Reviews with content warning for Death - Doomsday Book

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

43 reviews

clyssandre's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The absolute best book I've read from Connie Willis so far. It's extremely immersive, suspenceful and well researched. I would recommend to NOT read the blurb and dive right into it. It's about time travel, epidemics, and humans being humans.
A page turner.

Content Warnings

jonesen2's review

Go to review page

dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

very dark and depressing, <deals with lots of disease and death>, very historical which I found fascinating

Content Warnings

rorikae's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

'Doomsday Book' by Connie Willis is a great time travel novel that utilizes empathetic characters and dual timelines to great effect.
When Kivrin heads back to the Middle Ages using Oxford's time travel technology, she is in for a bit of a shock. Despite studying the time period and getting her necessary injections, the Middle Ages are far different than she expected. As she learns more about where she has landed and gets close to a family in the local town, her professors back in near future Oxford are dealing with their own issues that may effect their ability to retrieve Kivrin from the past.
Willis continues to impress with her stories. She injects just enough technology into the real world to heighten interest, builds a thought provoking and engaging plot out of these elements, and then sets a full cast of characters into this world. One of the strong points of this novel is the dual timelines. Hundreds of years apart but deeply connected, we follow both Kivrin and her professor Mr. Dunworthy as they deal with their own set of problems. Since these problems directly impact the ability for Kivrin to return home to nearfuture Oxford, the timelines are intimately connected and as tension ramps up in one, it impacts your view of the other timeline as well.
The other really standout point of this novel are the characters. Kivrin's blend of frustration and fascination as she visits the Middle Ages and connects with the children of the family who take her in, make her well-rounded and easily relatable. Mr. Dunworthy's deep care for Kivrin and focus on getting her home safe no matter what, makes him a great central character for the near future Oxford timeline. Paired with the supporting characters that fluctuate between frustrating, caring, and obtuse, Willis creates a world that feels fully inhabited.
I will continue to seek more of Willis' work. If you are looking for a great time travel story with engaging tension and empathetic characters, you need to read 'Doomsday Book.'

Content Warnings

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Doomsday Book opens in 2054, with Kivrin, a history student at Oxford, preparing to travel back in time to the 1320. However, the drop goes wrong. She doesn’t end up where or when planned. Her mentor Professor Dunmore soon realises this but efforts to rescue her are thwarted by an influenza pandemic.

Although long the story never dragged for me. I was soon very invested in the fate of the people Kivrin meets, especially once the Black Death strikes, exacting a toll far greater and more horrific than her studies had led her to believe. The depictions of the physical suffering the plague caused, people’s helplessness in the face of its inexorable spread, the desperate isolation of being the only person still alive in a village were all conveyed in a vivid, yet not overly dramatic way. Meanwhile the epidemic in 2054 felt all too recognisable - quarantines, insufficient protective wear for medical staff and a shortage of toilet paper!

This is a very quiet book, but one full of heart and humanity. So many of the character will stay with me. Not just Kivrin and Dunsmore but also precocious Colin and Father Roche for his genuine belief, his kindness and his determined dignity. There are no battles and no major bad guys, just people trying to survive and do their best in difficult circumstances. I’m not a huge fan of science fiction/speculative fiction, yet I enjoyed this book. The futuristic timeline is light on world building and the technological details that make time travel possible. Far more attention was given to the details of life in 1348, meaning it felt more like an historical fiction novel than anything else. For me this was a plus; for another type of reader it could be the exact opposite.

Content Warnings