Reviews

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

beags's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

eggjuices's review against another edition

4.75

Loved listening to the audiobook version of this. 
Much the same feelings as I had with Blackout/All Clear. Connie Willis is a long winded writer and this could have easily been shortened up a bit, but it was still so enjoyable to listen to. 
I really liked the parallel storylines of plague in 1348 vs. epidemic in 2050s. Especially appreciated the 'present day' portions after experiencing a pandemic. 
I love this time travel series, and appreciate that there is less emphasis on the science of time travel and the minutiae of how it all works. The human focus is what makes this series such a pleasure to read. 

alhj's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

jenhurst's review

3.0

The premise and actual story is a 5/5 for me. But the writing is just so dry it somehow made the book boring.

searobin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

The concern over TP got me every time it was mentioned! It was remarkable how many things were very accurate about the 2052 pandemic, though I guess the 1968 flu pandemic would have been a good template for Willis to work off - she was a bit optimistic about how much better we would be at containing the spread, however. 
It is always fascinating to read older books set in the future. The idea that phones would develop video capabilities, but not be easily transported, is so interesting! This did lead to some repetitive and slow-paced yet somehow frantic moments in the book. The pacing was a bit odd at times, but I was always engaged and keen to find out what happened next, even if the route there was a bit circuitous. 

I fell in love with so many of the characters, and came to absolutely loath a few others. But they were all so human, and relatable, and it was really lovely.

A few other random thoughts: 
-I am annoyed that no one seemed to do the incubation time math for the tech.

The one academic closed down the lab because he thought the tech could have gotten sick via the net, but he developed the major symptoms only 1-2 hours max after the net was active, and the virus took 12-48 hours to incubate. That really frustrated me.

-Thank goodness I have aphantasia and couldn't picture any of the gory bulboes or anything else. 

samcarag64's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

frasersimons's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

3.0

The later half of this book comes together very well, whereas the first half was a very near dnf, for me. I read another “classic” time travel book a little while ago, and apparently authors were really enamoured with stranding people in the past without plot or pacing. All the momentum of the fairly interesting premise is utterly sapped and there is a long amount of time dedicated to sickness and disease, which is pretty hard to turn into forward movement in a story. 

Luckily? I was driving and couldn’t turn it off, and as the characters began to be able to, you know, communicate with each other, a story started to emerge. A historian bearing witness to something incalculably terrible becomes fairly interesting, if for no other reason than it becomes a human experience rather than the distance historians claim to need and want from their texts. 

That being said, not much actually happens. In a 21 hour audiobook, that’s a problem. It is overwritten and the dialogue serviceable. But it does have interesting themes that are driven home quite well, in the end. 

rsainta's review

5.0

All the reviews who thought the 2054 parts were boring have clearly never lived through a pandemic/quarantine, because this book was eerily prescient of 2020. A flu-like virus, spread by droplets, causing fever and difficulty breathing? Check. Americans complaining about quarantine because it infringes on their civil rights? Check. Running out of key supplies, like PPEs and toilet paper? Blaming an ethnic minority for the virus? Protests about completely unscientific conspiracy theories? Check, check, check. And of course, we can't forget the face masks that everyone kept forgetting to wear! The medieval times parts were interesting, but damn the pandemic parts had me shook.

klparmley's review

4.0

I really love this historical fiction/time travel mashup. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Curious to see which characters are regulars.

And, ftr, I don't think I'll ever forget that the Black Plague arrived in Great Britain in 1348.

jimmyg's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The story is excellent but it's clear the writer isn't English because some of the factual areas and comparisons are jarring.