The Doomsday Book

Doomsday Book is an interesting read, the plot follows a very linear progression from start to finish.

Sure there’s some surprises along the way but for a book that spans 578 pages in small print the plot is very straight forward. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, it’s just worth noting.

The Doomsday book is set in the not too distant future probably the year 2020, which back in 1992 sounded like a long ways off.

In the future not much has changed, we still drive the same cars, wear the same clothing, eat the same crappy food, but we can, however send people back in time.

Kivrin Engle, a young historian uses the time machine to travel back to the 1320’s to do research; trouble is that she was accidently sent to 1348, the same time the Black Plague reared it’s ugly head. And to top that off a bad case of influenza breaks out in modern day England.

It’s an interesting take on the pulpy “Back to the future” theme and seems real in a sense.

That’s pretty much all there is to say about the story, it’s clever and it’s well written that’s all that need be said. The tale can seem very dark at times, The Doomsday book is a very convincing account of a serf in a plague-ridden town.


In closing The Doomsday book is a good science fiction that can be enjoyed by both young and old.....and the fat.