Jump to content

Blackout / All Clear - Connie Willis


jjzazzy

Recommended Posts

After reading these two in quick succession (they are after all, one book split into two for publishing) I debated if they were historical fiction or sci-fi, but settled on the later. The story is mostly set in WWII London, but with use of time travel, including a discussion on the merits and ethics therein.

 

Three time-travelling historians become ‘stuck’ in 1941 during the Blitz, unable to return home after their assignments are complete. The story weaves through past and future time with close calls, second chances and inescapable conclusions. A frantic, searching read, where the reader never gives up hope, both for a rescue of the characters and a British victory in the war. Strong supporting minor characters grow to fill important roles as the plot thickens, leaving the reader to contemplate fate, destiny and free will.

 

Over all, I was enthralled by these books, dashing madly to pick up part 2 from the library. But more than time travel, the books really tell the civilian story of the war, as captured in this quote:

"No one person or one thing won the war. People argue over whether it was Ultra or the evacuation from Dunkirk or Churchill’s leadership or fooling Hitler into thinking we were invading at Calais that won the war, but it wasn’t any one of them. It was all of them and a thousand million other things and people. And not just soldiers and pilots and Wrens, but air-raid wardens and plane spotters and debutantes and mathematicians and weekends sailors and vicars… and canteen workers and ambulance drivers and ENSA chorus girls and historians... Doing their bit. No one can be in a chaotic system and not affect events.”

 

Recommended for anyone who like historical fiction AND Sci-fi

Next, I will read her earlier books based on time travellers, and review the rest of the series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Have you read Connie Willis' "The Doomsday Book"? That is totally unputdownable.

A history student in the 22nd Century uses the new technology of timetravel to research the period she is studying. There is a slight time malfunction and the girl ends up 30 years or so later than planned - 1347, the year of the Black Death. Due to the malfunction, her people back in the 21st century cannot bring her back.

She, of course, knows what is going to happen, and knows that she cannot catch the plague(she has been innoculated against just about everything before she left her own time).

It is very well written, and will remain with the reader long after the back cover is closed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just do not understand why they do not have mobile phones in year of 2060? I almost put down the book when they started to run about trying to find each other in campus, leaving messages on papers that cannot be read... WTF?

I did'n finish book yet - is there any explanation of this? Is future in the book in some other multiverse where electromagnetic communication is not possible? Are personal communication devices forbidden in Oxford? Is book written in 1950's?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...