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Blackout (All Clear #1)

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 7,401 ratings · 1,680 reviews

In her first novel since 2002, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Connie Willis returns with a stunning, enormously entertaining novel of time travel, war, and the deeds—great and small—of ordinary people who shape history. In the hands of this acclaimed storyteller, the past and future collide—and the result is at once intriguing, elusive, and frightening.

Oxford in 2060...more In her first novel since 2002, Nebula and Hugo award-winning author Connie Willis returns with a stunning, enormously entertaining novel of time travel, war, and the deeds—great and small—of ordinary people who shape history. In the hands of this acclaimed storyteller, the past and future collide—and the result is at once intriguing, elusive, and frightening.

Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place. Scores of time-traveling historians are being sent into the past, to destinations including the American Civil War and the attack on the World Trade Center. Michael Davies is prepping to go to Pearl Harbor. Merope Ward is coping with a bunch of bratty 1940 evacuees and trying to talk her thesis adviser, Mr. Dunworthy, into letting her go to VE Day. Polly Churchill’s next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London’s Blitz. And seventeen-year-old Colin Templer, who has a major crush on Polly, is determined to go to the Crusades so that he can “catch up” to her in age.

But now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments for no apparent reason and switching around everyone’s schedules. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse. For there they face air raids, blackouts, unexploded bombs, dive-bombing Stukas, rationing, shrapnel, V-1s, and two of the most incorrigible children in all of history—to say nothing of a growing feeling that not only their assignments but the war and history itself are spiraling out of control. Because suddenly the once-reliable mechanisms of time travel are showing significant glitches, and our heroes are beginning to question their most firmly held belief: that no historian can possibly change the past.

From the people sheltering in the tube stations of London to the retired sailors who set off across the Channel to rescue the stranded British Army from Dunkirk, from shopgirls to ambulance drivers, from spies to hospital nurses to Shakespearean actors, Blackout reveals a side of World War II seldom seen before: a dangerous, desperate world in which there are no civilians and in which everybody—from the Queen down to the lowliest barmaid—is determined to do their bit to help a beleaguered nation survive.(less)

Hardcover, 512 pages

Published February 2nd 2010 by Spectra

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The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Best Time Travel Fiction

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Oct 30, 2010 Kemper rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: craptacular, sci-fi, time-travel, time-mower-adventures

Warning: This review will be lengthy due to pure hatred.

Did I ever tell you that I’ve got a time machine? There was a freak accident where my laptop and my lawn mower got fused together following a lightning strike, and now I can use it to travel in time. It’s a long story. Anyhow, when I have a chance, I take the occasional trip through history. Recently, I popped into London in 1940 during the Blitz to take a look around. It’s a fascinating time with England hanging on by its fingernails durin...more

213 likes · like · see review

May 04, 2013 Clouds - (¿head-in-the?) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-series, locus-sci-fi, hugo, science-fiction, reviewed, read-in-2012

Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.

On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.

While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became...more

8 likes · like · see review

Feb 15, 2011 Elizabeth added it

Shelves: world-war-ii

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” -- L. P. Hartley

“Say GRRRR: it helps soothe the pain.” --S. Gatland

GRRRRRRR.

I have to give Blackout a very mixed review. Wonderful as it was to read, it’s either supremely naïve or grandly arrogant to assume you don’t have to introduce PLOT to a “thriller” until page 254. It is true that I enjoyed reading the first 90,000 words or so (that’s a decent novel’s worth of words), I enjoyed the characters and the premise and all the li...more

16 likes · like · see review

view all 9 comments

Miriam My friend Constance and I discussed those crossword puzzles *endlessly.* I think I emailed you asking about crossword puzzles. We were going, "Could t...more
updated Feb 15, 2011 01:27pm

Elizabeth knowing about WWII does not help AT ALL.

I liked the way she described the vapor trails in the Battle of Britain. I didn't think about vapor trails bei...more
Feb 16, 2011 07:27am

May 13, 2011 Ron rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

6 likes · like · see review

Oct 29, 2010 Jamie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: time-travel-alt-history, science-fiction, historical-fiction, favorites

October update: Bump from 4 to 5 stars, when read along with the next book, All Clear.

Typically good writing from Connie Willis, and a riveting story - or half of a riveting story, at least. This is the first half of a long novel, and seems chopped off rather than deliberately crafted to be the first volume of a duology. I look forward to the next book, and I almost wish I had waited to read this one until it was available.

