All Clear: A Novel

Connie Willis

Oct 2010 · Oxford Time Travel Book 2 · Sold by Spectra

About this ebook

Winner of the Nebula Award

Traveling back in time, from Oxford circa 2060 into the thick of World War II, was a routine excursion for three British historians eager to study firsthand the heroism and horrors of the Dunkirk evacuation and the London Blitz. But getting marooned in war-torn 1940 England has turned Michael Davies, Merope Ward, and Polly Churchill from temporal tourists into besieged citizens struggling to survive Hitler’s devastating onslaught. And now there’s more to worry about than just getting back home: The impossibility of altering past events has always been a core belief of time-travel theory—but it may be tragically wrong. When discrepancies in the historical record begin cropping up, it suggests that one or all of the future visitors have somehow changed the past—and, ultimately, the outcome of the war. Meanwhile, in 2060 Oxford, the stranded historians’ supervisor, Mr. Dunworthy, frantically confronts the seemingly impossible task of rescuing his students—three missing needles in the haystack of history. The thrilling time-tripping adventure that began with Blackout now hurtles to its stunning resolution in All Clear.

Ratings and reviews

Started with a decent premise. But will it ever end? Blackout, the first book in this series, did not. This one rambles on for even longer, before an editor explained to her that books do have to end sometimes. So a gratuitous ending has been hastily glued on with binder twine and duct tape. Thank goodness. The basic problem: there's enough pkot for the first twenty pages or so; and then nothing happens.

Like the War, this and its brother before it are absolutely chalk full of detail. Detail that eventually drowns the reader and suffocates any fun or suspense to be had. It can only be described as a reverse Oreo: the cookies (first half of the first book, second half of the second) are great, sprinkled with various timelines. The cream, the rest of it, the bit that usually is equally good, was bland, trite, overly wordy. Great idea, but it really should have stayed as novellas.

How would you survive during the bombing of London? What was it like to live through those events? Willis once again makes the reader think about what it was like to live through a major historical event and makes it personal.

About the author

Connie Willis, who was recently inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, has received six Nebula awards and ten Hugo awards for her fiction; her novel Passage was nominated for both. Her other works include Blackout, Doomsday Book, Lincoln’s Dreams, Bellwether, Impossible Things, Remake, Uncharted Territory, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Fire Watch, and Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. Connie Willis lives in Colorado with her family.