Who Would Like This Book:
If you love immersive historical fiction with a clever sci-fi twist, this is a book to check out! Connie Willis combines meticulous World War II research with an engaging time-travel puzzle, letting you experience wartime England through the eyes of future historians. The real magic is how she brings ordinary people and daily life in the Blitz to vibrant, relatable life - while letting her time-travelers become just as confused and vulnerable as the locals. Fans of thoughtful, character-driven stories, history buffs, and anyone who likes their science fiction with messy, human stakes will find a lot to love here.
Who May Not Like This Book:
If repetition, slow builds, or complex multi-POV stories aren’t your style, you might find this one a slog. Some readers found the pacing too slow, with characters endlessly worrying and running in circles, bogged down by details and miscommunications. Others were frustrated by the abrupt cliffhanger ending (this is only the first half of a two-book story!) and wished for tidier plot resolution or more distinctive characterization. And if you expect rigorous science or bulletproof time-travel logic, you might find yourself nitpicking.
About:
'Blackout' by Connie Willis is a historical time travel novel set in London during World War II. The book follows a group of historians from the future who travel back in time to study this tumultuous era, but things go awry as they face challenges such as air raids, blackouts, and missed assignations. The novel offers a detailed and immersive portrayal of life during the Blitz, highlighting the resilience and camaraderie of Londoners amidst the chaos of war. Willis weaves together multiple storylines and characters, creating a complex puzzle of a plot that combines vivid historical detail with elements of suspense and drama.
The writing style of 'Blackout' is praised for its rich historical context, well-developed characters, and engaging narrative. Readers are drawn into the story through vivid descriptions and meticulous research, which bring the setting of WWII London to life. The book explores themes of sacrifice, friendship, and the impact of war on individuals, blending elements of science fiction with historical fiction to create a compelling and thought-provoking read.
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From The Publisher:
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.
Ratings (25)
Incredible (6) | |
Loved It (13) | |
Liked It (3) | |
It Was OK (2) | |
Hated It (1) |
Reader Stats (75):
Read It (26) | |
Want To Read (30) | |
Did Not Finish (2) | |
Not Interested (17) |
2 comment(s)
I wanted these fictional time traveling people to face the consequences of their actions. It irks me how blasé they were about time travel, it's so selfish "present day" to think of the people in the past as mere specimens for observation. Obviously, my favorite part was when they started realizing they were stuck in time. I utterly disliked the characters or is it just the way it was written?!
Also, why aren't there half start ratings?!
Connie Willis is a great science fiction writer because she makes the science fiction serve an end, rather than making it an end in itself. She uses time travel like the best episodes of Doctor Who: to explore relationships, develop characters, ask questions about love and loyalty and death.
She is also incredibly funny, sweetly romantic, and an amazing historical researcher. Willis - here it comes - makes history fun. She makes me want to read a bunch of boring nonfiction. Well, not really. But she does make me want to read a bunch of great nonfiction so I can better appreciate every historical reference in her amazing novels.
What can you read after
Blackout?
About the Author:
Connie Willis, who was recently inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, has received six Nebula Awards and ten Hugo Awards for her fiction; her previous novel, Passage, was nominated for both. Her other works include Doomsday Book, Lincoln's Dreams, Bellwether, Impossible Things, Remake, Uncharted Territory, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Fire Watch, and Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. Connie Willis lives in Colorado with her family.
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