The rushed and disorganized Oxford historians of the future with their t...more

8 likes · like · see review

Feb 05, 2012 Bettielee rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book

Really torn over what to say. Much of this book, especially the first 10% is straight up gobbledygook. The author drowns you in minutia. Nothing that anything like action starts until your 40% in. It's a lot of people running around, repeating themselves constantly and rattling off jargon you don't understand. The other problem: these "time travelers" must be idiots. They don't know about things like turnstile entrances to shopping malls. And this is 2040? You're telling me in 20 years we won't...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jun 12, 2011 Osho rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

A long set-up, part one of this duology, ably read by Katherine Kellgren. Both books in the set have a feeling of anxious, driven inaction that reminds me of the long camping/hiding sequence in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Other sections, particularly as the historians are thwarted in their increasingly desperate attempts to get to their drops, strongly evoke the final Titanic sequence in Willis's Passage. I'm ambivalent about whether it's too long. I think it could have been accomplish...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Ben Babcock rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: via-io9, ebook, 2011-read, historical-fiction, british-historical, not-my-cup-of-tea, science-fiction, time-travel, hugo-winner, nebula-winner

Time travel is a sexy science-fiction trope. It's right up there with faster-than-light travel (the two are, in fact, inextricably related, and chances are you if you invent one then you'll have invented both) as something that, as far as our current understanding of the universe works, is impossible. There are some fascinating loopholes involving wormholes and general relativity, but in order to get it working you need metric shit-joules of energy and something called exotic matter, and it woul...more

9 likes · like · see review

Ken Jackson Ben, I think you nailed it.

This is the first Connie Willis novel I read, and I didn't know it was half a book. Now I'm debating whether to bother read...more
Sep 25, 2011 05:21am

Ben Babcock It’s a tough call! In some ways All Clear rounds out Blackout; it provides some justification for what Willis is doing and definitely some closure. On...more
Sep 25, 2011 07:31am

Maree ♫ Light's Shadow ♪ Haha, save that phone! You make a great point about the characters. There's a lot of unnecessary stuff going on in this book, and much of it does have...more
Dec 08, 2012 08:21am

Nov 14, 2010 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jon by: Jamie

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, time-travel, read-in-my-40s

Fifty years in our future, time-traveling Oxford historians studying key moments early in the Second World War become stranded in time in various locales around England. Like the contemporaries they are assigned to observe, the historians increasingly feel the weight of impending doom.

Doubt seeps into their belief that the continuum, the embodiment of a chaotic system, prevents damage or alteration to the time line; a self-correcting system. The butterfly effect, more aptly referenced with the...more

6 likes · like · see review

Nov 12, 2010 Sherwood Smith added it

Shelves: sf

I waited a full year to read this, after having heard that it ends on an abrupt cliff hanger. I finished it last night, and tonight will begin the next.

The surface plot is a difficult one, or challenging: basically, a number of people running around trying to find one another, or to get to their drop. Three of them are caught in England in 1940, as the Blitz and the V rocket bombings began. The driving mechanism is appearing slowly, only acknowledged at the very end of this one (this isn't a spo...more

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Dec 16, 2010 Lisa Vegan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who enjoys historical fiction or speculative fiction & time travel books

Shelves: fiction, novel, speculative-fiction, historical-fiction, time-travel, orphaned-and-quasi-orphaned-kids, reviewed, altta

A warning: This book has no proper ending. It was meant to be the first half of a book but the publisher divided it into two books and Blackout is the first half. All Clear is the second book/second half of the book. Definitely have All Clear on hand to read immediately after this book. I finished this book and started the next the same day and that’s the way to do it. I deliberately read this slowly so there wouldn’t be a gap before I could read the next book.

I was completely enthralled! This b...more A warning: This book has no proper ending. It was meant to be the first half of a book but the publisher divided it into two books and Blackout is the first half. All Clear is the second book/second half of the book. Definitely have All Clear on hand to read immediately after this book. I finished this book and started the next the same day and that’s the way to do it. I deliberately read this slowly so there wouldn’t be a gap before I could read the next book.

I was completely enthralled! This book is so much fun to read.

I can’t believe that this is my first Connie Willis time travel book, and it’s very rare that I don’t read series, even loose series, in order. This is book four in the Oxford time travel books, although it is the first of two of the All Clear books. I could tell that at least two characters had made prior appearances in other books, and normally that would bother me, but I was so engaged with this book that I truly didn’t care. I felt perfectly content to go back and, after I read All Clear, I’ll in the near future read Doomsday Book and the other two books. I don’t mind going backward to read them, quite appropriate for time travel books, which I do love. I am a bit embarrassed that I haven’t read this author’s books given that her books are exactly my cup of tea.

I was in heaven: historical fiction where I really learned so much about what it was like to be a civilian in London and evacuation areas and other parts of England during WWII, speculative fiction which is one of my favorite genres, and time travel for which I have a particular penchant, and even a favorite-time-travel-books shelf here at Goodreads.

I like that it’s a character named Ira Feldman, a Jewish man, who invented time travel, and that his parents seem to have lived during WWII. That fact is mentioned just in passing, but I definitely noted it.

I enjoyed all the main characters: Polly, Merope/Eileen, Mike, and also many others in 2060 and 1940. They’re characters that I cared about and they all seemed completely authentic. I was starting to list a few memorable characters but there were too many so I’ll just say that and leave readers to meet and get to know them when they read this book. There was a bunch of repetition during the book, particularly the long last part, but it worked for me because it’s the kind of obsessive and repetitive thinking and worrying I would do in those circumstances, and having the characters in the book do it gave the events such a feeling of immediacy. Most of the action takes place in 1940 and thereabouts but the world of Oxford in 2060 was also fascinating. I love the way the time traveler historians from 2060 have to learn the ways of 1940, such as how to drive a gasoline powered car of the time.

Willis was already a well known and published author so I was somewhat surprised by the many spelling, grammatical, etc. errors, especially in the beginning of the book, but I also caught a couple of mistakes at the end of the book as well.

However, the story and characters are so riveting, and the premise is so creative, that while not perfect, this was a wonderful 5 star book for me. It was a rollicking ride and a perfect comfort read. I will shelve it at the Comfort Reads group, if another member hasn’t already done that. It was just a blast for me to read. I’m about to happily dive into All Clear.(less)

10 likes · like · see review

Feb 28, 2010 meeners rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, history, eliot-reference

YESSSSSSSSSS AT LAST IT IS MINE MY PRECIOUS

edit: ok i have literally just opened this book and ALREADY i am in love. FOUR QUARTETS EPIGRAPH! oh connie willis i love you.

edit again: ok i have finished the book, and i loved it, but i don't know if i should be making any kind of review since really it's just half of a book. i will say that i started out rather annoyed at all the different story arcs, but by the end i found myself invested in (nearly) all of them.

and oh, that one small bit when pol...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 03, 2013 Ally rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, historical-fiction, hugo-nominees, favorites, wwii

So, I have finally finished the 1,300-page ordeal that was Connie Willis' Blackout / All Clear duo, and I feel a few words are in order. Actually, the best words for this experience are probably the ones spoken by Willis' character Eileen, regarding V-E day:

"But if she'd come then, she would never have properly appreciated it. She's have seen the happy crowds and the Union Jacks and the bonfires, but she'd have had no idea of what it meant to see the lights on after years of navigating in the da...more So, I have finally finished the 1,300-page ordeal that was Connie Willis' Blackout / All Clear duo, and I feel a few words are in order. Actually, the best words for this experience are probably the ones spoken by Willis' character Eileen, regarding V-E day:

"But if she'd come then, she would never have properly appreciated it. She's have seen the happy crowds and the Union Jacks and the bonfires, but she'd have had no idea of what it meant to see the lights on after years of navigating in the dark, what it meant to look up at an approaching plane without fear, to hear church bells after years of air-raid sirens."

And good grief, I couldn't even copy that from the book without crying all over again. But it sums up the experience so well- this was a LONG book (split into two enormous hardcovers), and a frustrating and heartbreaking one, and you are dragged through it all by your love and fear for each and every one of the characters. Because that's what Connie does best- she creates characters that you love, so you are willing to follow them through hell and back.

And make no mistake, that's exactly where these books will take you- straight into the darkest parts of World War II, into the lives of three trapped time travellers trying desperately to escape, or at least to use whatever knowledge they have to try and survive air raids and rationing, V-1s and the Blitz itself. But it's not just about them. You fall in love with the contemps, and their bravery and pain, as well. Through all of them- and did I mention this is 1,300 pages???- Willis makes the reader live through the war, too.

And that is what makes the phenomenal ending of these books so worthwhile. Worthwhile? No. Heartbreaking, beautiful, perfect. I sobbed almost continuously for the last 150 pages. I have cried more over this book than any other I can remember (the next closest being Passage, also by Connie Willis, which one should not read without one's therapist on speed-dial).

