A review by olivia_piepmeier
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

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

4.0

I'm not sure if I would have picked this up right now, knowing it focused on an epidemic and
the black death
, never the less, I inhaled this. Like, insert gif of bear leaping out of swimming pool with "WHAT YEAR IS IT." Willis is such a compelling writer in terms of action. I really liked Blackout/All Clear and just thinking of that Oxford Time Travel world is what led me to want to read this. The scifi behind how time travel works in this world is fascinating. I do think Willis tends to over-write character's internal thoughts, but I still found it page turning because I just had to know how it worked out. I'll read all of the Oxford Time Travel-related books!

I partially think this was so compelling because all the quarantine/PPE talk was so familiar, which is a bit masochistic of me. It's stunning how little bits of the epidemic life came true, this being written in 1992: there was a pandemic, in this world, in 2014; people immediately came up with conspiracy theories about how it started; some people started calling it "*insert assumed nationality of first person who got it* virus"; people not wearing masks. 
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