I recently realized with surprise that both of my favorite novels were in the World War II genre (City of Thieves and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay). I've been wondering if it is actually WWII that makes a story interesting to me, or whether that war just provides a fantastic backdrop for the exploration of good and evil. I decided to keep reading in the genre. At my local book store, I found All Clear by Connie Willis, a book about WWII AND time travel! I read the first page while standing there and was hooked. When I got home, I realized that All Clear was actually the sequel to Blackout. I did what I had to do and read them in order. (They are truly one story, broken up into two books.) I'll tell you that that captivating first page of the second novel got me through some pretty tedious elements of first novel because I knew it must be leading up to something good. Most broadly, the story is about some academics from the future who go back in time to observe historical events. They get stuck in the past, and worry that their belief that they couldn't change the past might be incorrect. A reminder to be clear with character names and POV Overall, the story is somewhat frustrating. There are many character names- they have real names in the future, plus multiple code names in the past. The point of view switches, and sometimes the point of view is from a character we think we haven't been introduced to, but it turns out we just never learned the character's second code name. (I don't like feeling "tricked" like that.) However, sometimes I would think I was reading from one character's perspective, and then realize it was another, and [...]The post What's Genre without Characters? (Review of Blackout and All Clear) appeared first on Better Novel Project.
