too much holes, no technological details, tried too hard to write like a Brit. ( )

In the near future, humans have figured out how to time travel back to the past. This leads to historians visiting the past to learn about time periods but the technology is new enough so they have not travelled to "dangerous" periods yet. Kivrin, a young female historian, has decided to be the first person to travel back to England in the Middle Ages, a dangerous time. Mr. Dunsworthy is her mentor, but he is constantly afraid that bad things will happen to Kivrin, but he helps prepare her, nonetheless. On the appointed day, Kivrin is sent through time successfully, but she becomes sick on her arrival. Her technician becomes sick, as well, which leads to parallel stories in time for both Kivrin and Dunsworthy (who frantically tries to get Kivrin back).

For a Hugo and Nebula winner, I felt this book underperformed. In my opinion, the real genre of this book is historical fiction. Anything that had to do with the time travel, or "science" was glossed over with the barest of explanation. I still have no idea how the time machine worked, yet with any mention of a time "fix" it seem presumed that we knew what that meant. For another example, the author explains away the problems of time paradoxes by saying (paraphrasing) "Time does not allow time travellers to disrupt anything important in temporal history. If it is important, the person the machine won't allow the time fix and we can't send the person back". I'm really sorry, but that feels like a huge cop out. Don't worry about paradoxes! Time doesn't let them happen! Forget about it! As a Trekker since I was two years old, I have a massive affection to what is known as the "Temporal Prime Directive". And because of it, any book I read about time travel I expect some sort of rational explanation of how people make sure they don't accidentally kill the Lincoln's mother, or something-or-other. The fact that this book kept glossing over any "Sci-Fi", irritated me throughout the book.

However, anything that had to do with history and the Middle Ages was amazing. Willis obviously did a lot of research and is able to craft a tale where I felt I learned so much about the early 1300s while this part of the story was engaging. You really feel the muck, the dirt and the disease that was prevalent at this time. The relationships between an individual, their community and how they see their place with the world was thoroughly explored. The author even uses an ingenious way of making the reader learn how Middle English evolved and was spoken. You feel for Kivrin as she tries to fit into this world even though many of her assumptions (and the history texts) were wrong.

In the end, I only give could only give this book an average rating. There were a lot of plot devices and plot holes that should have been tied up at the end, but were not. There were too many instances of where I couldn't become engaged in the story because it asked to turn off the rational part of my brain (ie. Why would a newly-graduated student be allowed to time jump to a dangerous period alone? Wouldn't you send her to the 1960s first for some experience? Why do people go alone - that seems dumb?). The time travel explanations irked me and Willis didn't incorporate new and obvious technologies when she wrote this in the early 1990s such as the coming age of cellphones (everyone in the book has a land line in the mid 2050s). It seemed that the author put all her effort into researching history and none into researching time travel and science. ( )

One of the best books about time travel ever (along with other Connie Willies titles...)! ( )

Again I must say, this was one of the best books I've read this year. It was entertaining and enlightening and all those other things that make novels particularly impressive. It didn't mess with history for the sake of the narrative and it didn't try to create romance in a situation where romance would be seriously out of place.

Other than that it's hard to really describe this one. As I was reading other more negative reviews, I could see where most of their writers were coming from. If you are looking for a particularly fast paced novel, this probably isn't the book to pick up. It steadily works it's way towards the conclusion without cutting corners or forgetting to detail the mediaeval world that makes this book so engrossing. The modern storyline could become tedious, but I found the way Willis tied the two together engaging. Without Dunworthy's story, I'm afraid the message of historical repetition would have been lost on me. The future also let in the comic relief that was necessary to cut the high drama of the mediaeval sections for me.

I can see why this was given so many awards, it was well researched and put together and allowed me to recall the power of storytelling (something I believe every good novel should do). This is highly recommended to those who like science fiction, historical fiction, or stories of good and evil. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I was completely engrossed in what was happening to Kivrin and found myself (as some of these other reviewers mention as well) skipping through the rather tedious scenes set in the future. I found the author's depiction of medieval times to be gripping and heart wrenching, and the sense of panic and fear Kivrin feels throughout is quite tangible. Willis paints this period in history in vivid detail.
I love her interaction with the 'contemporaries' and her relationship with Father Roche is tastefully understated and well written. I find myself longing for more medieval time travel stories after reading this! Would highly recommend it. ( )