Paperback, 528 pages
Published Sept. 14, 2010 by Spectra.
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 …
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.From the Hardcover edition.
Well researched and written, fun premise, but I docked two full stars because this book ends with no resolution, telling you to buy the next one.
And I thought Doctor Who was an overly British way to approach the ability to travel anywhere in time and space. No thanks.
Interesting book, but was not entirely sure where the story was going by the end of this first volume. Overall, I enjoyed this story of time travelers trapped in the past.
This isn't a linear book by any means, and the characters go through iterations of the same thoughts and actions over and over but like Bolero it builds to the meat of the plot. Blackout and All Clear are really one book so the climax of book 1 is a bit of a cliffhanger.
It is also important to pay attention to what time each chapter takes place in, or you won't realize the significance of other events.
That said the world building (the Oxford of present day in the story, time travel mechanics etc) are inspiring, and the history lesson woven in the day to days lives is fabulous. The life of shopgirls and ambulance drivers and evacuated children during World War 2 is sketched in mesmerizing detail.
I love Connie Willis' writing; every single thing I've read by her (which is most of it) just grabs you, draws you in, and keeps you reading till the last page. Add to that interesting stories, well developed characters, and original ideas, and Willis is one of the authors that I'll read absolutely anything they publish.
This particular book is in the same universe as the story "Fire Watch" which I read several years ago. The basic premise is that time travel back in time is possible, and has become the main method of research for historians. Willis' stories in this universe center around the historians at Oxford University, and in this novel three of them are sent back to study various events during World War II. Of course, things go slightly wrong, and the unfolding of their stories is told through an extremely detailed and believeable, and as far …
I love Connie Willis' writing; every single thing I've read by her (which is most of it) just grabs you, draws you in, and keeps you reading till the last page. Add to that interesting stories, well developed characters, and original ideas, and Willis is one of the authors that I'll read absolutely anything they publish.
This particular book is in the same universe as the story "Fire Watch" which I read several years ago. The basic premise is that time travel back in time is possible, and has become the main method of research for historians. Willis' stories in this universe center around the historians at Oxford University, and in this novel three of them are sent back to study various events during World War II. Of course, things go slightly wrong, and the unfolding of their stories is told through an extremely detailed and believeable, and as far as I can tell accurate, account of wartime England that brings it vividly to life for the reader. (Having recently seen the movie "The King's Speech" I was also pleased to notice one character in WWII London making fun of the king's stutter in passing.)
I haven't given this 5 stars because the constant jumping between protagonists was a little bit confusing at times, and if you aren't at all interested in wartime England then this would definitely be less accessible than some of Willis' other books. It also ends in a cliffhanger which I am never a fan of, though I do have the sequel ready and waiting ... Still, I finished the book in 2 evenings definitely had trouble putting it down. But, for someone who hasn't read any Connie Willis before, I would say start with another book (maybe Bellwether, or To Say Nothing Of The Dog).