So, clearly, I loved these books. But do I recommend them? Not exactly. It was necessary for me to read them. I am not the same person I was before reading them, and that's what I always love about Connie's writing. But recommending them seems like recommending someone have their wisdom teeth out- you'll probably feel better afterward, but I don't want to be responsible for the ordeal you'll go though to get there! If you do decide to read them, I'll be here for you with tea and tissues, reminding you to Keep Calm and Carry On.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 22, 2011 Rae rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: sci-fi fans, time travel buffs, historical fiction fans, WWII enthusiasts

Shelves: absolutely-amazing, audiobooks, geeking-out, time-travel

OMG TIME TRAVELING HISTORIANS!!!! *flails hands around in excitement*

So, above you can see my first impression of this book, and it didn't disappoint. Yes, I am obsessed with time travel, and yes, I love learning about World War II. Blackout was positively fantastic.

A while ago, one of my friends told me that I was going to have to go through sci-fi detox due to the massive amounts of it that I was absorbing. When I asked what that would consist of, she simply replied "a lot of historical fiction." Well, Blackout is like the perfect marriage between the two.

In Blackout, time travel is possible through a device known as "the net" and the net controls when and where someone arrives in the past, if they're able to go at all. Some places, like Dunkirk, are temporal tipping points that no one can go to because they're so integral to history playing out like it's supposed to.

The strange thing about Blackout is that, unlike the above example (from Doctor Who, by the way, one of the best time-travel shows ever!), time is not fluid. You can't go back and shoot Hitler (they tried, didn't work) but what you can do is insert a historian into an insignificant role and let them observe historical events, talk to the contemporaries, and bring the phrase "primary resources" to a whole new level.

Blackout starts slightly strange, but does a fantastic job of setting up the characters and the world in which time travel is possible. Despite the fact that this is a time travel book, there's not a ton of time travel involved once the main characters make it to their destinations. This is largely due to the fact that there is something wrong with the net and they are unable to make it back to Oxford in the future, from which they originated.

World War II has always fascinated me, and it as a historical fiction novel, Blackout DELIVERS! The characters are so well written, and as an American, it's interesting to be reading parts that are from the point of view of the English during the the Blitz and Dunkirk. I loved all the characters, though seriously (view spoiler)

The only thing I didn't like about this book was THE CLIFFHANGER!!! Of all the books I've read, the cliffhanger for Blackout is one of the most extreme. If the next book in the series wasn't already out, I'd be deep in book fury.

Cliffhanger aside, this is a book worth reading. It's certainly one of the best that I've read this year!(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Nov 02, 2010 Wyndie rated it 1 of 5 stars

The hype of Connie Willis Blackout fell short. The story sets place in Oxford 2060 and World War II England. This was my first Willis novel and perhaps some of my complaints are due to my lack of knowledge in her description of time travel. I am not clear as to why ~~Dumbledore~~ Mr Dunworthy is frantically sending his 20something historians out to observe WWII England in such a chaotic and disorganized fashion. Their assignments durations and details tend to change abruptly and for no clear cut rea...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 31, 2011 Juno rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 04, 2012 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, time-travel, science-fiction, best-books-i-read-in-2010

This book is only half the story, the rest will be out in the fall and is to be called All Clear. I didn’t know that before I bought it, but I did when I had just started reading it, so I wasn’t disappointed when I finished it. What’s here is complex, tragic, funny, exciting and immersive. So involving is it that I looked up and plan to make bangers and mash for dinner tonight, a traditional English dinner, where this novel is set. When it is set is during World War II and the Blitz, a favorite...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Wendy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Aaargh! Connie Willis has never written books with sequels. So imagine my surprise and dismay when I'm getting towards the end of this one and nothing is getting wrapped up! And then there is the little note that the sequel will be out in the fall! I bought this book as a hardback! I spent money on it and now I will be forced to spend money on the hardback sequel. Because I can't have a series with un-matched editions. Anyway, I don't know why I like this author. I have almost all of her books....more

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 09, 2012 Sean rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting historical fantasy. A bit out of my normal reading zone, however I learned a lot about World War II while also getting engrossed in the plot and action. I both liked and disliked the fact that every single chapter ended on a cliffhanger, and then you had to wait to see that characters point of view again. One problem was the book ended without resolving any problems, partially because the characters seemed incapable of adapting to surprises. However, good overall read...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 27, 2011 Taueret rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, sci-fi, speculative-fiction, have, hours-i-will-never-get-back

