Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

13 reviews

chandlery's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Grief, Blood, Classism, and Vomit

Minor: Suicide and Animal death

philosopher_kj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Child death, Body horror, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Grief, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, and Rape

dananana's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

There is something incredibly breathtaking about reading a long, slow-build, incredibly detailed book such as this one. You spend so much time in the world that you begin to feel like you were there too. And in a way I WAS in the 1300s with Kivrin, with Mr Dunworthy as he tried to reach her from 2054. These characters are going to stay in my mind and heart forever and I feel so lucky to have read this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Blood

iris_garden's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Child death, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abandonment, Antisemitism, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, and Alcohol

fahyhallowell's review

adventurous emotional funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Fascinating to read this tale of two epidemics in the midst of our current pandemic. Many elements ring true such as conspiracy theorists popping up. Aside from time travel, the technology is comiclly antique - phones had video screens but that's about it. I appreciated the classic British humor in the present as a break from the grimness of the past. 100% recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Terminal illness, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Classism

autisticmisabel's review

adventurous dark hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Vomit

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Classism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Infidelity

kittyfan9hh's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Child death, Vomit, Blood, Grief, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Infidelity, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Suicide

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

 Doomsday Book opens in 2054, with Kivrin, a history student at Oxford, preparing to travel back in time to the 1320. However, the drop goes wrong. She doesn’t end up where or when planned. Her mentor Professor Dunmore soon realises this but efforts to rescue her are thwarted by an influenza pandemic.

Although long the story never dragged for me. I was soon very invested in the fate of the people Kivrin meets, especially once the Black Death strikes, exacting a toll far greater and more horrific than her studies had led her to believe. The depictions of the physical suffering the plague caused, people’s helplessness in the face of its inexorable spread, the desperate isolation of being the only person still alive in a village were all conveyed in a vivid, yet not overly dramatic way. Meanwhile the epidemic in 2054 felt all too recognisable - quarantines, insufficient protective wear for medical staff and a shortage of toilet paper!

This is a very quiet book, but one full of heart and humanity. So many of the character will stay with me. Not just Kivrin and Dunsmore but also precocious Colin and Father Roche for his genuine belief, his kindness and his determined dignity. There are no battles and no major bad guys, just people trying to survive and do their best in difficult circumstances. I’m not a huge fan of science fiction/speculative fiction, yet I enjoyed this book. The futuristic timeline is light on world building and the technological details that make time travel possible. Far more attention was given to the details of life in 1348, meaning it felt more like an historical fiction novel than anything else. For me this was a plus; for another type of reader it could be the exact opposite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

mirificmoxie's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Vomit, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Blood

gdpaters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Medical content, Terminal illness, Grief, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship