Comments (31)
Add a CommentAm enjoying reading this story. Just wish that EPL was not forced to purchase the U.S. publications. Just wish the U.S. publishers did not find it necessary to translate U.K. spellings to U.S. spellings.
Jeffrey Archer knows how to spin a good yarn, but I was disappointed with this one. It’s basically a good story - but it’s trite. Everyone and everything seems to come together to help the young hero. It just isn’t very realistic. I know this is the beginning of a series, but I won’t bother with the sequels.
esillius
Jun 01, 2017
The whole series is amazing but the first book, as is most often the case, is the best. Character development is important to me and all of the many characters in this ensemble case are flushed out well. I appreciate that the chapters alternate between characters so we get a strong focus on each but get right back to a different character in time before you forget anything. I also found that I learned a lot about history, which is always a plus!
Our June choice was Only Time Will Tell, by Jeffrey Archer. This novel, the first in a series, covers the period from 1919 up to the start of WW2, but the entire set of seven will span almost 100 years.
The story is told as a series of overlapping points of view, where eight sections cycle through six different characters, with each one introducing their own chapter. At first we found this slowed the pace down, as each key event is re-examined through other eyes, but it did add important motivations and extra depth to everyone. The setting ranges from the dockyards to private schools, and the people from labourers to aristocrats. There are a number of smaller characters and sub-plots running through this story too, but they are all well done and are necessary to support such a long and complex series. We did find at times that the complex interweaving of characters and events was filled with a few too many coincidences, but we still enjoyed it and gave a rating of 4.5/5. I'm looking forward to book #2.
I'm a sucker for family sagas, so picked up this first in the series. I also like the post WW I period, where this begins. The writing is mostly pedestrian. Harry, the protagonist, is likable but naive, as is his mother. Otherwise, most characters are either all evil or all good, cardboard, in other words. Dialog tends to be wooden. I kept reading because the plot's intriguing, and the various points of view, though they slow the plot down, make the characters a bit more life like. The ending's a cliff hanger.
We are victims of the Wimberley flood - we have highrise in Austin as well.
However, we usually did not take books from Austin, and I thought I had returned this one, again could have taken it to Wimberley to "finish" a story. I know you have been trying to find it - I guess next step is for us to pay for it which is okay too, we get lots of enjoyment from the library, just tell me next step,
Thanks, Judy Thompson
Enjoyed the read until the end when I knew Archer was coming up with sequels...not in a hurry to continue with the sequels.
If JK Rowling and VC Andrews were locked in a room with a keg, this is what they would have written.
Im not going to bother with the rest of them.
The first of 3 stories about this family. I so thoroughly enjoyed reading this "Act 1" I've since read the sequel and anxiously await the third book by Archer. Terrific - I don't know why some of the reviewers didn't like it.
I really liked this book and recommended it to several people. The characters were good upstranding people. I knew it was a trilogy before reading it so was expecting a cliff hanger. So far, Archer has not disappointed me when I am looking for a good book to read.
A fast read, fast paced with minimal detail. The characters weren't terribly deep (either flawlessly noble and good, or evil to the core...but mostly flawlessly noble and good), but the storyline was engaging and really, sometimes the story of the unfailingly good underdogs trying to prevail against evil is exactly what you're looking for.
Excellent first book in this series. Each character is a great addition to the story. Excellent read and can't wait to read his second book. A+ read.
A great start to a new saga. Jeffrey Archer is a great storyteller! Gabs you and keeps you in the story.
A family saga by Jeffrey Archer. The first in a new trilogy called the Clifton Chronicles. An enjoyable read but not remarkable. The ending is a bit of a cliff hanger that sets up the next book.
Finallly, a book more like Archer's first few books - a great story, written in a way that makes it hard to put down. The only problem is we'll have to wait until May 2012 for the next book in the trilogy!!
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