Circle of Days by Ken Follett: Review

Epic in scope yet intimate in its story telling, Circle of Days explores faith, love, and sacrifice, offering a compelling imagined history behind the creation of Stonehenge.

Synopsis: Circle of Days

Ken Follett’s 2025 novel is an ambitious and deeply human novel that brings one of the world’s greatest mysteries, the building of Stonehenge, vividly to life.

On a Great Plain, flint miner Seft arrives at the Midsummer Fair to trade his stone and to find Neen, the woman he loves.

Gifted and intelligent, Seft longs to escape the brutality of his father and brothers and build a better life among Neen’s prosperous herder family.

Neen’s sister Joia is very different. A priestess from childhood, she possesses a rare vision and a natural authority that sets her apart. Witnessing the Midsummer ceremonies, she dreams of something no one else can imagine: a monumental stone circle, built from the largest stones ever raised by human hands.

As drought grips the land and tensions rise between the herders, farmers, and woodland tribes, Joia’s dream becomes both a unifying force and a dangerous provocation.

While Seft is drawn into her vision, and together they dedicate their lives to creating a monument to bind the fractured tribes of the Plain. However, mistrust and a shocking act of violence threaten to plunge the region into open warfare.

Epic in scope yet intimate in its story telling, Circle of Days explores faith, love, and sacrifice, offering a compelling imagined history behind the creation of Stonehenge, and the people whose lives were shaped by its stones.

Review: Circle of Days

Why bother, when he’s already told this story better?

Circle of Days by Ken Follett is an historical fiction novel centred on the building of Stonehenge.

This Epic novel, is told through multiple viewpoints of view, including a priestess determined to see the monument completed and those who oppose its construction.

On paper, this sounds like a fresh direction for Follett: moving from medieval cathedrals to prehistoric stone circles. In reality, however, Circle of Days feels far more familiar and is, than it should.

A Story We’ve Read Before

Although Stonehenge and Kingsbridge are separated by thousands of years, the narrative structure here is unmistakably Follett.

With a grand construction project, ideological conflict, interpersonal rivalries as well as power struggles all drive the plot in ways that will be instantly recognisable to anyone who has read the Kingsbridge series.

Yes, technically, these are “completely different stories”, or at least that is what the novel would like you to believe. But in execution, Circle of Days follows the same blueprint Follett has been using in The Kingsbridge series, for decades, only with fewer pages and less emotional impact.

While this book is marketed as a standalone, it reads like a condensed version of a formula. Given current publishing trends, it would not be surprising if this eventually became the start of another loosely connected series.

Familiarity to a Fault

Ken Follett is not usually an author accused of repetition to this degree, which is what makes Circle of Days so disappointing. The issue is not that the story is badly written, it is not! but that it just feels unnecessary.

Everything this novel attempts to do has already been done more effectively, with greater depth and stronger character development, in his earlier work. As a result, the book struggles to justify its own existence beyond its prehistoric setting.

A More Modern Perspective

One area where Circle of Days does differ noticeably from Follett’s older novels is in its treatment of relationships. Same-sex (particularly sapphic) relationships are presented openly and matter-of-factly, rather than being absent or only implied. Likewise, male–female friendships exist without being forced into romantic subplots.

In this sense, the novel feels like a glimpse of how the Kingsbridge books might have looked had they been written today. This modern sensibility is welcome, but it is not enough on its own to elevate the story.

Who Should Read? Circle of Days

Ultimately, Circle of Days is likely to appeal to two types of readers:

• Ken Follett completists who want to read everything he has written
• Readers intrigued by Follett’s style but intimidated by the sheer scale of the Kingsbridge series

For long-time fans, however, this novel may feel like diminishing returns.Conclusion

Circle of Days by Ken Follett is competently written and accessible, but it lacks originality and emotional weight. When compared to the author’s earlier work, it feels like a lesser retelling of a story he has already mastered.

If you are new to Follett, this may serve as an introduction to his standalone novels (which you can see here) though there are better introductions.

However, if you are familiar with his back catalogue, particularly the Kingsbridge novels (see here for a list of the books in oder), you may find yourself wondering—why bother?

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Mark.