DNF at 32%

I have been waiting over a year to read this book and it is very disappointing to be writing this review rather than the enthusiastic endorsement I had hoped for.

Several people recommend this book to me, knowing that I am a fan of the Outlander books. So, it brings me no joy to say that this book is NOT similar to Outlander. Not in anything beyond the tenuous link of a plot involving time-travel.

The warmth, detail, and intelligence of Gabaldon's Outlander books (which, it must be said, are not without their own problems) have not been recreated in the The Ministry of Time. Instead, it feels we are dropped into the abridged version of this story.

The story being that of our protagonist, a new senior handler for a clandestine government program that seeks to use their newly developed time travel tech to bring people from history to the present time. One such historical person is Commander Graham Gore, who was part of the doomed Franklin Expedition in 1847. Our lead becomes Gore's handler. The story is set up to offer a deeply interesting study of these characters and the complexities their situation is surely to have thrown up. However, it proceeds to do nothing of the sort.

The plot and characters feel shallow, a sense largely borne out of how the story begins in media res, which I normally like, but it never moves beyond the point of *telling* us what the characters do - go to work, visit the doctor, watch tv.

This is exasperated by plot that moves at such a clip that it almost feels like each paragraph is merely another item ticked off a to-do list.

I never felt that I was ever getting close to the emotional world of either character and this was the biggest issue for me. If I have cannot care about a character, I can't care about what is happening to them.

If you like plot over character this may still be an interesting book for you, but sadly not for me.

The Ministry of Time is an incredibly assured and accomplished debut that will surely be one of the books of the year. Kaliane Bradley has crafted a fantastic story that mixes time-travel, intrigue, and romance with impossibly high stakes.

For me, the stand-out elements of this book were the characters, in particular the 'Expats'- those who have been plucked out of their original time period and deposited in the twenty first century. Reading about a nineteenth century naval officer encountering such broad subjects as feminism, the internet, and modern day London was about as fun as you'd expect, but Bradley also manages to make it endearing and genuinely moving. I found the cast of characters so engaging, charming, and fully realized that I was bereft when I finished the book and had to leave them behind.

Believe the hype, this is a book you'll be forcing your friends to read for the foreseeable future.

Thank you to NetGalley and @Hodderbooks for this e-ARC of Kaliane Bradley’s ‘The Ministry of Time.’

‘The Ministry of Time’ is a sci-fi novel (however it really is a mash up of several genres) about a British-Cambodian civil servant who is offered a job working in a new top secret government department. She is to work as a ‘bridge’ to help assimilate the ‘expats’ rescued from history and brought to live in the 21st century. Our protagonist’s assigned expat is Commander Graham Gore, or ‘1847’, a real life historical figure who died on a doomed Artic expedition.

I was instantly intrigued by the sound of this novel. I don’t read much sci-fi, but I used to watch a bit of sci-fi film and tv, and I’m well aware that it can be done in literature brilliantly (just look at Kindred by Octavia Butler). The vibes I got from this book were very similar to the likes of The Umbrella Academy. The time travel was integral to the story (it didn’t feel *too* fantastical to me), there were unexpected twists, and the characters were engaging and individual. There were many amusing and endearing moments, particularly the scenes with Graham and his fellow expats - first world war soldier, Arthur, and 17th century, Maggie.

However, there were moments where I felt like Bradley was trying to do too much at once, and as such we didn’t get to delve fully into certain aspects of the story that I personally found more interesting (like how living in the 21st century affected Arthur and Maggie’s relationship with their sexualities and identities). I felt like the execution of the novel overall fell a bit flat, but perhaps this is due to it not being my usual genre(s) of choice. It also got a bit slow in the middle, but the pacing significantly picks up near the end.

