Rating: 
Summary: Historical fiction reader, or sci-fi fan, don't miss this!
Review: Connie Willis' Doomsday Book will delight the reader of near-future sci-fi and the alternative history buff alike. Well-researched and seamlessly written, the characters of the future and bygone eras spring to life as they share eerily similar perils and frustrations bridging 700 years. Unlike the disappointing Timeline by Michael Crichton, Willis' novel is full of robust, three-dimensional characters with tangible emotions and desires. Whether the setting is near-future England or the sparsely populated village of a mediaeval manor, readers will recognize the settings as truly as if they lived in them. Connie Willis will make believers of even those who do not "willingly suspend disbelief."
Rating:
Summary: Number one book
Review: This book has edged out Ender's Game as the best s.f. book I have ever read. The details are amazing. Whether her description of life in the 14th century is true or not, you'll never forget it.
Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing, slightly irritating, but still a great read
Review: I'm not much of a science fiction reader, so I'm still trying to figure out what constitutes award winning in this genre. And after reading this book, I'm no further along in figuring out what distinguishes a Hugo and Nebula award winning book (such as this) from others. Nonetheless, this is an interesting, engrossing story and I would recommend it especially to non-sci-fi reading fans.Most of the other reviewers have mentioned all the main good and bad points. One aspect of the book I found intriguing and compelling was the character and behavior of the village priest; his death scene answered a lot of my questions in the book up until that point. I appreciated the little plot twists in the end involving the archaeologist; I thought that was well done and it kept me guessing. I would have liked more details on the "science" of the time net; that whole gimmick was not dealt with very convincingly, even though it was integral to the plot. As other reviewers have mentioned, though, in spite of its holes and annoyances, this is a book that stays with you long after you've finished reading it. It really leaves you pondering what life, people, disease, the church, and the terrain were like there way back when. And whether the changes we've come through to modern times are necessarily wholely positive ones.
Rating: 
Summary: A little emotion, please?
Review: Yet another Connie Willis book that plods along, piling clever detail upon clever detail. Cleverness alone makes for tedious writing. As E.M. Forster commented in his "Aspects of the Novel," 'The novelist who betrays too much interest in his own method can never be more than interesting.' I'm more than 300 pages into this book, still waiting for something to happen, and I still haven't found a character I can care about. It is emotion that really moves a story forward. Literature succeeds by depth, by going INTO the Human heart - and that is something Willis utterly refuses to do. Writers who want to stay at a superficial level substitute plot (suspense) for character. Think of Sheharazad - the desire to know "what happens next" keeps people awake at night. This "and then, and then, and then" style of writing is also what drives most bestsellers. (It's the kind of cotton candy writing that makes you keep turning the pages, but you feel cheated at the end when you realize that really there was nothing there to get your teeth into.) If that best-seller style is what Willis is aiming for, she's doing it wrong. Not only does she not include enough emotional depth to make you care, she also doesn't substitute enough suspense to make you forget you don't care. I liked her "Bellwether," because it was short enough to sustain the narrowly developed characters, and was able to function as a lovely little thought experiment. But "Bellwether" is not really a novel, it's more like a novella. I gave up on "What About the Dog" after 100 pages of being bored to tears by her incessant cleverness. I keep hacking away at "The Doomsday Book", hoping it will get better, but I am finding myself starting to skim whole paragraphs and pages, which is something I can't remember ever having done in my life before. I think this will be the last time I pick up a Willis book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I've been reading this book every year at Christmas since it first came out. I'm a huge fan of time travel fiction, but this book, combined with the human elements, and the lovely humour, is really everything I look for in a story. It completely engrosses me, each time I read it. And I find myself utterly moved, no matter that I already know what's going to happen. An amazingly touching, wonderful story.
Rating: 
Summary: Save your time
Review: Could Willis foreshadow a little more? The first 200 pages read something to the affect of "does she have the black plague?" I wonder what's wrong with her, she had been syptoms similar to the plague, yet it is unconclusive....and so on and so on... Willis's characters have little depth and a central character, Dunsworthy, is an enitre yawn. This story could have been told in 200 pages opposed to 600. Save your time and your money.Get Micheal Creatines 'Timeline' instead if you like sci-fi.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, thrilling and emotionally moving
Review: This book was so moving I read the last half in one night staying up late to finish it! I cried near the end, and it has been years since a book made me cry. The author brought me into the lives of the people in the 1300's, I felt as Kivrin did. It was surprisingly spiritual, especially through the religion and belief of the parish priest. The two stories, present and past, were related, but unrelated. It was so clever and all came together and made sense in the end. The story addressed loss and love of fellow mankind in a very effective way. I really cared about the danger Kivrin was in, I felt the author portrayed the dangers very realistically making us readers feel the fear and helplessness Kivrin must have felt, as well as Mr. Dunworthy.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: I enjoyed this book from start to finish. I gave it 4 stars because I disagree with the fundamentals of the time travel loop that is a part of this book(I get a virus, go back in time, give it to someone else who gives it to me in the future...etc) Other than that the book has great chracter development and plot. This book represents what I would call "Great Sci-Fi" and gets my 2 Thumbs up of approval(whatever that counts for)...but seriously if you are looking for a quick read and want a book that will give you a good enough plot to keep you turning pages this is the one. I would recommend starting this one on a weekend though, because you won't be able to put it down(thus missing work...getting fired...etc :)
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I read this book a few years ago and have loved the story. This is a very absorbing book, fascinating and just a wonderful read.
Rating:
Summary: One of my two favorite books of all time!
Review: I can't choose between this book and Gone with the Wind as my favorite book, but this one is great. I read it every year right before Christmas (if you've read it, you know why), and it keeps getting better. I'm not the type to get emotional over books easily, but the last part of it always gets me misty-eyed. The characters are so real that you feel you've met them, and then what they endure is so horrible that you feel every single page. My mom had never read any sci fi or fantasy before, but she loved this book so much that she now wants to try more of the genre.
| 
