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Connie Willis has really managed to get into the heads of her characters in Blackout and All Clear. The problem with that is that her characters are anxious, depressed, or disoriented for huge swaths of the books. I think it's a testament to the author's skill that she can convey the feeling of dread and the sensation of being unable to focus because of panic. The balance between fear and relief in these books is heavily tilted towards fear, and I found myself spending most of my time wishing the books were over.

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Some interesting ideas here, but the book is pretty scattershot overall. The real takeaway is "try things and keep good enough records to measure if they work".

I was a bit disappointed by this. Perhaps I'd hoped for too much from a classic of the genre. There was some good swashbuckling, but the motivations of the main characters rang hollow to me.

Too heavy on the kids, for my taste.

A solid Culture novel. Less subtle than some.

After the Orphan's Tales, I had high hopes. This lacks the familiar feeling of those books. It's also weirdly protagonist-less. The main characters don't seem to have goals or much will of their own.

Great setting. Good characters. Solid plot.

For a book that's ostensibly about travel, it's pretty amazing how little travel is in it.

Fun to read while on an 81 day trip around the world, though...

There are a lot of amusing anecdotes in this, but I wish it had been about half as long.

Interesting multiple-perspective piece.