R- The Doomsday Book (v,b)

Willis is famous for her handful of intricate, thoroughly researched historical novels (sometimes classified as historical fantasy). Her style is easy to read, yet full of points and themes that one can overlook the first five times. From a plethora of strengths, her best may be her characters, if one counts the setting as a character. The people in her stories are never perfectly good or perfectly evil, but a realistic and familiar combination of the two. Her settings are immediate and natural, no matter how far in our own pasts (or futures) they lie.

For her work, Willis has received numerous Hugo and Nebula awards. She has also edited several anthologies for the SFWA and others; her attention to detail certainly makes her a stronger editor than many. In general, if you want quality, you need look no further; Willis knows how to deliver.

When I first picked up The Doomsday Book (on a rainy afternoon when I was ill), all I knew was that it might match my rotten mood, given that it was about the plague. I quickly discovered that's like saying Beethovan's Symphony is about peasants. Several hundred pages and half a box of kleenex later, I felt much better. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most beautiful, tragic, and thoroughly researched novels ever written in any genre. If I praised any one aspect of it, like the delightfully realized characters who are both stereotypes and real people at the same time, or the powerfully cathartic theme with its recurring reminder of "for whom the bell tolls", you might get the incorrect impression that some other part was less well done. Instead, I will tell you that anyone, though most especially amateur historians and medievalists, cannot help but be affected by this book. Many will probably fall in love with it, though it could never be a simple love, given the amount of pain that the story evokes.

The overall plot begins rather simply: Kivrin, an undergraduate history student at Oxford in 2054, is allowed to be the first person to travel back to medieval times. Previously, that period had been off-limits as too dangerous. Kivrin's tutor Dunworthy frets about what may happen to her, but neither he nor anyone else can predict what will happen in their own 21st century. After Kivrin is sent back to 1320, the point of view shifts back and forth between Kivrin and Dunworthy in a masterful connection between the past and future, as Dunworthy tries desperately to bring his favorite student safely home. Parts of the story include graphic descriptions of illness and violence that may disturb some readers. However, none of the descriptions are gratuitous.

Sorry, no data yet.

(Main Page) (Categories) (Awards)
(Authors) (Titles) (Top 100) (Rewrites)

This page owned by: Raven
Questions? Comments? Smart Remarks?
Email me at [email protected]
Last Updated: November 12, 1999

Author and book reviews are the copyrighted property and responsibility of the person named at the end of the review. If no one is named, they belong to Raven. Any author or publisher who does not want their copyrighted material to be on this page email the reviewer and it will be removed immediately. The reviewer reserves the right to remove material rather than alter it in any way.