BLACKOUT by CONNIE WILLIS (2010)

A considerable number of science fiction novels are parts of series. For example, Dune has several sequels, but each book has its own story-arc, complete in itself. The same is true of Ender's War and its sequels. So when I picked science fiction books to order for my binge-read, I expected that the books would carry completed plots, even when I knew that the author had written sequels. I am thus completely annoyed that four of the eleven science fiction books I chose turned out to have plots that ended mid-story, and I realized I had to read at least one additional book to see how the story ended. Only in one instance, Hyperion, did I become so invested in the characters and their fates that I decided to read the next book. For the other three--including this one--I decided to just say no. I feel I should have been at least forewarned that I was reading part one of a two- or three-part story, not book one of a series.

So be aware that Blackout does not have an ending. It just stops. The conclusion to the story is apparently in the novel All Clear, which I shall not read.

The science fiction part of Blackout is time travel, which in this case only goes backwards. In the year 2060, universities utilize it to send history students back in time to observe periods of interest. Three students are sent to different locations in England in 1940, as World War II is beginning. One girl masquerades as a maid in a country manor house, caring for children evacuated from London, and another is sent as a department store shop girl in London during the Blitz. A male student pretends to be an American reporter in Dover, observing the evacuation at Dunkirk. Most of the book chronicles their adventures and misadventures in their assumed roles, which are interesting and often highly amusing. Then they realize that they have not been picked up to return to their own time as had been scheduled and that they may be trapped in a highly dangerous place and time. And they begin to fear that their continued presence may even affect history.

Willis's tone is breezy and whimsical and sometimes veers into farce. She does provide a superficial dosage of history, but in essence this is a comic novel I don't know if all her novels hinge on travel back in time, but the three of hers I have read do. She is one of the most popular British science fiction authors. This won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards. It's fun, but not two-books fun, as far as I am concerned.