No battle and no giants here. Instead, I’ve got quick reviews of two chunkster books I read this fall. Chunkster being the technical term for big-ass, over 500 pages each, tomes. Both are set in prehistoric times and are the kind of books you’ll either settle into or set aside.
Circle of Days by Ken Follett
Published by Grand Central Publishing
Publication date: September 23, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Bookshop
I’ve read a lot of Ken Follett’s historical fiction and he’s yet to disappoint me. His latest, Circle of Days, was about Stonehenge, but for as much as I’ve loved his other books this one scared me a little. It’s over 700 pages and is set in pre-historic England, sometime around 2,500BCE. Not a lot for characters to be doing even if they’re beginning to build Stonehenge. Happily, I was wrong. Yes, it’s primitive, but Follett brings to life key people in the sharply segmented tribes of the times. There are herders, farmers, miners, and forest people—each with a highly individualized way of life. They all look to a group of priestesses who mark the seasons using a circle of logs to mark the passing of days and predict the coming of sun and moon cycles. Until one young acolyte realizes something more permanent than wood is needed and introduces the idea of stones. Stones that lie many days away and weigh tons.
With the same care his characters show towards the building of this marvel Follett respectfully recreates a time before written records or even any of the inventions of the ancient world. He brings to life the astonishing feats of transport and engineering that were necessary for Stonehenge to exist. All from the minds of humans who couldn’t count, had yet to discover metal, and had only cattle to help move the stones from miles away. If you’re the sort to be curious about those that came long before us, no one imagines them more fully formed, flaws and all, then Follett.
The Wayfinder by Adam Johnson
Published by MCD
Publication date: October 14, 2025
Genres: Fiction, Historical, Literary, Magical Realism
Bookshop
I loved Adam Johnson’s debut, The Orphan Master’s Son, so was looking forward to his newest, The Wayfinder, set in prehistoric Polynesia. The main narrative is between a young girl who lives on a remote island in the Pacific in 1200 BCE and the Tongan royal family—the king and his sons. The king is dying so the time has come to choose an heir, something that will bring even more turmoil and war to a kingdom consisting of over 100 islands, all constantly immersed in a battle for resources.
This is cultural, historical, literary fiction with a fantastical element mixed in. In other words, there’s a lot going on. Johnson’s descriptions of land and sea are hypnotic and the introduction to the many varied people on the hundreds of islands in this archipelago noteworthy. The amount of research is staggering; his words and turns of phrase are a wonder to read; but the engine of his plot is not strong enough to propel the story forward. I stalled and had to set this one aside for a time when I have an attention span again.
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*I received a free copy of The Wayfinder from MCD in exchange for an honest review.*
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