Blackout (All Clear #1)

#643

Title: Blackout (All Clear #1)
Author: Connie Willis

Publisher: Spectra

Year: 2010
512 pages

Audiobook

A long set-up, part one of this duology, ably read by Katherine Kellgren. Both books in the set have a feeling of anxious, driven inaction that reminds me of the long camping/hiding sequence in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Other sections, particularly as the historians are thwarted in their increasingly desperate attempts to get to their drops, strongly evoke the final Titanic sequence in Willis's Passage. I'm ambivalent about whether it's too long. I think it could have been accomplished in one book--there's a lot of minute description of characters' inconsequential activities--but I also see some utility in slowing the reading experience by expanding the details. Certainly by the end of this first book I was firmly in the grip of my anxiety and helplessness.


Think of this as volume one of a 2-volume book. Imagine yourself standing at the pier, eagerly awaiting the trans-Atlantic ship that will bring Mrs. Willis's next installment to you. Fortunately for you, you can just buy a copy of All Clear without waiting.