Rating: 
Summary: History revisited whilst being revisited by history
Review: Kivrin is a history student in Oxford in the not-too-distant future. She has spent a year getting ready for a field trip to Oxfordshire in 1320 to study the Middle Ages before the Black Death. She has her inoculations, she has an implanted language decoder, she has trained herself in various aspects of medieval life such as spinning, etc. What could possibly go wrong?
In a word, lots. Oxford in this not-too-distant future is in a world where epidemics are feared like - well - the plague. And an epidemic starts to raise its ugly head just when Kivrin is being transported to 1320. The technician setting the time machine knows something has gone wrong, but unfortunately he is one of the first victims of this epidemic, and collapses before he can inform the history faculty members of what exactly is wrong. Kivrin herself arrives in the Middle Ages with a seriously bad case of ... something that she doesn't know what it is.
She is rescued and stays with a family of "contemps", where she can closely study medieval life and in particular, the festive season around Christmas. But this is no ordinary Christmas, because it is NOT 1320. It is 1348, the year that the Black Death came to Oxfordshire at Christmas time.
Oxford in the 21st century, meanwhile, has been cordoned off and with all the cases of an unknown and deadly virus, nobody is available to check the time machine and find out what went wrong with Kivrin's "drop" until very, very late.This is one of the finest books that I have read for a while. Descriptions of people, motivations and events are little short of stunning, and the narrative is utterly believable - even allowing for time machines and implanted decoders. The simultaneous epidemics in Oxford in the 21st century and Oxfordshire in 1348 are very well played out, and the sense of anxiety once the reader has been informed that "something" is wrong with the drop doesn't diminish with the several hundred pages it takes to find out what the "something" is - to the contrary.
It is a gem of a book, finely crafted. Highly recommended.
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Summary: I couldn't put it down!!!!
Review: I have come late to Ms. Willis, and feel as if I should be mad that no one told me about her sooner. I noticed in the book, Book Lust, the author said it was one of the best time travel books she had ever read. So, I remembered I had it in the back of a closet, bought long ago and never read, pulled it out ,and I just finished reading it in two days. What a great book. I won't go into the plot, everyone else that has done that has explained it quite well. I just want to tell you to READ THIS BOOK!!! I could not put it down, but now that it is done, I am off to read another of Ms. Willis's books.
Rating: 
Summary: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
Review: This is what I want to do everytime I pick up this book in an attempt to finish it. I'm currently about 3/4ths of the way through but frankly, everytime I see another book I'd like to read, I put off reading this book again. The majority of the book takes place back in 1348 during the time of the plauge (through time travel) and most of that takes place within the confines of a house in a village. This book just goes nowhere. It is just plain boring. I wanted to like it, especially since another reviewer said it was better than Crichton's "Timeline." This book is not even in the same league. This is the only book I've ever started that I may not finish. It's that BAD. Do yourself a favor and read "Timeline"
Rating:
Summary: Why?
Review: This book won the Hugo and Nebula awards. Why? The writing is professional, but certainly not masterful. The science fiction is weak at best. And the story is slow, the suspense forced, and the mood utterly depressing. Don't waste your time with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Speculative Fiction at its best
Review: This book was my introduction to Connie Willis and I happened upon it by accident -- I found it laying around our office one Christmas Eve. With nobody around and nothing really to do, I started to read then found I couldn't put it down. If you're into SF for the science part of the equation, this may not appeal to you. But if you love speculative fiction when it tells a great story with well-developed characters, this is for you, and it's one of the best. As another reviewer said, this book is sad and haunting. There is also warm humor and, in spite of the sadness, the lasting impression is of hope and faith. I just can't say enough good about it. 100% recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Well done but very depressing
Review: I read this book 10 years ago yet it still lingers in my mind. Considering that I've read at least 500 books since then says alot. I can not say, however, that I enjoyed this book. Unlike some reviewers, while it wasn't a pleasant experience, I certainly got a lot out of the book. The writing is first rate, as are the descriptions of campus life and life before and during the horror of death from the plague. I learned alot about the art of bell ringing as well. The style is deceivingly simplistic and light. The themes are anything but. There is a race against time love story, and a very tragic, what is the point of life, heart wrenching narrative. It is a very long book, and I was very negative on it after finishing, thinking it a shaggy dog story. Over time, it has grown on me. I won't re-read it, but it is a seminal work that I find creeping in to my sub-concious when reading other works. This is a deep read, but not a jolly good time.
Rating:
Summary: grave disappointment
Review: I normally leave very detailed reviews of books but this done doesn't deserve such effort. Why I DID give it two stars - it starts off great, with some good suspense and lots of mystery Why I ONLY gave it two stars - by the fifth time the only character who could give some hint as to what the problem is passes out AGAIN, I felt like the author was just jerking my chain. It caused a lot of frustration when I'm clear into a couple hundred pages of the story and not a single character nor the reader has a clue as to what is wrong, thus as a reader I started not to care. I'm working my way through Hugo and Nebula winners, but I was very disappointed in this book. As I can see by other reviewers there is very little middle ground...you either love it or hate it. I think that is a risky sign of a book, especially when there are so many other stories out there that have solid 5 star ratings from most reviewers...find one these and read that instead.
Rating:
Summary: Avoid unless you aren't very bright
Review: This book might be your cup of tea if you 1) have an IQ of 90-100; 2)don't read much; 3)think the NY Times fiction best sellers are "literature"; 4)think John Grisham or Stephen King are excellent writers. All others steer clear. Yes, I am bitter; that this novel won awards because of political correctness/cronyism in a genre struggling for legitimacy is sad... a dark day for scifi.
Rating: 
Summary: If the plot is based on the behavior of stupid people, does
Review: that make the book stupid too? YES!!! As expressed by many other reviewers the plot of this book is paper thin and ruled by the behavior of obnoxious characters. Of course if characters behaved intelligently in this book it would be about 200 pages, not 600. I listened to this on Audio tape to try and prevent road rage, instead I found myself screaming at it as Bodrie (sp?) once again passes out without revealing the problem. Fake problems create no tension, only frustration. I do not think I have ever read (or listened to) a book with more hateful, annoying, ignorant, obnoxious and stupid characters, none of which were given the remotest sense of backstory. Even romance novels have better characterization. I also agree that the technology described in the future plotline was absurd. Did we not have cell phones, pages, answering machines, computers in 1992 when this book was written? And even if we didn't couldn't the author have spent some time thinking up a plausible technology base for 2054? The mark of a good plot is having intelligent characters react to situations in intelligent ways and still having problems (problems that are logical ones stemming from the situation itself, not the obnoxious behavior of subsidiary characters) that then can be worked out in intelligent ways throughout the novel. This book has none of that. Needless to say, do not waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: If you liked TimeLine...
Review: Doomsday Book is well researched and well written, with many believable characters and an absorbing plot. The protagonist is both multi-dementional and likable, and the reader finds oneself drawn in to her story.
Definitely a "must read" if you're into time travel and/or the middle ages, and a gem for Willis fans.
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