter of the World. It’s a chunk of a book, but I enjoyed every second that I spent with it.