Be aware before you start this book it is not complete! To finish the story you also have to read "All Clear". Frankly the story could have been told in one book not two. I think it was a matter of making more $. Sad.

If you like reading about the Blitz Blackout/All Clear give a lot of bit that really give a viseral context to the era. But it the Blitz is NOT your passion plowing through these two book is a real trial. Why? Mainly because you will encounter 3 of the most annoying characters it literature: Eileen, Binnie and Alf. Elileen is a whiner, Binnie and Alf are the monster children that are like the perpetural fingernails on the blackboard. The author for gawd know's what reason makes the story finally revolve around them in the final half of the story. Painful, like poking a sore tooth. I am one of those folks that feels compelled to finish a book (or story) one I start it. I hesitate to start another of this authors books for fear these are the type of characters that are close to her heart.

Share/Like this Review?

Probably the most important thing to know about this book is that it is really half a book. It ends with events completely up in the air with a "to be continued" on the last page. Oxford in 2060 has historians being sent into the past to observe events on a regular basis. The main characters in this book are in various times and places (London during the blitz, the evacuation of Dunkirk, etc.) of WWII from 1939 to 1945. They have been doing time travel for 40 years at Oxford, but for the historians in this past era things begin to go wrong and they have no way of knowing why. It's an interesting premise, but until the completion of the next book "All Clear", it's difficult to give an opinion overall.

Share/Like this Review?

Blackout/All Clear.

The two books are really one novel (thanks, publishers, for getting me to pay double!) so there's no reason to talk about them separately.
They're also part of Willis' time travel series, although they're not advertised as such. I really wouldn't recommend starting with these books; I feel that a lot of the questions and criticism of these books that I see in other reviews stems from the likelihood that readers haven't read the other books in the series: The Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, and Fire Watch. At the very least, you have GOT to read Fire Watch before reading these books.

That said, the books are excellent. Blackout starts slowly, but Willis does a great job of gradually but surely building the tension and intensity of the story, working from trivial humor up to tragedy... (and the tragedy that can spring from the trivial) although it never gets as intense as The Doomsday Book. The pacing is the main reason why I feel that the book should not have been split in two. The end revelations also came dangerously close to getting too sentimental/religious for me... but I think they fall on the OK side of that line...

I found the representation of London during the Blitz to be completely convincing and memorable - I found myself saying, "wow, I didn't know...." And I've also decided that it is virtually incomprehensible that I've been to London over a dozen times, and I don't think that I've ever been inside St. Paul's cathedral. I'm sure Willis would think that was sad and horrifically neglectful.

For another depiction of the Blitz, which also focuses on its effect on ordinary individuals, I'd highly recommend Sarah Waters' The Night Watch.

Share/Like this Review?

I had more trouble getting into this than most of Willis's books, but enjoyed it as it went on. It is only part one of the [presumably] two-part novel, and I would have liked to know that the second book is to be released in October 2010 before I purchased it. Cliffhangers are more fun if one can pick up the next book quickly.

Share/Like this Review?