Blackout and All Clear had many of the characteristics of To Say Nothing of the Dog - the constantly changing points of view, the movement through time and back. Unfortunately, it did not have the same flavor. Of course, neither did The Doomsday Book, which was quite dark, but I still loved it. I've been trying to figure out the difference between these books that I only liked and the other two that I loved. 
 I spent most of Blackout wondering what the point was. I thought reading All Clear would provide the clue, the answer to why I should care about these people; it did not. I liked it slightly better than Blackout, but it could not have happened without everything being set up in the first book. 
 As usual, Willis did her homework on the background - her knowledge of WWII was astounding, and the portrayal of life in the Blitz is a work of art. I get the whole historian travelling through time thing, the need to not alter history, the actions of today setting up the outcomes of tomorrow. In fact, the need to bend your mind around the paradox of the future affecting the past is one of the reasons I am drawn to Willis's writing. 
 The lack of contact with Oxford might have been where the disconnect happened. Not for the characters - their lack of contact was necessary - but for the reader. I would have liked to have seen what was going on there - their attempts to reach the past, their research into what had happened, their struggle to repair the Net. 
 I may alter this review as I think about the books further.