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In my review of Bellwether by the same author, I mentioned that that book was really Science fiction, where the plot is based on Science, such as a theory, rather than Engineering fiction, where the plot is based on an engineering breakthrough, such as the development of a Time machine.
Then, in the next Connie Willis book that I read, The Doomsday Book, it was about a time machine. Real Engineering fiction, of the sort that is usually called Science Fiction.
She then went on to write a third book, To Say Nothing of the Dog in which she bases the plot around the science of the time machines. Like Bellwether, this is SCIENCE fiction.
It is also much lighter and happier than The Doomsday Book. As well it should be, it is set in both the 21st century and in the 19th century, both much lighter and happier times than the 14th century. Or at least the 19th century was much happier than the 14th in England, and we all hope that the 21st will be too.
The future parts of this book are set further into the future than the future parts of The Doomsday Book. So it is sort of a sequel. As such the science of time travel is more advanced than in the original, and some of the peculiar effects that are unexplained in The Doomsday Book are now made clear. As usual I feel that it is best to read the books in the order in which they were written, as this allows you to follow the ideas and/or characters as they are developed in the authors mind.
And speaking of reading other books first, there are some that you must have read to get what the characters are talking about. The first and most important is Three Men and a Boat. Quite simply if you haven't read this then you'll be lost a lot of the time. But don't dispair, Three Men and a Boat is an excellent book, not very long, and well worth a read in it's own right.
Next you should have read the Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse. Now this is not as important and the references made are much fewer and far between, but the simple fact is that everyone should read everything that Wodehouse ever wrote, especially the Jeeves books, and so getting up to date on this will be the purest of Joy.
And once you are prepared, THEN you can leap into To Say Nothing of the Dog. And you'll find that there is a science fiction novel hidden in a detective novel buried in an historical novel layered into an engineering fiction novel. And they are all good.
Some of my readers have complained that I reckon every book I review is good. Well I haven't bothered writing reports for anything that I didn't enjoy, though I am planning on it so just wait.
Order To Say Nothing of the Dog
Other Connie Willis books that I've not yet been able to read include:
Order Even the Queen & Other Short Stories
Order Miracle and Other Christmas Stories
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