Rating: 
Summary: not here, not there
Review: This book is neither literature (it isn't even grammatical) nor a page-turner (nothing happens in it). It certainly isn't science-fiction (it isn't premised on the human consequences of a new technology). You might call it "historical fiction", except that it keeps to a tiny claustrophobic corner of the epoch it is supposed to explore, possibly because it fears to be found wrong. In short, no matter how you slice it--and there is a lot of very, very repetitive verbiage to slice--, it is worth little. I can only think those praising it have not read many books, at least not many good books.(If the idea of someone venturing from modern times into the middle ages and eventually finding himself, against his initial prejudice, sympathetic with its inhabitants appeals to you, then read Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". Novels treating the era more realistically include Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" and Hermann Hesse's "Narcissus and Goldmund". For fluff, but at least entertaining and diverting fluff, there is Michael Crighton's "Timeline".)
Rating: 
Summary: Mildly disappointed
Review: I purchased Doomsday Book on a very high recommendation from a professor. He expounded on the various merits of the novel and I was excited to sit down and read it. He proclaimed that the story showed how you can never draw accurate conclusions about anything in life till you're lived it and been there. He also remarked on the fine character development and closeness you feel to the individuals. So, he might have exaggerated a bit. Starting with such high hopes I might have led myself down the path of disappointment, but I feel my conclusion about the story was more accurate than the professors. The main character, Kivrin, is an ambitious student of the future. Her dream is to travel back in time, to the especially dangerous era of Medieval times. Well, because of some bureaucratic errors and upsets Kivrin instead is sent too far back; back to the deadly and highly dangerous time period of the Black Death. A lot of the conclusions historians had drawn about the people of that time period were found to be inaccurate at best. Kivrin learns the truth about life in that time, and death. I did not find her the most endearing of the characters though. Her mentor and close friend at the university was the only character I truly grew attached to. I ached as he ached, wanting to save Kivrin from what was surely a painful demise. And though, conclusions can be drawn as my professor made, the book itself never states it outright. It is clearly shown how you can NEVER be sure till you've experienced something yourself; but the author never states that idea pointedly. I enjoyed reading Doomsday Book for it's fantastical time travel and the portrayal of past and future. Though the book had endearing individuals, I did not find myself knowing as much as I would have liked to know about them; and therefore did not become very attached to the characters. Near the conclusion of the novel, I found myself becoming slightly annoyed and bored because it felt like Willis was dragging out the ending and by that point you really want to know what happens so you can put the book down. I did enjoy many of the underlying themes of the story, but you have to be able to really think and pick them out for yourself. If you enjoy lengthy novels that don't flat out smack you in the face with their message, this book is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: a great story within a bad one.
Review: If you plan to read the book, don't read this because it will ruin the best parts of the book for you. The sections in the future were awful - boring, tedious and repetitive. Save for Mr. Dunworthy, I didn't care about any of these characters. The sections in the past were spledid. I grew so attached to the characters that the ending was devastating emotionally. Every time the health of a dying character improved, I hoped they would pull through, only to be hurt time after time. The relationship between Kivrin and Roche was beautiful. Their dignty and actions inspiring. If you plan to read the book, skim the bad story so you can experience the great one.
Rating:
Summary: a great story within a bad one.
Review: If you plan to read the book, don't read this because it will ruin the best parts of the book for you. The sections in the future were awful - tedious and repetitive. Save for Mr. Dunworthy, I didn't care about any of these characters. The sections in the past were spledid. I grew so attached to the characters that the ending was incredibly sad. Every time the health of a sick character improved, I hoped they would pull through, only to be hurt time after time. The relationship between Kivrin and Roche was beautiful. Their dignty and actions inspiring. If you plan to read the book, skim the bad story so you can experience the great one.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT worth the slog, vacuous and inept
Review: There are serious narrative lacunae here. The prime agent of the obstacles that make this move forward at all is the mysterious disappearance of a certain Dr. Basingame. Readers with even the slightest sense of plot structure will feel cheated that this disappearance is never explained. By the end of the book the author seems to have quite forgotten it. The prose is drab and perfunctory. "Disinterested" is used incorrectly to mean "uninterested" (it really means "impartial") once, and "hopefully" is used incorrectly to mean "I hope" or "she hoped" four times ("hopefully" is really an ADVERB). These solecisms are inexcusable. At the very least, an editor ought to have fixed them. I've read many novels having to do with time travel (the best by far is H. G. Wells's classic "The Time Machine). This is the first that seems utterly unable to distinguish time from space. The heroine ventures into the fourteenth century in early winter because she wants it to be near Christmas when she arrives! Nearly the whole while she is there she wonders what her compatriots in the twenty-first-century are doing! This sort of the thing is ridiculous--hilariously amateurish, really and, of course, also inexcusable. The very end (inadvertantly reminiscent of "Hamlet" with bodies strewn about) has a certain dramatic heft, and the heroine's professor's misapprehensions about the era to which they send her are amusing, otherwise I should give this one star instead of two.
Rating:
Summary: Evocative, But Obese and Slow
Review: This is my new case example of a novel that could be a much better book if it had a couple hundred pages taken out. The main strength of the work is the author's intricately detailed evocation of medieval England and the onslaught of the Black Plague. The years of research show and you see, feel, and smell the place and the people. The final 100 pages or so are well paced and heart wrenching as characters we've gotten to know and like, love, or hate fall victim to the virus. But we simply don't need as much lead up to this. The novel felt like it was treading water much of the time, more interested in showing yet more of the surroundings and the daily life of its characters when the same goal of getting us involved could have been met with fewer scenes. Much of what happens felt repetitive or had no serious bearing on what came later. Worse, the many scenes set in the modern day world are filled with far less interesting characters who, in some cases, were not particularly believable.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down.
Review: Time travel archeology, a young woman goes back to medieval Oxford prior to the black death. While there, an illness strikes the local population. Back in modern day Oxford a virulent epidemic decimates the team that is supposed to bring her back to the present. With the clock ticking down the pressure is on to bring her back. But she is stranded amongst people she cannot understand and is afraid that she is dying of plague. But how is this possible? This fast paced sci-fi thriller sits amazingly comfortably within the framework of creaky Oxford University Dons on the one hand and within a medieval english Novelette on the other. The science elements are not intrusive. Indeed, they may be a little under explained. The mechanisms are never completely addressed. The whole issue of controls over using time travel, and the in-fighting of university departments is a little difficult to swallow. If it worked I cannot see time travel being abused so casually as it is in this book. That said, it makes for an excellent read. The pace is good and the story from medieval england makes good reading.
Excellent read, highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Plodding and repetitive
Review: This book is far too long. A good idea is wasted by the author's relentless repetition of every detail, and her inexplicable inflation of every tiny plot point (Kivrin is so sick--will she make it to the window seat? Will she make it down the stairs? Will she get back to the manor house?). I lost respect for the Hugo award years ago--this book makes me wonder about the Nebula as well.
Rating:
Summary: Living History
Review: This is the book to read if you want to immerse yourself in the Middle Ages, You feel as though you are living during that time. Similar concept to "Time and Again" by Jack Finney. Highly readable novel, highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimately heartbreaking
Review: The effort that it took to write this book is matched by the effort it takes one to get by it. I was upset by this one for days, thinking that I had been "Love Storied." The matching time lines are un evenly written, and I wonder about some of the triteness. The ones who should suffer, the bells etc. Still it is an eye opener The characters in the plague years are compeling to the point of family, and death takes on a face that is both understood and soundly cursed. As it should be. In all, a wonderful read, both hopeful and helpless. This write took effort, and it shows.
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