Rating: 
Summary: What a mess.......
Review: I don't know where to begin except to say how disapointed I was in this book. I actually feel bad that Willis wasted 5 years of her life on this. I have read most of the Hugo awards winners and this just doesn't stand up. I guess she spent a lot of her time researching the 14th century and the Black Death but it didn't pay off in the entertainment department.The only semi-interesting aspect of this book was the time travel aspect. Willis has a well thought plan here with some originality in it that makes for an interesting premise. I like how the different time periods are rated based on how dangerous they are and how the detail behind the training that time travelers go through. Unfortunately pretty much everything else about the rest of the book is horrible. The plot switches from the main character stuck in England in 1348 on the eve of the Black Plauge to her fellow colleagues in 2048 England. The biggest problem of this book is that it is flat out BORING! The main character is a whiny grad student who knew she shouldn't be traveling back in time and really does nothing to capture the hearts of the reader. Part of the problem is she is a twit, part of the problem is the plot devices used are bad choices. She arrives in 1348, gets lost and sick and almost dies at that takes 300 pages. In the next 250 pages she slowly starts to realize that she is off her target by X amount of years and is there on the eve of the plauge but the reader has realized this long before. Back in 2048, we sit through stupid characters going through the usual political intrigue stuff involving opening up the time portal and debating wether or not to send people back to save her. It's a shame that this book turned out like it did. I wouldn't mind reading another shot at the 2048 world and time travel ability that Willis created. Willis does a great job of putting you into the setting but this village in 1348 was just bland and boring and maybe this book could of benefitted from a change of setting. Also Willis needs work on her charaters. By the end of the book I couldn't care less if Kivrin made it out or not. Most of the other characters were one-dimensional at best. Finally the book was just way too predictable. Everything that happened was telegraphed so early that I was screaming at the book for a surprise. Its funny how the Hugo award was split in 93 with this trash and Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep. Both books are similar in the sense that they deal with individuals in a foreign land dealing with external forces and trying to come to terms with themselves. A Fire Upon The Deep is an amazing book that is does everything right that Doomsday does wrong and I can't fathom how a tie possibly occured. Bottom Line: Avoid this like the Plauge!
Rating: 
Summary: This is an exceptional book
Review: I really liked this book. It takes about 20 or 30 pages to figure out what is happening, but not in a bad way. It drops you into a situation where an inexperienced student is being sent on a time-travel mission. It ends up grabbing you and not letting go as a series of events leave many, many questions unanswered and the author keeps you guessing as you keep turning the pages. Rarely do I find a book that I can not put down, but this is one of them. Do yourself a favor and start reading it. If you're not hooked by page 50, find a new hobby.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book
Review: Connie Willis has over time been fashioning a quiet little niche for herself in the Science Fiction world with her brand of SF deeply rooted in history and alternate realities. Her SF is deeply character centered with little to no technology involved save the obligatory time machine. Yet, this book which was her first full length novel and took more than 5 years to write is excellent not only with its wonderfully blended characterizations, subtle humour but especially in its excellently detailed research into one of the darkest periods of human history. Kivrin is a History student at Oxford in the future, where History involves more than flipping through dusty tomes. Her interest in the middle ages leads her on an expedition to travel back in time to observe the lives of people during that period. However, disaster strikes not only in the past but in the present as well, leaving her in danger of being stranded in one of the most dangerous periods of the past. The most amazing thing about the book was its ability to evoke a sense of the past so clearly. The reader is drawn into the middle ages so convincingly that the period truly seems to come alive. Her sense of setting is excellently done in the near-future Oxford as well as she convincingly evokes the sense of panic of a people who have never suffered the effects of disease let alone the epidemic that threatens them so suddenly. The characters generally are well-drawn and convincing though the author relies on cliche quite often in painting the general picture of a character (from the over-protective mother, over-inquisitive kid to over-competitive territorial Prof) but they are all fleshed out rather nicely, particularly the two main protagonists Kivrin and her professor who is trying to rescue her. The characters in the middle ages are all convincingly drawn and I was impressed by the fact that came across so historically accurate for want of a better discription. Also, its nice to see an American write British characters that truly seem British and not like Americans pretending to be British. To sum up, it is an excellent novel, tauntly written and wonderfully paced, keeping the tension up to the final pages. Its historical setting is superbly detailed and accurate and the characters are well fleshed out. This is a must read in any genre and well deserving of the Hugo and Nebula Awards that it has won.
Rating:
Summary: Not exactly sci-fi...
Review: I absolutely adore this book. My 9th grade English teacher recommended it to me back in 1993, and I've read it at least 6 times since. I'm not a big sci-fi fan (unless "Jurassic Park" counts as hardcore science fiction). The only thing sci-fi about this book is the fact that time travel exists -- but that's a fairly minor detail. The rest of the book is pure drama: engaging, heartwrenching, heartwarming, etc., etc. I don't usually read sci-fi -- my favorite books of all time are "A Prayer for Owen Meany", "The Secret Garden", "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" -- you get the idea. On the surface, "Doomsday Book" is nothing like my other favorites...but a closer look reveals that all of these books really tug at your heartstrings. That's why I love 'em. Read this book!