If you enjoy sci-fi, history, spy thrillers, and a bit of romance then this will likely be the perfect novel for you. I enjoyed reading it but it’s not a novel that I think will stay with me. A solid 3.75 stars. ⭐️

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
This was a fascinating premise - the narrator of the book is the bridge for Graham Gore a traveller in time who has been brought to the present from the depths of the Arctic. This is set in a near future where the Government have created a portal which enables them to bring forward in time people from the past. They pair these people up with Bridges who are tasked with enabling the visitors to be assimilated into the future.
Graham Gore is paired with a woman already half in love with him after reading about the Franklin Expedition and seeing his photograph. Although we learn a great deal about Graham Gore I did not feel that I found out enough about the Bridge. She had her own problems in dealing with her mother’s trauma as a refugee from the horrors of Cambodia and the Killing Fields.
This was an interesting idea but I found the ending a little rushed and a little confusing. She is definitely an author I would read again.

utterly and unexpectedly wondrous! as always, i fall in love with books due to character and plot narrative and this is exceptional in both arenas. but the writing is just beautiful, and the relationships so seductive… it reminds me in tone of Never Let Me Go, but with flashes of very contemporary humour and just a little sci do

I liked the premise of this book with the concept of the past coming forward and the complexities of fitting in to a different timeframe. Initially I was drawn into the story and loved the characters being developed, especially Graham Gore with the occasional witticism from him that made me smile.
The issue I had with the book was the protagonist and her constant long worded musings of self analysis. Initially this played into the character development but as the book continued I found it a distraction to the plot and ultimately made it that I wanted to skip over these bits.

"The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley mixes time travel with pandemic themes in a fascinating way. The MC helps a historical figure adapt to modern life after being brought through a time portal. The story focuses on characters rather than how time travel works, which makes it interesting for those who enjoy exploring personalities and relationships in a time travel setting. It's a unique and engaging read for fans of character-driven time travel stories. 3.5/5 stars.

A well-written novel where many, many sentences have a sting in the tail. Where the narrator foreshadows what is to come (or should that be was has already happened…).

I really enjoyed this book. I do love a bit of time travel/ history, so this was exactly my kind of book. It was very original and I have never read a book with the same ideas. What would figures from the past think of our modern life and could they be assimilated into the current day successfully. There was a good helping of looking out for and avoiding the baddies. and I loved the ending. I look forward to reading more from this author.

This is an astonishing debut. Time travel, romance, comedy and thriller, all beautifully constructed and written with literary flair.
In the near future, the unnamed protagonist works as a civil servant for The Ministry of Time in London as a 'bridge' between her world and her charge, a naval officer from the 19th century who history says disappeared in the frozen north, with the rest of the ill-fated crew. The plot follows the twists and turns of their relationship with each other, with authority, their pasts, presents and future and the wider world.
This was a compelling, easy read with much humour and pathos. Can see it making a great film or television series.
Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for an advance review copy of this novel.

Aiming to progress her career in the civil service, the nameless heroine and narrator takes a job with the Ministry of Time, a department which has found a way to travel back in time and bring people from the past into the present to supposedly study how the changes affect them and see what lessons can be learned. She is employed as a bridge, living with her charge and helping him to understand and come to terms with a contemporary lifestyle and to assimilate into modern society. He is Graham Gore, known as 1847, a naval commander who died on the doomed Arctic expedition led by Sir John Franklin, brought through time along with four others from various eras. As her relationship with them all develops and things become more complicated, it becomes increasingly obvious that something much darker is going on. This is a fabulous read, thought-provoking, poignant and often hilarious. I really enjoy time-travel fiction but often find it hard to get my head round the mechanics of it all, but what is most interesting and original here is that the focus for most of the book is on what it is like to come from another era and to have to learn how to live in a completely different world. Despite these differences, the “expats” come across as real people with whom you can still identify. So many themes are covered- what history means, sexuality, racism, feminism, belonging, grief, friendship and so on. It can be read not just as time-travel, but as an unusual love story, a conspiracy thriller, a satire on institutional management or even as dystopia. Beautifully written and hugely entertaining, it really is something special.

