Customer Reviews
Interesting, but flawed - By: A. Whitehead, 05 Sep 2008 
Christmas, 2054. The 'net' is a technological breakthrough, a device which alllows people to travel back in time to observe the events of the past. Historians use the net to go back & observe history in progress, but anachronisms & those intending to change the past are not permitted through. Whilst the net has mostly been used to travel to relatively recent periods of history, the Mediaeval department of Oxford University is preparing to send a young student named Kivrin through to the year 1320. No sooner has she gone through, than chaos erupts: a virulent disease sweeps through Oxford, striking down most of the populace & a quarantine is enforced that prevents the faculty from retrieving Kivrin. Back in the 14th Century Kivrin becomes used to living in the Middle Ages, which none of her training has reallly prepared her for, but it soon becomes clear that something has gone horribly wrong, & she is not when she is supposed to be...
Doomsday Book was originallly published in 1992 & won both the Hugo & Nebula awards for Best Novel. It mixes elements of traditional time travel stories with elements from a disaster movie: Kivrin is trapped in the past & her friends in the present are unable to help her as they themselves are dealing with a pandemic. This is a nice spin on the cliche, with the present-day storyline given just as much attention (if not more) than Kivrin's misadventures in the past. The notion of disease & illness lies at the heart of the book, & seeing how futuristic medicine can barely stop the pandemic from killing people makes the sections set during the Black Death even more horrific in comparison. The novel also acts as a curious comedy of manners, or even a farce, with characters' own blinkered viewpoints & opinions mean that they are unable to effectively deal with the unfolding crises. At times this makes the book a frustrating experience, as some characters are obtuse to the point of total ludicrousness & gives an oddly tonallly inappropriate dose of humour to the novel.
What keeps you reading is the depth of research that has been done here: 14th Century England is brought to life vividly, with the characters painted richly & convincingly. Unlike a lot of writers (such as say Ken Follett, whose Pillars of the Earth is an utterly unconvincing depiction of medieval life), Willis makes the point successfully that the medieval period was one where people's beliefs & thoughts were totallly alien to our own, & understanding how they thought & acted on a day-to-day level is extremely difficult. She succeeds at this admirably.
The 21st Century sections are less successful, mainly due to the stupidity of certain characters meaning that you lose any belief that these people would actuallly attain the roles or positions they have. There are also a number of plot strands in this sequence which are completely left unresolved: it's never made clear if it was user error or a deliberate act by Gilchrist that resulted in Kivrin being sent to the wrong year, & the mystery of what happened to Mr. Basingame, who vanishes before the book even starts & whose fate is much debated by the other characters, is never answered. The lack of communication between major characters is also completely unbelievable & adds to the frustration levels of the novel.
Doomsday Book (***½) features some stunning & deeply affecting sequences set in the 14th Century. Those set in the future are less compelling, & there are some moments of reader frustration to be had, but overalll the book remains a vivid & memorable reading experience.
I can't believe that I have found this book after all this time - By: C. Stone, 12 Jul 2008 
I read & re-read this book back in the 90'. It was my favourite book, fascinating, emotional & absorbing... but I lost it.. & for a decade I haven't been able to remember the author & the title.. well now I've found it by searching for " a book about time travel into Oxford at the time of the plague".. I have two days to wait until it is delivered & I am looking forward to reading it alll over again!! How AMAZING!! THank you Amazon!!
Almost flawless - By: Michael Scuffil, 17 May 2008 This is one of the best sci-fi novels ever. (Some people I've given it to say it's one of the best books ever, but I think that's OTT.) Connie Willis has a knack of creating lovable female characters (here, Kivrin). But I said "almost" flawless. The flaw is this: in a world where time-travel has been invented, is it reallly credible that the telephone system should be so antiquated (an important aspect of the plot)? No, of course not. This is Ms Willis' version of "quaint" olde worlde Olde Engelande. A pity.
What a read - but not for Sci Fi purists - By: Charlie Mount, 03 Jul 2007 OK, so I'm the x hundredth person to post feedback on this extraordinary book, so no reviews of the plot, i would just be rehashing what my predecessors have written.
I feel it is important, should you be considering reading this book however, that you are aware of what it is & what it is not.
It is not pure Sci Fi, it has a science based theme (being about time travel) but it is not for those who are simply looking for pure, hard core sci fi.
What it is is a superbly emotional book that presents the past in ways which few authors have managed, bringing it to life yet making it entirely alien. The final third of the book is possibly the most heart breaking couple of pages i have ever read.
Yes, the future characters are poor stereotypes, yes the portrayal of the future is no where near that of the past, but this book is about emotion, discovery & relationships. if that floats your boat then this is a must read book. On the other hand, if you're simply looking for a science fest - then maybe its best avoided.
An astonishing display of emotional depth - By: Frank Bierbrauer, 21 Apr 2007 When I first noticed this book on the shelves I was not impressed, from reading the back cover the story appeared a little drab but then I saw that it had won the Hugo & Nebula awards, often a good judge of the quality of a book, so I bought it. I was not to be disappointed.
The title is very appropriate, it reallly has two meanings in this novel written by Connie Willis. This is not so much a science fiction story but rather a tale of characters in two time zones, the first in 2054 & the second in 1348 medieval England. As such the book refers to the well known Domesday Book written as a kind of assize of the people of England under Royal rule & the second being the recordings the main character makes of the life of the middle ages.
Kivrin, is a graduate student at Oxford in 2054, a historian in fact, & wishes to travel back in time to truly live the middle ages. Time travel is now commonly used & the paradoxes which are usuallly discussed are physicallly impossible. She prepares herself well for the role researching customs, clothes, language, the common occupations of women of the time & alll of the necessary inoculations, such as the plague. The original assignment was to drop in in 1320, 28 years before the plague hit England, & study the life of people in the middle ages. This was to be a brief two weeks & she would then be retrieved. It does not go well & her life there becomes more & more the one she must live to survive. The whole way of life there is completely different from what she is used to but the people are fascinating. Her life with a family of the minor nobility, especiallly her love of Agnes the incredibly cute 5 year old daughter is simply wonderful, so innocent & delightful. Somehow Connie Willis manages this effortlessly. The horror of the plague is captured with astonishing depth, not the physical effects but the human emotional impact. This is worth reading just for the interaction of the characters. In addition, somehow the author manages to display the "Englishness" of the people involved, this is remarkable in that she is American.
An astonishing story, Connie Willis can reallly tell a story. It was like you were there & the tragedy of the black death was as it must truly have been. It's unfortunate that the characters in the modern era (2054) are nowhere near as well developed as those in 1348, nonetheless a great novel. Easily the best I've read for a years.
