oldtobegin's review against another edition
4.0
in spite of some sections that dragged on too long and some frustrating pacing between kivrin's and mr. dunworthy's stories, this was an awesome ride and an amazing premise.
lemon_nadie's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
valjeanval's review against another edition
5.0
In general, I'm not a fan of time travel stories. I've been really waiting for the exception to that rule, and I've finally found it. The Doomsday Book was absolutely riveting. The time travel itself isn't the main draw, I found, but rather the dual apocalypses. I do love a good plague (though I think reading this with a slight cold was maybe not the best idea), and the parallel narratives kept the story engaging and the pacing moving despite the novel's length.
While a few characters were a little stock, the main two of Kivrin and Dunworthy as well as pretty much all the Middle Ages characters were interesting and made sensible if often wrong choices. Honestly, once I got over the initial silliness of sending a 19 year girl back to the Middle Ages by herself when no one had actually done it before, the rest of it flowed along well. Bonus: I got to dust of my own Middle English which I haven't gotten to use since undergrad.
I've never read Willis' work before, but I'm definitely game to keep going through her bibliography.
While a few characters were a little stock, the main two of Kivrin and Dunworthy as well as pretty much all the Middle Ages characters were interesting and made sensible if often wrong choices. Honestly, once I got over the initial silliness of sending a 19 year girl back to the Middle Ages by herself when no one had actually done it before, the rest of it flowed along well. Bonus: I got to dust of my own Middle English which I haven't gotten to use since undergrad.
I've never read Willis' work before, but I'm definitely game to keep going through her bibliography.
lizthelittlest's review
4.0
I've seen quite a few reviews critiquing this book as getting bogged down with the minutiae of trying to communicate and find supplies and get real answers to immediate problems (in whatever century). And I have to say that, as someone who sprinted through this book in October of 2020, I have to disagree. Not that this book is filled with minutiae, but that this minutiae bogs it down at all. I thought it gave the story a real and insistent feeling of helpless urgency - something way too familiar to probably everyone right now, during this century's actual pandemic. (Not really a spoiler, but yeah, toilet paper running out has been a huge problem). I can't speak to how I would have felt about this book even 8 months ago, but reading it now, I really enjoyed it, even if I spent most of the book stressed about potential viral transmissions and contact tracing and muttering "timely" every few pages.
spestock's review
5.0
A masterpiece.
Kivrin, a college student at Oxford, travels back in time from 2054 to study the Middle Ages. Her mentor, Mr. Dunworthy, has advised her that this is not a good idea, that the time is far too dangerous, but Kivrin insists that she's prepared: she's learned Latin and Middle English, she's studied the period extensively, she even goes to an archaeological dig days before so that her hands are accurately dirty.
Mr. Dunworthy is right, of course.
The book hits the ground running, so the first couple chapters were a whirlwind of names and events that took a bit for me to get through, but it didn't take long for me to become completely engrossed. Just wonderful, extensively researched, beautifully written fiction.
Kivrin, a college student at Oxford, travels back in time from 2054 to study the Middle Ages. Her mentor, Mr. Dunworthy, has advised her that this is not a good idea, that the time is far too dangerous, but Kivrin insists that she's prepared: she's learned Latin and Middle English, she's studied the period extensively, she even goes to an archaeological dig days before so that her hands are accurately dirty.
Mr. Dunworthy is right, of course.
The book hits the ground running, so the first couple chapters were a whirlwind of names and events that took a bit for me to get through, but it didn't take long for me to become completely engrossed. Just wonderful, extensively researched, beautifully written fiction.
lolajoan's review
4.0
Oof. Absolutely excellent (though it's always funny to see what bits of the future scifi writing gets so wrong, even so recently) but reading to this at Christmas during a pandemic was maybe not a great idea.
voldo's review against another edition
4.0
This book could probably be a shorter story and be just as good or better, it almost has too much frustrating communication failures and people groping around desperately (even for me), but it is good story.
dvdmgr's review
A solid read but suffered from Willis’ tendency to dive into too much detail, pepper the dialogue with irrelevant asides, and introduce a kind of frenetic energy that can be tiring rather than exciting; that all said, it was fun in many ways.
wildflowerz76's review
1.0
DNF. I just can't, guys. The story idea behind this book is great. I love it. I'd love to read it. But I just can't slog through this. I just didn't care. Things meandered on at such a slow place, I found myself skipping ahead for ANYTHING interesting. Bah.
sssnoo's review
3.0
This is a definate positive recommendation if you enjoy time travel, historical fiction and melodrama. I enjoyed 90% of this book but did find some aspects over the top. The general story is very well crafed, from beginning to end. I think it could have been shortened though. It is a long book and some sub-lines just won’t move forward - to the point I was audibly growning when one character saod for the umpteenth time, “Something went wrong.....” before he collapsed or passed out or was interupted and could not finish the sentence and tell the reader WHAT went wrong. There were times I wanted to shake the author or the character and tell them to stop, or move on, or get over it already - but I was hooked on the story so let t go. Ultimately I am glad I did, but if annoying characters drive you crazy be forwarned - there are a few here, whose behaviors are over the top and beyond realistic. That said, the story is compelling and the descriptions of the plague experience worth the read.
The book was written in 1992 and won major Scifi awards. I found it very interesting to see what she anticipated as the technocological advances of the mid 21st century when the book is set. Interestingly, other than the time travel machine not much. I got a chuckle as many plot developments involved making phone calls. She created video phones, but all land lines and not in great working order - she even had trunk or long distance calls as a big deal. This book is mild on future world building but plot and historical world building are fantastic.
The book was written in 1992 and won major Scifi awards. I found it very interesting to see what she anticipated as the technocological advances of the mid 21st century when the book is set. Interestingly, other than the time travel machine not much. I got a chuckle as many plot developments involved making phone calls. She created video phones, but all land lines and not in great working order - she even had trunk or long distance calls as a big deal. This book is mild on future world building but plot and historical world building are fantastic.