Mightier Than the Sword: A Novel (The Clifton Chronicles, 5)

The story of battles fought by Emma, Seb, and Harry continues. The trip made by Harry to Russia is engrossing to read. I can’t wait to finish the next one in series

I am addicted to the Clifton Chronicles and await each new installment. This installment begins exactly where the last book ended. The book starts off with a bang but a third of the way thru slows down with the story of Giles and his seat in Parliament. It is both boring in my opinion and awfully repetitive from the story Mr. Archer wrote in his last book. The story pick up again at the last third of the book with the trials of both Emma and Harry. Here the book is unstoppable and cannot be turned away until finished. As usual, a cliffhanger ends the book. All in all a very good read and advancement of the story. I anxiously await the next installment.

Plenty of twist and turns. Very Interesting content. So much so that the book was over before I was remotely ready.

I, and the rest of my book club, have all enjoyed this whole series immensely, and have hungered for each successive book after finishing the last. His writing has stayed consistently brilliant throughout the series. We, collectively, have decided that what has caused us to love these books so much, is that Jeffrey Archer has developed a group (not just one or two) of characters that we passionately root for with each new conflict. The length of the series has allowed us to become connected to the cast of characters as we watch them grow and age and face the challenges of a spectacular, diverse and admirable family. Also the various facets of the plot give fascinating insight into the various worlds of the British political and justice system, corporate intrigue, the art and publishing world and banking industry. Just fabulous!

When I read the first book in the Clifton Chronicles series it was an amusing, light and somewhat clever tale that looked like the start of an entertaining trilogy. Jeffrey Archer ended each book with interesting cliffhanger endings to keep your attention on the next book. Little did I know that nearly five years later I would be reading #5 in the series - and it looks like there are several more to come!I read a lot of latest books in long series and always ask myself "Has the author run out of steam with the latest book?". In this case my answer is a solid yes. This book recycles so many plots in different guises from previous books, getting rid of a few key characters along the way to make things look a little different, but keeping most of the main characters and their conflicts alive and adding a few new ones, mainly baddies.At the end of the last book the cliffhanger was whether an IRA bomb would explode on the liner Buckingham in mid-Atlantic. Of course that danger was cleared up early on and the baddies, both IRA bombers and Don Pedro Martinez, were quickly dispatched out of the story.Harry Clifton is still writing very successful detective novels but gets involved in an unbelievable campaign, which he kicks off in Moscow, for the release of an author from a Russian jail who wrote a banned biography of Stalin. As Chairman, Emma battles to keep the Barrington Steamship Company afloat with Lady Virginia Fenwick still causing problems, and using Major Alex Fisher and other unscrupulous characters to implement her schemes.Giles Barrington is a junior minister in Harold Wilson's first government and fights for his political life when the government falls. Sebastian is quickly becoming the financial brains of the Clifton family and gets involved in some interesting but strange financial intrigues.This book only spans the years 1964 to 1970 which gives Jeffrey Archer scope for a host of future chronicles. While I admire Archer as a great storyteller I am tired of the Clifton/Barrington story line and the unusual and unbelievable lengths that he has gone to keep the story alive. I doubt that I will want to read any further chronicles. 2.5 stars.

This is a great read, fast-paced, however Jeffrey Archer needs to learn a few lessons from some of his contemporaries, most notably Ken Follett, Robert Ludlum and Nelson DeMille. They know how to end a "serial" novel while leaving the reader feeling complete after reading that phase of the saga whereas the reader knows there is more to come from their favorite characters/themes/series (e.g. Ken Follet's Kingsbridge Series, Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne and Nelson DeMille's John Corey), and not not an unfinished work as is the case with "Mightier Than The Sword."Jeffrey Archer's spins a tale with complex, well-developed characters facing various - and at times - dire challenges throughout the tale whose lives are intertwined through many circumstances/situations over time that are made clear as the novel progresses from beginning to end. However - at the end of the novel - WAY too many questions remain unclear for the reader concerning many of the intricate situations woven into this tale who is basically told to wait for the next work in this series which should be available some time this year (2016). The only time I was more disappointed with the 'leave the reader hanging' feeling is when James Leigh did not write a follow-up novel to his excellent work, "The Ludi Victor."Again Jeffrey Archer, "Mightier Than The Sword" is a well-written, fast-paced novel. In the future.please learn from you contemporaries I previously mentioned (Follett, Ludlum, DeMille) and provide the reader with closure at the end of each book in this series. It's very well-written and the characters are believable and fit well into the then-historical context in this novel/series; we anticipate reading the future of the Barrington/Clifton/Fenwick [email protected]

Remarkable story. Love all the characters. It drives me to investigate the historical characters to find how much of it is true.

Highly recommended. Hard to put down as it moves along very quickly. Very compelling reading without violence or sex playing a major part in the storiea of the various characters.

usual archer tale light easy reading worth it

Excellent product! Buy and experience beauty

Jeffrey Archer a le talent d’introduire l’histoire contemporaine dans ses romans ce qui les rend encore plus crédibles malgré tous les retournements de situation et coups de théâtre qui fourmillent dans ce livre. C’est passionnant de bout en bout.

Have loved the Clifton Chronicles