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A review by bannedfrombookclub
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
This three star review is an average between my two readings. Back in 2012 I loved it and gave it four stars, then in 2021 admists the pandemic I thought I'd re-read it and hated it, giving it two stars. It's so funny to see how my enjoyment has changed so much.
Things I still enjoyed included:
- The characters and world in medieval England
- The time-travel mechanism concept.
- The clueless/self-interested response by people to a plague/pandemic was uncomfortably accurate, now that we all know what that looks like.
Things that really irked on the second read:
- The talking in circles about the same issue (this only gets worse in Book 3, Blackout), characters just spin their wheels (noisily, into your reading eyes) while waiting for word count to tick over to the next plot point.
- Pacing
- The passivity of both main characters. Kivrin never seemed to make a choice that impacted the plot, it would have helped me if she'd had a chance to leave and decided to stay and help/complete her drop for selfish reasons.
- Kivrin never reflects on the madness of her plan to take the priest and try to travel to safety - going against all she knows about spreading disease and her training as a timetravelling historian. I can see her thinking at the time, but the immorality of this is not addressed. Again, this could have been a choice she made - she could have considered it and decided not to. This would have made her a stronger character.
I'm frankly afraid to re-read To Say Nothing of the Dog in case I have the veil once again lifted from my eyes.
Things I still enjoyed included:
- The characters and world in medieval England
- The time-travel mechanism concept.
- The clueless/self-interested response by people to a plague/pandemic was uncomfortably accurate, now that we all know what that looks like.
Things that really irked on the second read:
- The talking in circles about the same issue (this only gets worse in Book 3, Blackout), characters just spin their wheels (noisily, into your reading eyes) while waiting for word count to tick over to the next plot point.
- Pacing
- The passivity of both main characters. Kivrin never seemed to make a choice that impacted the plot, it would have helped me if she'd had a chance to leave and decided to stay and help/complete her drop for selfish reasons.
- Kivrin never reflects on the madness of her plan to take the priest and try to travel to safety - going against all she knows about spreading disease and her training as a timetravelling historian. I can see her thinking at the time, but the immorality of this is not addressed. Again, this could have been a choice she made - she could have considered it and decided not to. This would have made her a stronger character.
I'm frankly afraid to re-read To Say Nothing of the Dog in case I have the veil once again lifted from my eyes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, and Animal death