All Clear (Extra book)

And I just finished yet another extra book recommendation from a friend.  This one was All Clear by Connie Willis.  The book is actually a “part-two” of an award winning series by the author.  The story features historians who can “time travel” back in time with the caveat that there is sometimes some “slippage,” which means the travelers don’t always land exactly when they think they will into the past, nor can the always get to the places that they would like to get to at all.  And finally, once a time-traveler goes to a certain place, they can’t go back to that exact place again.  Who would have thought so many rules could be established for a “make-believe” adventure.  Hence one of the complications to this VERY long story.  (Just imagine if I read both parts – think I’ll take a pass on that one, though clearly I missed the foundation for this story.)  The characters begin trapped in the “Blitz” of London 1940 during World War II, and the rise of Hitler.  The story is one of survival and how will these time travelers try and help those they have connected with based on the information they have about the past and the destruction the bombs pose to the historical sites in London, especially St. Paul’s Cathedral.  The story jumps back and forth from the 1940s to 1980s, and back again.  There is a great deal of mistaken identity, characters who seemingly disappear, die, and then we learn they don’t.  There is connections made by the visiting historians that actually make their departure from London and the time travel impossible because they have connected to the people they have met.  I am not going to do justice to the story I know, which I apologize.  I can see how people who have a real interest in WWII from a historical perspective would enjoy the drama and race to help, but what was missing for me was the depth of character development.  The characters were themselves in the present, but faking their role to disguise what they were trying to do in the past.  So much moving back and forth, with characters who had multiple names/disguises, and to be honest, characters I never connected with myself.  The book became more of a game to finish than any connection about the story.  I wasn’t enthralled nor interested.  I guess I felt I should have been “moved” emotionally when Eileen stays with Alf and Binnie thee two orphans she stays behind to raise, but I didn’t…  Maybe it was just the time in which I read the book?  Never have been a history buff, which may also have not got me excited, who knows.  The travel and date changes each chapter were confusing me as well.  Boy did I bash this book.  Glad no RA recommended it J