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alreadyemily's review against another edition
4.0
CW: illness, death, body horror, child death, murder, assault, sexual assault
I thought it was brilliant, subtle, funny and devastating. I don't think it dragged at all.
I thought it was brilliant, subtle, funny and devastating. I don't think it dragged at all.
katiescho741's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a major letdown. The only reason it gets two stars is that the start of the book is pretty good - it's tense, exciting, and I found the sections on the process and rules of time travel to be really interesting.
Then all of sudden it's about someone's great-nephew's train journey, and a group of bell ringers from America. The same conversations about running out of eggs and bacon are had so many times and huge chunks of the book are taken up with people missing each other on the phone. Considering this is advertised as a book about The Black Death, the plague doesn't even show up until about 400 pages in. The sections on the plague may well have been good, but by the time I'd waded through all the previous bloated chapters I had very little interest in continuing. I started skimming the last third of the book.
There was some interesting stuff about life in the 1300's, such as how a time traveller might want to have their sense of small dampened while there, but even the sections set in 1348 dragged on. I think the main character Kivrin is supposed to be a fearless and independent woman but she comes across as moany and helpless.
A massive letdown of a book...I have no idea why it's in the "Sci-Fi Masterworks" set.
Then all of sudden it's about someone's great-nephew's train journey, and a group of bell ringers from America. The same conversations about running out of eggs and bacon are had so many times and huge chunks of the book are taken up with people missing each other on the phone. Considering this is advertised as a book about The Black Death, the plague doesn't even show up until about 400 pages in. The sections on the plague may well have been good, but by the time I'd waded through all the previous bloated chapters I had very little interest in continuing. I started skimming the last third of the book.
There was some interesting stuff about life in the 1300's, such as how a time traveller might want to have their sense of small dampened while there, but even the sections set in 1348 dragged on. I think the main character Kivrin is supposed to be a fearless and independent woman but she comes across as moany and helpless.
A massive letdown of a book...I have no idea why it's in the "Sci-Fi Masterworks" set.
sharone7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I don’t mind a slow pace in general—in a certain kind of book it usually means a wonderful emotional payoff—but this book really challenged my patience. It was so repetitive that I wondered at times if I was imagining things. (Do we really need to witness a character wonder on 15 separate occasions, in excruciating detail each time, what another character meant when they said a particular thing? I submit we do not.) I liked the premise but by the last third I was so annoyed that the only thing keeping me from throwing it out the window was spite. There was an emotional payoff, but I was too annoyed to appreciate it. It would probably have been amazing if it had been half as long.
coletrickle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
spannalou's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Gripping despite being pedestrian/slow at times, a story with juxtaposition.
gabliotecaria's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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? Yes
5.0
lesel's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
mfinch76's review against another edition
5.0
I was so absorbed in this story that I didn't want to walk away. The beginning is fun and funny with little parallels to the covid-19 pandemic we're in now. Reading about running out of lavatory paper and the people picketing for England to leave the EC felt a lot like now and Brexit. It was close enough that I kept checking the publish date to be certain it wasn't published in 2020.
When the clerk gets sick and Kivrin realizes she's not in 1320 after all, it gets dark and sad and felt a little too close to now. I've read stories of entire families dying from covid and while it isn't the same as the plague, it's pretty awful.
I cried for most of the last quarter of the book.
I like that it humanized people. I vaguely remember learning about the plague in school and people were talked about as uneducated, selfish, and cowardly. This book tells a specific story about a family and people in the village that makes them feel real and complex.
When the clerk gets sick and Kivrin realizes she's not in 1320 after all, it gets dark and sad and felt a little too close to now. I've read stories of entire families dying from covid and while it isn't the same as the plague, it's pretty awful.
I cried for most of the last quarter of the book.
I like that it humanized people. I vaguely remember learning about the plague in school and people were talked about as uneducated, selfish, and cowardly. This book tells a specific story about a family and people in the village that makes them feel real and complex.