I'm already planning to put this on the "hours I will never get back" shelf. Crazy thing is that I will finish it and probably listen to the second book, because it only costs one Audible credit and it's better than a punch in the throat for the 2 hours each day I commute. Were this not set in a historical time and place of which I cannot get enough, I'd have canned it long ago. The main characters are whining douches from the future. The "contemps" as they call the Londoners of 1940 are resolut...more

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Jun 01, 2011 Philip rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, audio-book, historical-fiction, public-library, science-fiction, speculative-fiction, wwii, military-history

This was my first Connie Willis book after wanting to try her out for a while. I really liked her writing style and time travel take on historical fiction. By having historians travel back to WWII I got something similar to a modern day perspective on a historical event I knew little about- the blitz of London. I thought it was funny and interesting, with likable characters who well represented everyday people. This book is definitely incomplete without All Clear, but series aren't a problem for...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 11, 2011 Kerry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, 8, ebooks, sf, 9, reread, 2011

I loved the book all over again. I read it so fast I'm astounded. At 14% progress, I moved from my iPhone to my new Kindle and just powered through the rest. It is SO easy to read on.

I now also have some notes on important (or potentially important) points to keep in mind for All Clear. There are lots of mysteries to be solved in the second book, so I'm very glad I have it to go on with. Never again will I be reading half a book before getting the second half. (This is why Robin McKinley's Pegas...more

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Nov 22, 2010 RachelAnne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, novels, mysteries, sciencefiction, wishlist, time-travel

Don't start this unless you have access to book 2: All Clear. Yes, it's FAT, but the pacing is so fast, the setting so compellingly conveyed, the characters so well-developed, that I ripped through both books in no time. Connie Willis feelingly portrays the gorgeous day-to-day heroism of Britons on the homefront during the Blitz, and the "unintended consequences of time-travel" conceit allows readers to increasingly appreciate just how narrowly the Battle of Britain was won. I loved To Say Nothi...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Victoria rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, another-country, historical-fiction

Connie knows how to write time travel. And although I don't usually enjoy reading about war, I did find the "regular people" point of view interesting and heroic. However, the kids in the book were extremely and progressively annoying, so much so that I didn't enjoy the sections that dealt with Eileen/Merope.

Fans of post-apocalyptic fiction might also like this book - because at times I thought that's exactly what I was reading....I had to remind myself this destruction of London really happene...more

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Jan 05, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

By the year 2060, time travel has been developed and historians at Oxford regularly travel back in time to study. Several historians find themselves trapped in London during WWII. The fascinating part of this book isn't the historians, it's the contemporaries they encounter. This book is like getting a series of lovely little vignettes that illuminate the courage, strength, and odd quirks of the civilian British during WWII. It's a lot of characters, locations, and dates to keep track of, but we...more

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May 31, 2013 Sally rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I picked this book up after I made a list of all the books mentioned on a weekly podcast I listen to called The Heatley Cliff. It took me awhile to get into the book but after a few chapters I enjoyed it. The characters seem to spend half of their time memorizing facts and details, which become important later on in the story when we need historical background, but it becomes tedious. I felt that the characters did not respect the people that lived in the era they were going back to even though...more

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May 20, 2013 Tina Hoggatt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Willis' novel The Doomsday Book, featured historians in our future traveling to Plague times. It stayed with me, so when I saw this audio book in the library I picked it up. I will read almost any novel about WWII in europe, and I've always been fascinated by London's Blitz and how the British dealt with the war in general. The set up to this book takes a long time - a historically long time - but the reader will need all that info to parse both this book and its follow up volume, All Clear. The...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Kiirsi Hellewell rated it 3 of 5 stars

For the first 200 pages or so of this book, I was pretty confused and lost. I would have possibly given up if not for the fact that I'm fascinated to read about World War 2, and really love to read about the courageous behind-the-scenes everyday people that never gave up in the face of terrible daily danger, stress, worry, and fear.

But I persevered, and gradually figured out some of what was going on. Some--not all. All the jumping around in time with no explanation was really confusing. There a...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Alexis rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I got to the end of this book I discovered that it's actually the first half of a longer book and not part of a series. I read it on a Kindle and didn't look for flap information or anything else that would have warned me. This book came out in 2010 and the second book, "All Clear", came out in 2011 so I was able to trot over to the library and pick up the second one. Anyway, I enjoyed this one and I'm halfway thorough the second one.

