In February of this year I read an excellent book, and confidently I said it would probably be the best book I read all year. Quite fittingly, for this book, I wish I could go back in time, and un-make that assertion. This is probably the best book I will read all year.

The Ministry of Time is a most spectacular thing. It is a novel that is as narratively compelling, and thematically rich, as it is mechanically well-written. This is a book that is about love, as much as it is a book about post-colonialism, about the individual in the machine, about genocide, politics, government, and sense of self. Kaliane Bradley interrogates race, person-hood, the idea of individuality, and the homogeneity identity when you're following orders. She also presents some of the most delicate, heart-breaking, intimate developments of relationships I have ever read. This is a love story, not a romance, and it is the kind of love we all aspire to have. This is also a book about obsession, and hurting people, and about breaking yourself open again and again.

I cannot see the future, and yet I feel confident predicting great things for this novel.

This is the easiest 5 stars I have given in a long time. I am thrilled to have had the privilege to read this book early. I have so many things I want to talk about, and yet I would not dare spoil this book for anyone. Everyone should read this book.

This has to be one of the weirdest book that I have read, but like a good kind of weird. As in, I had no idea what's was going on but still didn't want to put it down.

Time travel can be such a hit and miss concept but I think the author handled it pretty well in the book. I think, one of the reasons that I found this book extremely readable was because of it main protagonist and the way she narrates the story. It felt so mundane rather than the complex web of stuff that was actually going on.

However, that's also where my main criticism comes from. Because, for the majority of the book, nothing really happened and then all of sudden, in the last bit, everything came to heed with too much information being divulged left, right and centre.

That said, this was also a very unique story and overall, I had a good time reading it.

I knew nothing about this book besides the fact that the cover was stunning and that the synopsis sounded too interesting to pass on. Had I not been approved for the advanced copy maybe I would have picked it up eventually but my GOD I’m so happy I got approved cause this was indeed very wild!

It was a proper rollercoaster that I ended up reading in less than a day and can honestly say I’ve never EVER encountered such a mix of comedy, thriller, and romance within the sci-fi genre.

The cultural discussions, subtle political undertones, the challenges people from different eras trying to adapt to modern society faced and the funny discussions this brought up—everything was engaging.
The unique romance subplot with the Victorian banter added another layer of enjoyment especially when the story took an unexpected turn into thriller territory.

I also loved the author’s explanation about how much of the story was fictional and how this book came to be in the Afterwords section. It was a thoughtful addition that showcased the depth of the author's investment in the story.

For me, this book deserves nothing less than a perfect score. Maybe it’ll be too much for some but it was an unforgettable experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the digital ARC!

The Ministry of Time has a great and classic premise, in that it's about a world where the British intelligence services have gotten their hands on time travel technology (without really understanding it), and thoughtfully interweaves notions of post-colonialism, otherness, race and solidarity with what it might be like to be a person out of time. Our central character and narrator is tasked as a "bridge" (handler) for one of the "expats" (people brought to contemporary London from the past), and her experience as a biracial child of a Cambodian immigrant/survivor informs much of her narration.

It has great potential as a concept, but I can only describe the execution as 'clumsy' at best and 'cringey' at it's worst moments. The clumsiness is in the figurative language, which is labored, naive and too distinct in style from the rest of the narration: "He turned the white of used candle wax..." "He looked at me too intensely, and I felt his gaze sting my pores." The outright cringe moments come when a romance plot develops and the writing is, quite simply, wholly unsexy. Was the romance plot even needed? I suppose so, but don't include graphic descriptions of the sex unless you can do it without making your reader grimace.

Ironically, I enjoyed this book the most when it was at its most preachy. During a sequence in which the modern day agents give educational lectures to the 'expats' that are so heavily controlled by the Ministry that they are "to a sentence, dreadful," and in which the two women of color are deputised to give the lectures on multiculturalism and Windrush immigration, the narrator slips into a moralising I greatly appreciated: "In their [the lectures] much-edited correctness, their placid-voiced hectoring, they bankrupted the energy of the room. Ideas are frictional, factional entities which wilt when pinned to flowcharts. Ideas have to cause problems before they cause solutions."