To start with I enjoyed this very much - it was original, quirky and I loved Commander Gore. But as it went on I found it became more and more confusing until, by the end, I wasn't sure exactly what was going on. Time travel is always going to be a tricky construct and I felt the author didn't quite manage to get across what was going on.

DISCLAIMER - I received an ARC via NetGalley (many thanks) in exchange for an honest review.

When I first finished the novel I thought I was going to give it a more substantial score than I have (three stars at the time of writing this), however, having digested it for a few days, I have developed a few issues with it.

Other than the accusations of plagiarism that have been addressed, which, if they turn out to be true, will see the score changed to a one star, the main issue that I have is the language used throughout the novel.

There is some very modern phraseology which is exactly what I would expect from a young, debut author and have no issue with. Then there is a large amount of quite antiquated language (outside of the vernacular of the characters), a lot of which required me to sit with a dictionary and thesaurus. I have no issue with this as I love to expand my vocabulary, I just couldn't get the thought out of my head that the manuscript seemed to have been given to an LLM to maybe try to enhance the prose (this could also explain the use of the Americanised of "whatever").

I almost knocked a star off for referring to the Elizabeth Tower as Big Ben too ... This really does annoy me!

This is such a fabulous story. Set in a fantasy London where a time door has been opened and various people from history have been brought into the modern day, in an experiment to see if they can survive the time travel and thrive in their version of the future.

The central character in the book is a bridge in the Ministry of Time - her job is to look after one of the subjects, Graham Gore, a lieutenant from the doomed ship Erebus, back in the 19th century, as it attempted to explore the Northern passage. She introduces him to the modern world - cooking, motorbikes and modern history, as well as romance.

This book is more than a love story though, it's a thriller, a spy story and so much more! I really enjoyed it, as it was very different to anything I would usually read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

The MInistry of Time by Kaliane Bradley is a unique book that contains a plethora of themes–time travel, sci-fi, romance, and thriller. The author’s writing style is quite modern but still unique, and it allows us the privilege of a glimpse into almost every thought of the main character.
The plot follows the re-integration of “expats” or people plucked from the past into modern society. As a reader, you can tell that quite a bit of historical research was put into writing this book. There’s also the psychological aspect that causes you to think about how much weight events of the past can have on the future, and how some actions cannot be changed no matter how hard we try.
In terms of description, this book waxed quite metaphorical and was in itself a giant metaphor.
Overall, its unique plot and writing style made for an intriguing story. I would highly recommend this!

Okay, I gotta break this down.

* Concept *
A country’s government finds the means to travel through time (via doors in both cases), which kickstarts the “Ministry of Time”. I want to address the fact that this upcoming book is called the same and follows a very similar premise to a Spanish TV show from nearly 10 years ago. IF this book deliberately took a very obscure show’s concept and tried to pass it as original, that seems a bit shady to me. I don't know if that's the case, though. The concept is executed differently from the TV show (the book is more slow-paced and character-oriented, whereas the show is more action-packed, with missions through different time periods and (at least in my opinion) does a better job of dealing with the logistics of time travel). I personally preferred the show, BUT, now that this is out of the way, I’m going to try to judge this book by itself.

* Plot *
Now this threw me for a bit of a loop. This book is meant to be a time-travel romance, spy thriller and workplace comedy, but it didn’t fully hit any of those marks for me. I didn’t get into the romance at all, it felt too slow for a thriller and I struggle to see it as a “workplace comedy”. I liked that it was ambiguous and had a unique approach to its story, but it also seemed disorganised and cluttered. All in all, most of this book read more as a… slice-of-life? I love slice-of-life so I’m fine with that. It just wasn’t what I was expecting from this particular read

* Characters *
Gore was my favourite, he did seem to be coherent as a character. Same with Maggie and Arthur. I liked the nameless protagonist at first but for some reason I don’t quite understand I felt more and more detached from her as the story went on, until I frankly stopped caring what happened to her. There were also quite a few background characters that just added to the confusion

* Pacing *
Quite slow, with very long chapters. Not a bad thing necessarily, but hard to get through at times

* Narrative style *
Very different from most things I have read! I loved it most of the time, since the author is very good at coming up with creative metaphors and descriptions, but sometimes I found it a bit excessive or like it slowed things down more

* Themes *
So many. I felt like the author had a lot to say and share, and perhaps that is one of the reasons why this book ended up feeling convoluted for me. I wanted to hear her out, as I liked some of the reflections sprinkled throughout the book, but it all just felt a bit like a mish-mash of important themes fighting for attention.

* Conclusion *
I would probably have liked this more if it was categorised as literary fiction / slice-of-life, and it was upfront about the time travel being a device to have a cast of characters from different time periods. Because really, what I enjoyed the most was the way they all interacted and tried to understand each other and their current context. The ways they tried to adapt, the culture shock. I got some giggles out of it. There were cute moments. But I think it was all bogged down due to too many things going on, and creating expectations that weren’t met. That being said, I would like to read more books from the author, because I am very interested in her views and her unique style. And… I would like to know if this is derivative from the show I mentioned and, if so, it would be good to have it acknowledged too. So I thought I’d do my best to shout it out with my review, in case anyone reading it wants more media with similar concepts!

I've been a bit full-up on fantasy at the moment so I've been on the lookout for some good science fiction, or at least some science fiction that doesn't feel like a Black Mirror episode. Time travel in sci-fi is as old as the genre itself so it's refreshing to see it done in a new and unique way.

The Ministry of Time tells the story of a civil servant landing a job at a government ministry that brings people on the verge of death in the past through time to the modern day to test the limits of time travel.

The story follows Arctic explorer Commander Graham Gore and the woman who is to be his 'bridge' to the modern world. With the help of his 'bridge' Graham begins to adjust to the 21st century, but it becomes apparent the Ministry's project isn't all that it seems...

The other 'expats' and 'bridges' are an interesting mix of characters, whose stories could be full novels in themselves. Some of the characters were loveable and I wished I could have spent more time with them, particularly Arthur and Margaret.

We're thrown right into the action and the pace picks up gradually into a crescendo. I only wish that the book had been longer so to really explain the intricacies of the project and to give the rug pull of a twist more impact.

I absolutely ripped through this book and found that I couldn't think about anything else when away from Graham and the other expats.

It's a surprisingly moving story which reminds us that it's not the high tech or the bells and whistles that make a good sci-fi story, but the humans and the connections they make along the way.

A strong debut novel and I will be definitely keeping an eye out for Bradley's next book!

I give The Ministry of Time 4 stars.

The Ministry of Time - Kaliana Bradley

Take a disparate group of people from the past with nothing in common and whisk them forward to the future. Throw in their minders (called bridges) who have to look after them and report on them for a year to see if they could live independently and you have the makings of a great story.

The Ministry of Time controls everything or so it thinks but the quirky characters especially Commander Graham Gore (1845 Victorian Arctic Explorer), Maggie (1665 plague survivor), and Captain Reginald Smyth (1916 World War 1) manage to get under your skin with their antics.

As the characters develop the mystery of why they were extracted from their time develops. A mysterious Brigadier and his sidekick appear who are definitely not who they seem and love is in the air for Commander Gore.

However this is not just a love story and there are twists and turns in a book that uses our colonial history, Cambodian genocide and global warming to paint a vivid picture of life in the near future intermingled with the past. There is a lot of humour however and Maggie especially with her dating apps, night clubbing and 17th century speech is a hoot.

This is a well written genuinely moving book with a very sexy love story that has plenty of twists and turns right up to the end.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy.

A really interesting concept and a clever plot which was incredibly well written.

Definitely an author I will continue to look out for

I went into this book not knowing much and was glad for it!
It was a unique concept and a take i've seen (and agree) would be enjoyed by lovers of Outlander!
It did take a second for me to get into the romance and writing but once I was in I was all in! The writing and story telling was so beautifully done
If you're someone who doesn't necessarily stick to one genre and likes something new and fresh - this would be a great read!