This is my first Connie Willis novel, and now I’m craving for more. I won’t talk about the story, which is amazing, because that’s easy to find on Wikipedia. I’ll talk about Connie Willis’s qualities as a writer.

She has a very direct, smart approach to writing sci-fi. She knows exactly what she is doing and who she is writing for. She doesn’t dwell on long descriptions. She puts you in her character’s shoes right off the bat. Within a few lines of dialogue, you have a very good feeling of who they are, what they are doing and why.

She shows you more than she tells you, she guides you through her characters and let your imagination do the rest.

This is a very good approach to writing genre stories like this. She knows she isn’t writing a history book, nor a historical fiction really. This is something else, this is time travelling. Therefore, she doesn’t bombard the reader with unnecessary descriptions of the locations or characters. She gives you enough to get a good sense of the story and put your brain to work.

That to me is the mark of a good writer. One who writes with economy and intelligence. It makes the whole book a very coherent, sensible, funny and fascinating read. Filled with a deep understanding of human nature, its strengths and weaknesses, without ever being on the nose or boring.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.