This books is considered the best or one of the best historical fiction novels by many, but I didn't like it. It was my first time trying to get into this genre, and I still think that there are similar books I might like out there. What other book would you recommend to someone who wants to read historical fiction but dislikes Pillars of the Earth? (Basically I think it has poor/bad character development, cheesy villians, many cringey moments, an unnatural way to develop relationships, weird sex scenes, repetitive and rushed plot, etc.) By the way, I really liked A Song of Ice and Fire.
by Some-Somewhere9684
15 Comments
I also disliked Pillars for all the same reasons. I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction, but I loved Morgan’s Run by Colleen McCullough. Really eye opening look at the convicted men and women who were ripped from their homes and families in England and sent to Australia in the 1700s. Many had committed crimes no worse than stealing some food, or were wrongfully convicted.
“The Accursed Kings” series by Maurice Duron
Anything written by Bernard Cornwell
“The Accursed Kings” series by Maurice Duron
Anything written by Bernard Cornwell
*Firelord*, *Beloved Exile*, and *Sherwood* by Parke Godwin.
*Hard Times* and *A Tale of Two Cities* by Charles Dickens.
*The Jungle* by Upton Sinclair.
*Heart of Darkness* by Joseph Conrad.
*The Good Earth* by Pearl S. Buck. Buck was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938.
*The Grapes of Wrath* by John Steinbeck.
*Invisible Man* by Ralph Ellison.
*The Killer Angels* by Michael Shaara.
*Beloved* by Toni Morrison.
*Catch-22* by Joseph Heller.
*The Thin Red Line* by James Jones.
*The Cruel Sea* by Nicholas Monsarrat.
*The Red Badge of Courage* by Stephen Crane.
*All Quiet on the Western Front* by Erich Maria Remarque.
*Slaughterhouse-Five* by Kurt Vonnegut (fictionalized memoir).
*Catch-22* by Joseph Heller.
There is SO MUCH great historical fiction works out there. And being an audiobook consumer will enhance your enjoyment of most of them. Historical fiction is my preferred genre as there is so much to choose from and you learn something in the process.
I just finished and thoroughly enjoyed “The Paris Agent” by Kelly Rimmer. The audiobook and story and writing style were all great.
I Claudius by Robert Graves
I didn’t like *Pillars* either.
*In the Time of the Butterflies*, by Julia Alvarez
*Matrix*, by Lauren Groff
*Homegoing*, by Yaa Gyasi
*I, Claudius*, by Robert Graves
*Half of a Yellow Sun*, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
*Shadow Country*, by Peter Matthiessen
*Matterhorn*, by Karl Malantes
*Sing, Unburied, Sing*, by Jesmyn Ward
Pretty much anything by Sharon Kay Penman
Anything by Sharon Kay Penman.
A Pillar of Iron and The Earth is the Lord’s by Taylor Caldwell
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Augustus by John Williams
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Corner Ghat Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Anything by Dorothy Dunnet – specifically the Lymond and Niccólo series. King Hereafter is a retelling of Macbeth and is brilliant. The dolly/johnson johnson series is not historical but is good.
Conn Iggulden’s series about the mongols is excellent.
Hated it myself, couldn’t finish it – author should have stayed with thrillers
I prefer sci-fi/fantasy, but I know of a few.
There Eyes Were Watching God was a pretty powerful read.
Devil in the White City (I couldn’t finish it, but mom loved it)
Gates of the Alamo