Bradley has great ideas, but they may be better suited to essays than fiction.

Original, witty, beautifully descriptive, I was completely captivated. A great book for a book club, contains history and science, just what would time travel reveal to another generation and what will be affected. Must admit to being a bit in love with a certain G. G. The twists were great, the story compulsive. A brilliant debut.

I can see this being a big hit for sci-fi romance fans or readers who like time travel in their plot. The writing is snappy albeit a little "manic pixie dream girl" fanfic vibes. It was interesting world building to know how expats would assimilate into the modern world and it may just be a me thing, but maybe I would have preferred if the book had focused on the group of expats instead of the caseworker assigned to monitor the male lead character Commander Gore (from the 1800s). I've watched a TV show with the same name as this book (this was like 7 years ago) and I missed the feeling of an ensemble cast that was present there.

Overall, it's a solid and medium-paced read for people who don't want anything too heavy, but still want the poignancy of a good slice of life.

Pleasantly surprised by this one! It was very funny and the twist was brilliant. Will certainly make a habit of rereading this one

i am baffled by the hype surrounding this book; not only has been blurbed by several 'big' authors, but it's apparently it's also slated for adaptation into a BBC drama. i have questions...

to use an overused term, this book is mid. inoffensive, if you will. it's doing nothing new, and it is written in the kind of witty British voice that seems derivative of authors like Diana Wynne Jones, possibly even Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. nor does it possess Zen Cho's delightful satire. the storytelling here feels lacklustre & vanilla.
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Right from the outset, the book's attempts at self-awareness about the tropes of its genre ("anyone who has ever watched a film with time-travel, or read a book with time-travel […] will know that the moment you start to think about the physics of it, you are in a crock of shit. How does it work? How <i>can</i> it work?") backfire, as we are offered a generic explanation of time-travel along the lines of "[D]on't worry about it. All you need to know is that in your near future, the British government developed the means to travel through time".

what made absolutely 0 sense to me was not so much the time-travelling and the lack of explanation around it, but the identity of these 'expats' (would they really 'rescue' someone who was in the midst of a war? surely they would consider them unsuitable, or too much of a risk, given that they are bound to have some form of ptsd and might believe that they have been captured by the 'enemy), and their 'bridges'.
we're led to believe that their bridges undergo careful selection and multiple interviews, yet our protagonist seems entirely ill-suited for the task at hand. it would have been more logical for someone with an understanding of the expat's era to care for them. moreover, the notion that these time expats wouldn't be institutionalized but instead released to live with their bridges seems implausible.
and would they really place them in London? surely it would have made more sense to find safehouses in the countryside, as opposed to smackbam in the middle of modernity.
despite the considerable resources invested in extracting them, they're entrusted to a single individual who promptly forgets their surveillance duties, allowing them to wander the city alone?

it's nonsensical. while i'm willing to suspend disbelief regarding time travel, if i'm to buy into this 'ministry', it should feel less slapdash.

i skimmed ahead and saw how the romance subplot would unfold...if anything the romance made the story all the banal. why can't we have significant non-romantic relationships between male and female main characters? must it inevitably result in a romance, even here? the optics were dubious, akin to a therapist and their patient embarking on a romantic relationship.

given all the buzz around this novel, i recognise that i am an outlier and chances are that it will be a hit for most readers (i just happen not be one of them). i recommend giving this novel a shot and forming your own opinion. YMMV and all that jazz.

This is an amazing book and far too accomplished to be a debut and yet it is. This author is clearly destined for great things. One to watch.

This is not just another book about time travel! The Cambodian narrator is a disaffected and sardonic female civil servant working for a government which has found a time travelling portal and has ‘extracted’ five people from the past – at the point of their deaths – and brought them to the present. The narrator’s main involvement is with Commander Graham Gore who died on the ill-fated Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage. Her job is to act as a ‘bridge’, introducing him to life in the present and helping him to accustom himself to modern day living.

There’s a lot that happens, some of it funny and some more thoughtful and Gore emerges as an interesting character while it is fair to say that the narrator struggles both with her job and her life. The other extracted time travellers feature as well.

Of course, the time travelling machine has not simply arrived coincidentally and the government’s interest is hardly philanthropic so things get murky and also dangerous for the time travellers. And then, there’s an even more surprising ending even if it is a little chaotic.

