Blackout/All Clear is a very polarizing book, looking through the reviews. Normally when I read a book like this I'll fall into one camp or the other. The odd thing about this diptych though, is that both sides are basically right. On one hand Willis's portrayal of time travel and the historical climate of World War 2 is brilliant. She breathes life into these small subplots about normal people doing extraordinary things.

On the other hand her fondness for missed connections, and tendency to have the protagonists second guess every. Single. Action. Is infuriating. The problems with the books are very few, but Willis beats you over the head with them, daring you to give up. And given the massive size of the work a lot of people do.

There is a legitimately great novel in here. It takes lessons learned from To Say Nothing of The Dog and Doomsday Book and presents what mostly passes as a happy medium. Unfortunately Blackout/All Clear is a little too like the Blitz it presents in such detail. Victory is possible, and maybe even worth it. But history is a chaotic system and there are dozens of places in the book where a reader can completely lose interest.