nicolaspratt's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting premise, but slow story and hard to feel "real" at times, especially with future archaic technology.
paulineleonor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
karieh13's review against another edition
5.0
Connie Willis should be suing Michael Crichton for plagirism. He obviously read this FABULOUS book and decided to destroy it and then publish his own craptastic version. His book was terrible. This book is wonderful and impossible for me to put down...every time I read it. I am a sucker for time travel stories - and the great characters are just gravy.
justiceofkalr's review against another edition
5.0
This was depressing and amazing simultaneously. But I'll be happy to never hear "necrotic" used as an exclamation ever again.
cindy2171's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. Such a great book. Loved it. Pandemics, time travel, parallel storylines, Oxford, academia.
djwudi's review against another edition
4.0
Technically a time travel book, but the time travel itself is kind of the least important part, little more than a hand-waved MacGuffin necessary to get the characters in the right places. From there, you have the dual stories of near-future and historical pandemics. And, of course, any pandemic-centric tale can’t help but be read somewhat differently now that it would have been five years ago. In some ways, the near-future part seemed rather prescient, referring to a prior flu pandemic that would have hit in the mid-2010s, only about a decade off from our COVID reality, or the presence of protesters blaming the government; in others, it now seems sadly naïve (now that we know that most people’s reaction to a pandemic too quickly turns to “meh” or outright denial rather than taking it seriously). Both stories are excellently handled, often with a subtle dry humor in the “present day” portion balancing the tragedies of the historical portion.
julykus's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
kindlereads's review against another edition
4.0
I would have liked it better if they hadn't killed all the characters. I might have liked it more and given it more starts but they killed EVERYONE! In the beginning the "modern day" story line was boring and uninspiring by the end the "medieval" story line was so depressing and held no hope that I was glad for the "modern day" storyline. There was a lot to like about this book, the writing was great, the storyline compelling, the characters were well rounded. But for the fact that they killed everyone it would have be just fine and dandy. And as Collin would have said, "apocalyptic!"
minchowski's review against another edition
sad
slow-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
3.75
interrowhimper's review against another edition
4.0
Entertaining and in line with all the other Oxford time travel books in her series. The dialog is good and the characters are interesting. Every one of these books feels a bit like a stress dream- you just need to do this one really important thing, but somehow you never can. Stuff just keeps getting in the way. The whole vibe is a little anxiety inducing, and throw in two parallel pandemics and…I’m not sure it is the best-timed read for the present moment.