A review by tandemjon
All Clear by Connie Willis

Connie Willis says this sequel to Blackout started as a single novel and morphed into 2 books. I found the first book very slow and dull. The second instalment was much better and overall I quite enjoyed it but felt a bit cheated by making one fast paced good book into two. My dad always says word processors have made books too long, and I think he's right on this occasion. I also got really fed up with the constant worry of the characters and their inability to do almost anything without a disaster happening - they couldn't make a cup of tea without running out of water, the milk being off and the kettle blowing up and one of them dying... oh no they didn't actually die. This was another area of the book that left me a bit irritated. characters died, but came back to life too often. you just knew they weren't really dead. Most of the book is so predictable it felt a bit like a poor US scifi series, but the last few chapters had some good twists and meant I actually didn't feel completely frustrated by the book. I'd not buy another in the series, nor sadly Andy more Connie Willis books after this.