Rating:
Summary: Doomsday vs. Timeline
Review: There's more than a few coincidental similarities between Connie Willis' "Doomsday Book" and Michael Crichton's "Timeline". In Doomsday, Willis tells a story of a young grad student who travels back into medieval Europe and inadvertantly gets stuck for a time. In Timeline, Crichton writes of several grad students who travel to medieval Europe and inadvertantly get stuck for a time. Willis' heroine Kivrin has the aid of a chemical interpreter in her head, but it doesn't seem to be functioning quite right; Crichton's gang has a chip or some such that they can't use in fear that they will be exposed. The time travelers in both novels have a tougher time in the past than they ever could have expected. The comparisons end there. The differences between these two novels are vast. Willis reveals a meticulously researched view of English life in the 1300's, a superb skill at characterization, and the ability to keep a reader totally absorbed in a complex narrative for 578 pages; Crichton reveals, in my opinion, how much he enjoys getting paychecks when his fourth-grade level writing spawns Hollywood action movie drivel. My recommendation: Read both of these books and then don't waste anymore time or effort on one of the authors (you can pick which one )...
Rating:
Summary: One of the best scince fiction books ever
Review: It is one of my favourite books, one of the best books I have ever read. It is intelillent, funny, the personages and their personalities are very well introduced and interesting. The rest of her books (To say nothing of the dog, bellwhether,...) are also great.
Rating:
Summary: The human soul endures...
Review: I enjoyed this book immensely - for the most part because I got very attached to the characters. The descriptions were vivid (extremely so at times, especially when the author described in great detail the effects of the plague), and I found the plot fast moving and completely engrossing. Time travel was very well implemented in this book. Time travel techniques were discussed in detail, and explained thoroughly. I also loved the way the author paralleled the 21st century with the 14th century. Each character in one century has a parallel character in the other century. My only problem with the book was the occasional [typical] character. Mrs. Gaddison was very one-dimensional - the typical busy body, annoying, and overprotective woman. William was a womanizer, and nothing else. Imeyne was the disapproving old woman, constantly looking for something to be angry about, someone to blame. And Colin, the [typical] kid, was constantly sucking on his candy (and I mean constantly), and using words like: "necrotic", and "apocalyptic". The writing style worked really well in this book. At times, I felt the author was writing specifically for British readers, however, on occasion using terms I was unfamiliar with, but which I knew a British reader would instantly pick up on. (Example: anytime someone hung up the phone, the person was said to "ring off", instead of simply "hang up"). Overall, I found the book to be a fast read, and an engrossing tale. The main theme was the devastation people have to endure in any century, and how humans persevere, and survive incredible hardship. Definitely a worthwhile read for those intrested in the concept of time travel and the idea of experiencing an extremely trying time in human history.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Doomsday Book was the first book I have read in this genre. I decided to read it because I am very interested in the Middle Ages, and I think that Connie Willis did a wonderful job. The futuristic chapters were not bogged down with scientific jargon, and the mediveal chapters were historically accurate and really the most interesting part of the book. I feel that the chapters set in the future were repetitive, and somewhat boring, and I did find myself skipping through them. Although the book is long, I wish it had gone on, I would love to know how Kivrin recuperates from her time travel.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading!
Review: I agree with a number of the previous reviews -- the author does a GREAT job of providing details, especially in the 14th century section of the book. It's almost like a Connecticut Yankee, who happens to be a historian, intentionally returns to King Arthur's Court -- except she returns for real, to a small village instead of the king's court, there won't be any knights on bicycles riding to the rescue, no fortuitous eclipses, and all modern conveniences, except a hidden note taker, have been left at home.
Willis' skill in putting the reader INTO a setting and making the reader CARE about events is like Stephen King's ability in that regard. There are enough mysteries and plot twists and red herrings and subtle humor to keep the reader happy. Yet, many of the modern characters, and a number of the 14th century characters, are fairly plain. This is understandable in part because reader's perspective in the 14th century half, although the book is written in the third person, is generally limited to the knowledge of the protagonist who is a brief "foreign" visitor.
Yet it's more than that: the characters are given a personality and a role and they pretty much stick to that: this one is the kindly professor, that one is the pretentious academic prima donna. Even the protagonist is easily classified as the "kind-hearted, sensitive, and very dedicated student." Aside from choosing this potentially dangerous research, she doesn't face any real difficult decisions about which action to take, or whom to help. She briefly wishes she could import modern medicine through the time portal into the village, but that thought isn't developed. (This would have violated the book's equivalent of a "prime directive" for time travel.)
The medieval part of the book is most interesting: the villagers were facing the imminent death of themselves and most of the people they knew, from a cause they don't understand; while the modern plague causes some deaths, one of the major modern concerns is running out of toilet paper.
I was sad to hear that the author's research on which were the common diseases in medieval Europe was lacking.
While the length of the book allows Willis ample room to bring the reader into the setting, it was too long, especially in the modern half of the book. Not only is the paperback 578 pages, but Willis uses 43 lines of text per page, while most paperbacks use 28 to 32 lines per page: this is the equivalent of an 800-page book. It's still a moderately quick read because the plot is so engrossing, and it's SO tempting to start skimming when you get to the modern parts of the story. While the writing is consistently very good, it's too long. Definitely do NOT get the unabridged audio.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary. Incredible. Amazing. What Else Can I Say?
Review: A young girl *Kivrin* from the future *2048* is going to be taken back to the year 1320 so she can do research. But something goes wrong and she ends up in 1348, the year the Black Plague came to Europe. Kivrin finds herself watching everyone she has grown close to in that short time sicken and die. Incredibly serious and thought provoking book. You've just got to love the characters. ... Willis does a wonderful job making the book come to life. If you are a fan of Willis' other books, this is a little bit more serious than her others, but still wonderful. If you like Doomsday Book, then I would suggest you read To Say Nothing of the Dog as well. It was wonderful, and it made me cry. If you miss this book, it will be a huge loss.
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