It’s a good read. You’ll find out quite a lot about the Franklin expedition, reflect on the nature of time, and wonder, if you could go back, what would you change and what would then be the impact on the present. You’ll also find you can’t help liking Commander Gore!

Imagine 'White Teeth' crossed with 'The Rise and Fall of DODO.' This is wonderfully written and so thematically rich, full of subtle analogies to colonialism and the refugee experience. It's much slower-paced than I was expecting from the blurb (the action doesn't begin until 80% of the way through), but that slow build was exactly what the book required. This isn't your usual time-travel thriller: it's a nuanced examination of history and narrative-building, with sharp, witty prose and protagonists who surprise themselves as often as they delight the reader.

Such an original read! Figures from across history have been brought to the near future UK by the government. Helped to assimilate by a ‘bridge’ - a modern day civil servant - each character adapts to their new reality with differing results.

The writing was great and the development of the concept was really well worked and the near future felt incredibly and worryingly real.

The story offers commentary on the utter mess we are making of the planet and often what we think of as progress is the exact opposite especially when seen through the eyes of the historic characters. I also found it interesting how some of the historic characters viewed and dealt with not just modern technologies but also some of the near future (current) views especially on topics such as race and homosexuality

The love story, which everyone else seems to love didn’t quite work for me. Maybe because I knew a little about Graham Gore?

I did also find it a little slow in places but overall it was an imaginative and enjoyable read without blowing me away.

Thanks to Hodder and Netgalley for the chance to read an early copy

This time travel, with a hint of romance, book was a fun read from the very start. I found the back story to all of the people from the past and following them learning about the world now such an interesting idea. The writing was great and the characters interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an ARC copy of this title.

The premise of there being a ministry to support refugees throughout time had me hooked from the off. It gave off Harry Potter and The Time Traveller’s Wife vibes. I’d be interested in a series off of the back of this as I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The characters and their relationships are layered and complicated. I absolutely adored Margaret and her character also reminded me of the play Top Girls by Carl Churchill.

The book explores really important themes in a smart way by placing characters of different attitudes and eras all together in a current context. Key to the narrative are attitudes to race, equality and diversity and many more.

It had a good pace to its plot with well placed humour and realism in a well developed story and ended in a hopeful way.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I had been so excited about this book for months, and the early praise did nothing to temper that excitement.

This could have been a completely different review if I had given up on it when I planned to. Let me explain.

It took me a long time to get into it, to get my head round the actual concept, but I never expected time travel to be instantly easy to understand. And if I'm honest - and I know this is going to make me sound somewhat unintelligent - there were so many words I didn't understand, fancy words where more everyday words would have fit. I had to have Google open next to me throughout so I could find out what they meant. This meant it was a slower read than I think the plot deserved. I'm not even sure why they were used; it reminded me of the episode of Friends when Joey writes a letter to the adoption agency but looks up every word in the thesaurus and changes it to sound more intelligent, but it just ends up jarring and makes no sense.

Our main story is between Gore and the woman known as 'bridge'. It flits between the present time, and his time back in the 1800s. This gave me an interesting perspective on the characters, and gives us a background as to why Gore (and the others) are the way they are. There are also intermittent sections written in the form of a diary or a report, like she was speaking directly to the reader, which initially was a bit random, but it did work overall.

I could have done with shorter chapters. That's not a negative on the book as I know lots of people like long chapters, but I don't particularly, and so if I could reformat it, I'd shorten them slightly, make them a bit snappier.

It is a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi, romance, historical, action, adventure, a bit political - it's got a bit of everything for every reader. It's got little twists and turns and surprises that I wasn't expecting which was a nice surprise.

If I'm being completely honest, I did consider DNF-ing it, which would have been a shame as I was so looking forward to it, but I just found it really difficult to get into. I normally give a book 20-25% of the way in, and then I know if I want to continue. And happily, by about 15-20% in, I was enjoying it, which is good, as I think it would have been a shame to stop earlier as it does get interesting.

It isn't the perfect book I was hoping for. But it was, overall, enjoyable, interesting, entertaining; and I'm very glad I carried on as it is a completely different book by the end in terms of how good I found it. Would I recommend it? I think in hindsight, yes I would. I would tell people to persevere with it if they thought it was too slow, because it does pick up. It is thought-provoking and asks a lot of questions; a good choice for a book club I think.

I loved this book. It's rare for me to be so engrossed with a book, and went in with a slightly different idea of the book.
But I'm unsure how to describe why.
The concepts, characters, idea, all of it. Loved it. Will be buying and adding to my paperback collection!

Sometimes a book comes along and utterly captivates your heart and mind. I never thought I’d fall in love with a dead Victorian naval commander whilst worrying about climate change, but here we are.

The novel launches us into the life of the nameless narrator who gains a top secret position within the Civil Service. Her interviewer casually drops in the key phrase “We have time-travel,” and we learn that she is to be a “bridge” for a Naval Officer from 1847, who has been extracted just before his death on an ill-fated mission to the Arctic. Enter Commander Graham Gore (sigh). He and four other historical figures have been moved through time to the modern day as an experiment in time-travel, with the role of the bridges being to help them adjust to modern life and to observe the effects time-travel has on the body and mind.

Throughout, the narrator also reflects upon her own attempts at integrating into life in the Civil Service and in Britain in general. Being British-Cambodian, she feels on the periphery of things. She fails her Field Agent exams and doubts her own ability to do her job. Because of her self-deprecation, she is an extremely likeable and relatable character. Indeed this is true of all the characters, particularly the “expats,” who are so charming they practically leap off the page and demand to be hugged.

Peculiarities within the Ministry are hinted at, and we start to see the experiment unravel. What follows is a thrilling tale of espionage and high-octane pursuit.

Bradley’s debut is intensely thought-provoking – there are acute and sensitive observations on race, empire, colonialism, experiences within the civil service, generational trauma, climate change, resource crises, and on ethics and morality. Whilst this may sound like an over-reach of ideas, the reality is a tender-hearted, incredibly funny, and hugely compelling read. There is a decent amount of (well-written) spice, and an even greater amount of friendship and espionage action. This novel will leave you questioning many things, but particularly leave you desperate for a sequel, because I don’t think we can be without these lovely characters for too long.

Thank you so much to Hoddor Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

The book really isn't for me...way too little time-travel, way too much romance. It's well-written, and, as a romance book, I could go for it. However, not being into the genre, it's not for me. 5 stars because it's not the book, it's me.

I'm afraid I'm in the minority here, as I didn't much like this one.
I won't even get into the time travel aspect - certainly, it brings nothing much new to the table in respect of time/government plots - but it is fairly pedestrian and inoffensive. Unfortunately, this is because the plot is mostly a vehicle for the author's self-confessed interest in the real-life person, poor Commander Gore. And while we've all had youthful fantasies about famous figures (I had a huge teenage crush on Charles Lamb; don't ask), I question the propriety (oh how Gore would like that word!) of trying to weave that into a more serious book.
The author tries to explore a few larger topics than just time-travel romance (colonialism, sexuality, politics, climate change etc), through the medium of vaguely elevated fan-fiction. While this has its place, this is not it, particularly when the "relationship" between the narrator and her charge (indeed, he could be construed as a patient) crosses so many ethical boundaries that I felt hideously uncomfortable reading the "romantic" bits. Quite frankly, it was damn creepy, and if the sex roles were reversed, we'd be seeing this author and book cancelled all over the place.
Lacking originality, any kind of logic (on the romance, ethics or logistics) or good taste, this is occasionally funny (thanks to Margaret 1665), and the author at least bothered to include some suitably archaic language), but the TV show will probably be better.
My thanks to Netgalley for the DRC.

I'll be honest, I am not a reader of Romance, and I entirely missed that part in the description, so for me it was a total surprise. And I was genuinely amazed by how much I enjoyed it. I love a bit of speculative fiction, and the combination of time-travel and an arctic expedition was very refreshing. I found the expats delightful, particularly Maggie - she was an absolute rock star and I would have loved to see a spin-off of her solo adventures as a modern woman. The main storyline between our nameless-ish protagonish and Graham was very entertaining. Overall it's a hit!