In these days of e-books, and the comfort of reading them on my iPad, I am buying fewer and fewer “dead tree” books. But I couldn’t resist this beautiful matched pair of hardcovers, available from Amazon more cheaply than I could even buy paperback versions in Australia.

I’ve only recently (last 12 months or so) discovered Connie Willis as a writer, which may be fortunate for me, as I understand this latest work was 9 years in the writing, a long time for dedicated fans. But well worth the wait even so, I would have thought.

These two volumes are really just one novel, split into two for practical publishing purposes. The novel is another in Willis’ series based around the idea that time travel is invented in the 2060s, and is in the hands of the History Department of one of Oxford’s colleges, purely to be used for historical research purposes. This particular work is based on the independent time travel trips of several of the historians to the period of World War II in Britain. These trips are all meant to be for short periods and to specific locales but for unknown reasons (slight spoiler coming here) each of them finds themselves unable to return to the future. The mystery of why this has gone wrong persists through almost all of the novel, but the real focus is on the characters, their predicament, and, more than anything, on the trauma that Britain underwent during the war. As in her earlier work Doomsday Book, Willis makes the tragedy of the times come alive by making us familiar with real human characters and their sufferings. And again, Willis seems to effortlessly combine elements of humor and grief, joy and tragedy. It’s also fascinatingly educational about World War II Britain and in particular the London Blitz.

This is Willis’ masterwork, I think. Nominally science fiction, it is a novel which stands out from the genre by its downplaying of technology and its interest in character and in the human condition. ( )

Incredible book about which I can only say this without spoiling anything--After 500 pages, we really ought to be further along than Act 1 of the story. (That's why this is 4 stars, not 5.)

While the characters and situations are engaging and well-written, they still have not discovered what is affecting time travel or their immediate situations.

There's my growing irritation that the story arc will not be as strong as DOMESDAY BOOK as there's way too much buildup that has to be resolved within the same number of pages in ALL CLEAR.

I really enjoyed this, but don't want the complete story (BLACKOUT ALL CLEAR) to have that rushed and clumsy story arc like a Star Trek Next Generation episode (intriguing idea, good buildup, Act 2 twist, and then everything resolved (sorta) in less than 10 minutes). ( )

(K)(2010)Time travel tale that takes 3 historians back into the early days of World War II. They think their travel is going well until little things start to add up until it becomes certain that something may have gone wrong and not only will they be stuck in time but history may be changing because of it. Pretty good narrative that gets you down and dirty with everyday life in England at this time. Story just ends with no resolution so that I will have to read the sequel ?All Clear? to see who the 4th traveler who shows up on the last page is and what happens to the other 3. BookPage Review by Kate PritchardConnie Willis, perhaps best known for her tour-de-force time-travel novels such as Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, is back with another story that skips merrily from point to point on the time-space continuum. Blackout and its sequel, All Clear (to be released this fall), follow several characters from their homes in mid-21st-century Oxford to various destinations in World War II-era England�where they may be in more danger than they know. As Blackout begins, the time-travel lab in 2060 Oxford, which is mostly used by historians doing research into past events, is experiencing some trouble. ?Drops? are being pushed back, moved forward and pushed back again; the lab is in a chronic state of disorganization, the costume department is hopelessly behind schedule and nobody is very happy about all the chaos and confusion. Mike Davies, who has been preparing to go to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (and has had an American accent implanted for the occasion), is suddenly being sent to the evacuation of British forces at Dunkirk instead, while Polly Churchill learns that she is being sent off to the London Blitz with barely enough time to find out where the bombs are going to fall. Just why the lab technicians can't manage to stick to a schedule is unclear, but it could perhaps have something to do with a new and disturbing theory that means time travel may not be as innocuous as believed. Mike, Polly and a third historian, Eileen, are the novel's protagonists, though they spend most of the book separated from one another and trying, often in vain, to figure out where they are and how to get somewhere else. Missed connections, mistaken assumptions and other such comedy-of-errors scenarios are Willis' forte, and they are abundant here¥although with each new novel set in the future, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe that none of her characters use cell phones! Still, Willis' fans will be excited to meet and travel with characters both familiar and new, and the complex plot¥which unfolds slowly but steadily, as our protagonists draw closer to each other both geographically and chronologically¥and cliffhanger ending promise a major payoff in All Clear.(PW)With her trademark understated, eloquent style, Willis expands the conceit of her Hugo and Nebula winning 1982 story Fire Watch into a page-turning thriller, her first novel since 2001's Passage. Three young historians travel from 2060 to early 1940s Britain for firsthand research. As Eileen handles a measles outbreak during the children's evacuation and Polly struggles to work as a London shopgirl, hints of trouble with the time-travel equipment barely register on their radar. Historians aren't supposed to be able to change the course of history, but Mike's actions at Dunkirk may disrupt both the past and the future. Willis uses detail and period language exquisitely well, creating an engaging, exciting tale that cuts off abruptly on the last page.

Review includes All Clear, as I view the two books as really just one long book.

"It was the one thing historians could never understand. They could observe the contemporaries, live with them, try to put themselves in their place, but they couldn't really experience what they were experiencing. Because {they} know what's going to happen."

These books (Blackout and All Clear) are science fiction time travel books, part of Willis's Oxford Time Travel series. Time travel has become possible in the future, but it is used strictly by historians to make discrete journeys to the past to study history. In these books, and in the other book in the series I have read, The Doomsday Book, the books are more historical fiction rather than science fiction, as the primary focus is on the experiences of the historian in a historical society/culture.

Here the focus is on three historian/travelers. Polly has been sent back to London to spend several months during the height of the Blitz. She has been given implants so that she has knowledge as to where various bombs fell during the Blitz, so that she can avoid those places at the particular time the bombs fell. Another historian, Michael is sent to a coastal town to observe the evacuation of Dunkirk at the beginning of the war. And Eileen has been sent back to a country estate to observe the inner city children who were evacuated 5to the country during the Blitz for their safety.

All three have been given background covers to get by in the past. As always, the primary rule they must abide by is to do nothing to change the past--they are there strictly to observe. Then, for each of them a crisis: the portals through which they were to return to their own time have closed or disappeared. They are stuck in the past, and until they can figure out how to get back to the future, they must use their wits to survive during dangerous war times, starting with making a living to purchase day-to-day necessities like food. And each of them begins to fear they may have done something, or interacted with a contemporary in some way, however minor, that may have irrevocably changed the past, perhaps even resulting in the allies losing the war. They no longer have the advantage they initially had over the contemporaries of knowing how it all comes out.

These novels were rich with characters and historical detail. The experiences of Londoners during the Blitz are fully captured, as well as the chaos and despair of the Dunkirk evacuation. Other seminal events are also portrayed, such as the code breakers at Bletchley Park, and VE Day. And all the while Polly, Michael and Eileen are desparately trying to solve the problem of how to get "home."

I did feel that the book went on a bit long at times. In particular, there was a lot of repetitive hand-wringing by the historians as to whether a particular act on their part might have been something which did or could affect history. And usually they didn't share these fears with each other, and they sometimes weren't honest with each other about what actions that they took which might possibly be questionable. There just seemed to do a lot of internal moaning and groaning that went on a bit long at times. But this is only a minor complaint, as the story is otherwise so compelling.

Recommended.

3 1/2 stars ( )

Life is recursion. ( )