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Doomsday Book

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Doomsday Book

By: Connie Willis
Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
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About this listen

 One of the most respected and awarded of all contemporary science-fiction writers, Connie Willis repeatedly amazes her many admiring fans with her ability to create vivid characters in unusual situations. With Doomsday Book, she takes listeners on a thrilling trip through time to discover the things that make us most human.

For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong. When an accident leaves Kivrin trapped in one of the deadliest eras in human history, the two find themselves in equally gripping - and oddly connected - struggles to survive.

Deftly juggling stories from the 14th and 21st centuries, Willis provides thrilling action - as well as an insightful examination of the things that connect human beings to each other.

©1992 Connie Willis (P)2000 Recorded Books Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Women's Voices Thought-Provoking Time Travel 21st Century Tear-jerking Middle Ages

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Critic reviews

"Ms. Willis displays impressive control of her material; virtually every detail introduced in the early chapters is made to pay off as the separate threads of the story are brought together." ( The New York Times Book Review)
"A stunning novel that encompasses both suffering and hope....The best work yet from one of science fiction's best writers." ( The Denver Post)
All stars
Most relevant  
So, what a simply brilliant book. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. Brilliant narration as well. Love all the characters.

But please can someone milk the cow :(

Simply amazing

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Excellent story, very good narration. Bridge between well-researched historical fiction and English scifi. highly recommended.

Apocalyptic!

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Probably not the ideal listen whilst in bed with Covid. It is, as others have said, too long and somewhat repetitive. I endorse the recommendation to increase speed to 1.2. The mistakes such as ‘casualtys’ rather than Casualty didn’t bother me too much but the idea that felecommunications would be so bad in the 2050s was a bit strange.

Marathon

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This listener found Jenny Sterlin's voice flat and uninteresting, which was a drawback for such a long book. There's also a passage of a few paragraphs which gets repeated in the first section of the download, an indication of a lower standard of audio production than in most recent Audible recordings.

The story itself takes a while to get going but, if you stick with it, finally becomes both memorable and painfully moving. The pace is leisurely and while the depiction of the pettiness of academic life is mildly amusing, the early parts of the story failed to grip. In addition, every time I was getting into it, I found myself shaken out by jarring inaccuracies of language or geographical detail. Clearly, these haven't bothered other listeners, but this one found that they severely impeded his ability to suspend disbelief.

A British character who refers to cars as "automobiles"? Cases that are called "valises"? A hospital accident and emergency department called "Casualties" rather than "Casualty"? A pub in the centre of Oxford which is nearly empty a few days before Christmas?

The geography is particularly bad. The heroine, who has travelled back to the fourteenth century to a location 10 miles west of Oxford, imagines that she might be able to see the sky glow of London "50 miles away". From that location, mediaeval London would be 70 miles away. I can't imagine much of a sky glow at that period but, besides, the Chiltern Hills would have blocked any such view even had it been available.

In her cover story, she is supposedly travelling from Yorkshire to Evesham via Oxford, which is a strange and indirect route to take, and is travelling on the road from Oxford to Bath, which runs in entirely the wrong direction.

Such details are individually trivial but cumulatively produce an impression of an author who really doesn't know Oxford and has a poor grasp of British idiom. This often spoiled my appreciation of the gradually evolving story line.

And, yes, if you stick with it, the story finally does become truly engaging, both as an unblinking look at human suffering and as a subtle meditation on the nature and potential limitations of the omnipotence of God.

Moving story marred by inaccuracies

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I love this book but the narrator ruined it. All dialogue read painfully slowly. Shame.

Talks. So. Slowly. The. Story. Is. Ruined.

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The story is amazing a very enjoyable
The narration is excellent but when the narrator takes a break she said the word break which was not edited out

Very good story

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This is a superb story, flipping brilliantly between time lines. The characters were utterly believable and one could even feel sympathy for the most dislikeable or minor persons. Overall, this is a truly majestic novel.

Fantastic plot and characters

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I don't usually review books, I know I should, but this one is too good not to. Look out for Colin. I laughed and cried.

One of the best books ever

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Not for the faint-hearted and much better than the books even. The narrator brought the characters alive. I liked the accuracy and personal experience of the Black Plague. As a Time Travel author myself, I was impressed with the plot and how it was tied to the current day storyline to make it more interesting. Young Colin was my favourite character.
I'll be listening to Blackout next. I can't wait!

Detailed Enjoyable Read

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This is a really good book. A time Travel assignment run by the Mediaeval Dept at Oxford goes wrong from the start. There are two parallel stories, what is happening in Oxford and what is happening in Mediaeval Oxfordshire. There are incidents a plenty in both and despite the background of epidemic/pandemic and some grim situations, with some very moving and emotional scenes, there is also humour and fun, and bells. It has been noted by other reviewers that there are some factual inaccuracies but I didn't mind them even though I noticed one or two, they didn't really detract from the story for me.
I am very late to discovering this author but will definitely be looking for her other books.
The narrator took a little time to get used to but she is good and the characters were consistent and brought to life.
Definitely worth reading.
Overall 5 stars
Narration 4 stars
Story 4.5 stars.

A good start to the series.

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