Time traveling historians from 2060 go back to different...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Antonio Marts rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tres historiadores viajan del futuro al Londres de 1940 en pleno bombardeo Alemán. Aterrorizados descubren que no pueden volver a casa.

En esta historia los viajes en el tiempo son posibles. La profesión de historiadores va más allá de los libros y los investigadores puedes ir al lugar de los hechos y observar los acontecimientos de manera directa, sin embargo, no pueden participar pues cualquier alteración por mínima que sea puede cambiar el futuro. Tres historiadores, cada uno por separado, se...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Worcester Public ...: Crossover Appeal	1	3	Apr 30, 2013 03:25pm
Blackout: Dry? Too mundane?	10	71	Apr 14, 2013 09:25am
SciFi and Fantasy...: Favorite Characters Marked Spoilers	12	137	Apr 26, 2012 11:46pm
SciFi and Fantasy...: A dash of History with your Blackout Tea?	17	58	Apr 17, 2012 06:07pm
SciFi and Fantasy...: Willis's Oxford Time Travel Guide	3	48	Apr 08, 2012 10:41pm
The Hugo Awards D...: 2011 winners	7	20	Sep 16, 2011 11:32am

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About Connie Willis

Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s.

She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Ficti...more Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s.

She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).

She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. She also has one daughter, Cordelia.

Willis is known for her accessible prose and likable characters. She has written several pieces involving time travel by history students and faculty of the future University of Oxford. These pieces include her Hugo Award-winning novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog and the short story "Fire Watch", found in the short story collection of the same name.

Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing. Her protagonists are typically beset by single-minded people pursuing illogical agendas, such as attempting to organize a bell-ringing session in the middle of a deadly epidemic (Doomsday Book), or frustrating efforts to analyze Near-death experiences by putting words in the mouths of interviewees (Passage).

Other themes and stylistic devices include:

a scientist as protagonist (the main theme of Bellwether, but also present in Uncharted Territory, Passage, and—to a lesser degree—the Fire Watch universe stories)
an aversion to rampant political correctness (notably the over-appreciation of indigenous cultures in Uncharted Territory, anti-smoking stances in Bellwether, censorship of "addictive substances" in Remake)
the inclusion of meticulously researched, detailed trivia related tangentially or symbolically to the narrative (fads in Bellwether, mating customs in Uncharted Territory, old movies in Remake, the Titanic disaster in Passage, famous pairs of ill-fated lovers in To Say Nothing of the Dog)
the constant presence of trying to come to terms with grief, loss, and death; this is often attributed to her mother having died while Willis herself was still a child.[citation needed]
Willis is acclaimed as a science-fiction writer, most often exploring the "soft" or social sciences. She weaves technology into her stories only to prompt readers to question what impact it has on the world. For instance, Lincoln's Dreams plumbs not just the psychology of dreams, but also their role as indicators of disease. The story portrays a young man's unrequited love for a young woman who might or might not be experiencing reincarnation or precognition, and whose outlook verges on suicidal. Similarly Bellwether is almost exclusively concerned with human psychology.

Among other themes, Uncharted Territory contemplates the extent to which technology shapes expectations of gender; "technology" here ranges from a land rover and binoculars to Bult's online "chopping" and the pop-up holograms—even socioexozoology. Remake embraces old movies and the computer graphics revolution, as well as intellectual property, digital copyright issues, and the question of public domain.

Other Willis stories explore the so-called "hard" sciences, following in the classic science fiction tradition. "The Sidon in the Mirror" harks back to the interplanetary and interstellar romanticism of the 1930s and 1940s. "Samaritan" is another take on the theme of Heinlein's "Jerry Was a Man", while "Blued Moon" is similarly reminiscent of Heinlein's "Year of the Jackpot".
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“I’m not studying the heroes who lead navies—and armies—and win wars. I’m studying ordinary people who you wouldn’t expect to be heroic, but who, when there’s a crisis, show extraordinary bravery and self-sacrifice. Like Jenna Geidel, who gave her life vaccinating people during the Pandemic. And the fishermen and retired boat owners and weekend sailors who rescued the British Army from Dunkirk. And Wells Crowther, the twenty-four-year-old equities trader who worked in the World Trade Center. When it was hit by terrorists, he could have gotten out, but instead he went back and saved ten people, and died. I’m going to observe six different sets of heroes in six different situations to try to determine what qualities they have in common.” — 10 people liked it

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