Reviews with content warning for Death - Doomsday Book

, never the less, I inhaled this. Like, insert gif of bear leaping out of swimming pool with "WHAT YEAR IS IT." Willis is such a compelling writer in terms of action. I really liked Blackout/All Clear and just thinking of that Oxford Time Travel world is what led me to want to read this. The scifi behind how time travel works in this world is fascinating. I do think Willis tends to over-write character's internal thoughts, but I still found it page turning because I just had to know how it worked out. I'll read all of the Oxford Time Travel-related books!

I partially think this was so compelling because all the quarantine/PPE talk was so familiar, which is a bit masochistic of me. It's stunning how little bits of the epidemic life came true, this being written in 1992: there was a pandemic, in this world, in 2014; people immediately came up with conspiracy theories about how it started; some people started calling it "*insert assumed nationality of first person who got it* virus"; people not wearing masks.

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drag0nfly's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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megatza's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

2022 reread:

Mention of plagues, epidemics, and quarantines. Accompanying that is detailed descriptions of illnesses and death. Also, this book is sad.

Kivrin Engle is determined beyond all measure to travel from Oxford 2055 to the Middle Ages for Christmas. She’s taken all the appropriate precautions: she’s been inoculated against common diseases - even against Plague, despite the fact that she’ll be traveling 25 years before the Black Death reaches England - she’s learned old English and Latin, she’s learned how to think and acte like a well-bred country lady of the 14th century. Her trip is approved, and she takes the journey back. Except Mr Dunworthy, head of the 20th Century Department, is convinced something has gone wrong with the drop. The Medieval department hasn’t taken appropriate consideration for calculations and while coordinates have been checked, Dunworthy doesn’t trust them. But then, the tech who ran the time travel net falls desperately ill with an unsequenced influenza virus, quarantining Oxford and preventing anyone from reading the fix on where in time Kivrin may be.

I first read this nine years ago, and my 2013 review asks, “why didn’t I read this sooner.” When we first started talking about a plague themed buddy read several months ago, I was so glad that this was the first book we were picking up. Sometimes I find it hard to pick up a 600 page book as a reread, especially one with such dark themes, but I was so glad to have the Plague Novel Pals there to read this with. Originally published in 1992, and the Hugo winner in 1993, it was fascinating to read this two years into our pandemic. I had completely forgotten about the contemporary (2055) epidemic timeline when I restarted this, and obviously quickly saw similarities to our present nonfiction timeline, even down to protestors not wanting to wear masks or watching their travel restricted. I listened to the audiobook this time around, and was blown away by the Old English pronunciations, especially for the names.

Connie Willis has the best, most complete consideration of the time travel paradox of any writer I’ve read, and she doesn’t shy away from talking about the philosophy behind her theory. If you’re looking for a plague-less entry into her time travel with more whimsy, I’d suggest To Say Nothing of the Dog, or my favorite Blackout/All Clear duology about WWII.

Well, that was intense. I'm pretty sure this has prepped me for a great game of Pandemic. Willis' writing is, as always, remarkably well researched and imagined. I'm left with a few thoughts at the end of the book, but primarily, "Why haven't I read this book sooner," since I studied the Plague in college.

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