Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

21 reviews

dave_ex_machina's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

This book is glacially slow, with an extremely driest of humor and is extremely easy to put down. Well I understand is it a true sci-fi classic it was extremely difficult to get through I also did not expect it to be quite as depressing as it is. This may be partially because it has not aged well due to the pandemic (well time travel is involved this book is truly a pandemic book)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

This book was much bleaker that I expected, was technically not grim dark it's pretty dang close!

emilypaull's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

deyanira's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

The progress can feel slow at times, but the story kept me intrigued enough to want to keep going and going. The warnings I added are purely in a historical context. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic

katiekeske's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.0

This was a painfully slow and frustrating read. This is my first book by this author, so I don't know if this is just her style or the fact that it's from the 90s, but it did not need to be so long. Very repetitive with info, dialogue, etc. 

I usually enjoy time travel stories, but I found it hard to even believe the premise of this one. An undergrad student is approved to go on a solo time travel mission to a time that has been off limits up until this point? Just because she's a top student? I feel like this author doesn't have any actual experience with academia. I just couldn't fathom this actually happening despite how the author tries to explain the situation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Vomit and Sexual harassment

The main character is not abused but sees other characters suffer.

pinkrain718's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic

sby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Misogyny and Grief

caoimhemia's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cheetah26's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

chrisscorkscrew's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow!  A searing and heart-rending masterpiece.  Very powerful and perhaps rendered all the more so by the pandemic we experienced at the start of 2020.

This is not an easy rate, but it is worth the emotional journey,

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Suicide, Blood, and Death of parent

musicalpopcorn's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

In a not so distant future, Historians are sent into the past to learn about contemporary societies. When the head of the university goes away for Christmas, the person he leaves in charge decides it’s high time to send a historian to the Middle Ages, but none could foresee how exactly things could go awry.

I quite enjoyed this read, although I do agree with other reviewers who comment that it could have been edited down substantially. It was incredibly detailed in a way that made you think small details might be important later but they were just that…small details. 

Outside of the lengthiness however, it was an interesting story with a good balance of fun and intensity. I enjoyed both storylines immensely. I would say that characters like Gilchrist were almost too stupidly oblivious to the world, but that’s how people in power often are. 

Great read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent