11/22/63 "the work of a master craftsman" but commented that "the wires go slack from time to time" and the book wanders from genre to genre, particularly in the middle. More pointedly, "Los Angeles Times" book critic David Ulin called the novel "a misguided effort in story and writing"; Ulin's primary criticism is the conceit of the story, which requires the reader to follow two plotlines simultaneously – historical fiction built upon the Kennedy assassination as well as the tale of a time traveling English teacher – which adds a page load to the novel that Ulin found excessive. On September
Stephen, King of England occasionally used in historical fiction. Stephen and his supporters appear in Ellis Peters' historical detective series "Brother Cadfael", set between 1137 and 1145. Peters' depiction of Stephen's reign is an essentially local narrative, focused on the town of Shrewsbury and its environs. Peters paints Stephen as a tolerant man and a reasonable ruler, despite his execution of the Shrewsbury defenders after the taking of the city in 1138. In contrast, Stephen is depicted unsympathetically in both Ken Follett's historical novel "The Pillars of the Earth" and the TV mini-series adapted from it. Stephen of Blois married Matilda of Boulogne in