I kind of agree with those reviewers who'd prefer editing that would shorten the book-300 pages seems like a possible reduction-but fully understand that the extra length adds value.

It's an excellent read for several days it dominated my life and I don't regret investing that time. Mix thoroughly, with interesting characters and a lot of humor. But a careful reader will notice that there are connections between the stories before those are explained, though the full explication necessarily waits for the last few chapters.

Throw in a couple dozen recurring characters and several important subplots and it's pretty easy to get disoriented. Each timeline's treated sequentially, but the skips are often disorienting. While most of the story's set in the 1940-41 lines, the plot skips from one line to another apparently at random throughout the novel. From the entire novel's perspective they're minor subplots but are terribly important. Dunworthy and Colin-which don't fit well in this framework explaining those in any detail would add spoilers to this discussion. There are also two story lines-call those Mr. * The Imperial War Museum (London) in 1995, where a reunion of Blitz survivors offers clues about the novel's central problem. I'd mostly figured out Mary's connection before it was elucidated, and recognized Ernest's hints after the explanation arrived. * Great Britain in 1944 and '45-two stories (Mary & Ernest) that don't merge but do kind of collide their relationships to the London stories are eventually explained. * London (mostly) in 1940 and '41 has three stories (call 'em Elaine, Polly, and Mike, after their principal characters) these folks are stranded in the Blitz by some sort of time-travel anomaly and their stories eventually merge. * Oxford in 2060-a line that's insanely messy, for reasons that are not fully explained though they're later addressed.

This is a review/commentary on both Blackout and All Clear, which are one long novel which was arbitrarily divided and published as two books.īlackout/All Clear is an incredibly complex novel about time travel, with approximately seven story lines:

All Clear by Connie Willis