The Armor of Light

The Armor of Light: Ken Follett

Ken Follett’s “The Armor of Light” follows the winning formula of its prequels in the Kingsbridge series.

Follett surprised readers and critics in 1989 when he switched from penning bestselling spy thrillers to writing a massive tome of historical fiction – the story of a medieval community spending a lifetime building a colossal church cathedral.

“The Pillars of the Earth” became an international bestseller. With “Pillars’” sequels – “World Without End” and “A Column of Fire” – and the prequel “The Evening and the Morning,” the Kingsbridge series has sold more than 50 million copies.

“The Armor and the Light,” the latest sequel, adds to the story and is undoubtedly adding to the number of books sold.

Like the other sequels/prequels, “Armor” introduces new characters and is set in a different time than “Pillars” and the other books. As with past sequels, the story jumps a couple of centuries ahead of the past book.

Here, the action takes place in the late 1700s/early 1800s, following English residents of Kingsbridge as they deal with the changing times of clothing mills moving from human weavers to machines and the rise of workers’ rights. The plot is set against the framework of the long years of the Napoleonic wars (1799-1815).

Like the past books, Follett pulls readers into the story and the lives of characters within a few pages. Characters are introduced, often as children or as young people, whom readers witness becoming adults and growing old as they struggle to live and accomplish goals – usually against insurmountable odds.

Follett does have a formula in the Kingsbridge books. There are good guys and bad guys. The good guys struggle to overcome their situations or create something new but are often foiled by a bad guy representing a repressive segment of society. Like a chess game, the good guys take one step forward to often be pushed two steps back.

A Martin Luther King quote sums up the theme for the entire Kingsbridge series: “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.”

“The Armor of Light” continues this trend as the general population gains more rights. Follett could pen another Kingsbridge sequel in the coming years but arguably his “Century Trilogy,” centered on the 20th century, already fills the need and keeps with the Kingsbridge theme.

The Cimmerian Vol. 4

Unlike past comic book adaptations of Conan, “The Cimmerian” series relies less on narration and more on the illustrations.

There is only a few lines of narration, in some cases; in most stories, no narration at all.

Anything that needs saying is said by a character while the drawings convey the action. There is no omnipresent narrator to tell readers about Conan’s steely sinews or his cat-like reflexes, or about jade towers or the hot, foul breath of a beast. The illustrated action conveys these things. Or in some cases, longer dialogue.

“Cimmerian” artists pace the stories with tight storyboard panel work. The artists do not use full splash pages – even though American comic book readers may wish a few of them were sprinkled here and there. Instead, they fill each page with multiple panels, in some cases even tiny panels of art. But it is these tiny panels that allow the creators to tell the story with limited narration.

“The Cimmerian Vol. 4” includes two adaptations of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories: “Beyond the Black River” by writer/artist Mathieu Gabella and artist Anthony Jean, and “Hour of the Dragon,” the only Conan novel, by writer Julien Blondel and artist Valentin Secher.

“Black River,” with a limited palette of narration to open the tale, focuses on Conan as a ranger for a settlement along the Pictish frontier. “Dragon” sees an older King Conan losing his crown through sorcery then follows him as he seeks to regain the throne.

“The Cimmerian” volumes are English-translation versions of the European editions of “Conan le Cimmerien.” Accompanying each comic book adaptation in “The Cimmerian” are complete texts of Howard’s short stories so readers can compare the adaptations with the original prose stories. Something fans won’t find with past Marvel and Dark Horse Conan adaptations.

“The Cimmerian” makes Conan feel new again, even for long-time readers.