Time travel fiction usually sends my brain into overdrive, grappling with grandfather paradoxes, multiverses, and plot holes (possibly thanks to Rick & Morty + Blake Crouch!).

But, post-holiday me managed to switch off and just enjoy The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. It was a refreshing, fun, and free-flowing read—Clearly, I need more vacations.

Interestingly, this story intertwines with real historical events. In 1845, the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus set off from England to find the Northwest Passage, only to face the worst disaster in British polar exploration history.

This history forms the backbone of this romantic, speculative, comedy, historical fiction, spy thriller—a mouthful of genres that blend ingeniously and creatively. Despite the ambitious mix, it worked somehow, for me, anyway.

The characters and historical accuracy, spanning past, present, and future, were convincingly portrayed, and I grew quite fond of them, especially our nameless British-Cambodian FMC who I related to on many levels (and is undoubtedly a self-insert, but it's done well), Commander Graham Gore, Margaret Kemble and Arthur.

The humour in this hit all the right notes for me. It’s self-aware, self-deprecating and dry, cleverly addressing the time travel tropes and paradoxes mentioned above with imagination, as well as containing witty, non-preachy, plot-relevant commentary and themes on colonialism, inherited trauma, slavery, racism, racial identity/passing as a biracial person, the climate emergency, gender and LGBTIQ+ sexuality.

I also picked up some delightful archaic phrases and insults. Here are three of my favourites and I'll leave the rest of the wide range of eclectic gems for you to discover:

🔹 Pizzle-headed doorknob
🔹 Heron-faced fool
🔹 His face is as soiled linens!

If you’re intrigued by this all-inclusive genre mish-mash, I highly recommend adding this one to your reading list. Congrats to Kaliane Bradley on a brilliant debut.

My heartfelt thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton | Sceptre for the advanced e-reading copy, which I did not read in advance of publication on the 16th of May 2024, therefore it is available to read and listen to right now! 🎊

A surprise refreshing debt novel. It is a story about what happens if you could bring people from the past and put them in the here and now. This has so many layers to it romance,espionage friendship racism and colonisation. I loved the characters and the romance felt real. There was lots of descrptive and the pages were full of emotion. The twist about the door and other characters felt too much and a little predictable. However there were strong messages and philosophies throughout the story.
You need to read it and appreciate it for what it is without comparing it to any existing timetravel story. For me its a 5 star read. Thank you netgallery and publisher and author. Look forward to your next book.

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

In the near future a civil servant is promoted to the Ministry of Time, a government department that has discovered how to time travel and brought a number of 'expats' from the past to the present day. She is assigned to Commander Gore, 1847, who died on an expedition to the Arctic and is his 'bridge' - helping him assimilate to modern life. Their relationship thrives until the true nature of the project becomes clear.

Wow, I'm in awe of this author's imagination and skill in bringing a fresh, innovative story to life - I absolutely LOVED this book! Loved the premise, the characters (especially Commander Gore!), the friendships, the humour... all balanced with tension and a sinister undertone. A real page turner and a book that would work brilliantly on screen too. I can't wait to see what the author does next. Very VERY highly recommended.

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

This is one of the rare books that pulls off being a multiple genre story: it combines sci-fi, romance and spy thriller without detracting from the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the concept, the characters and the telling of this tale.

The one thing that detracted from my enjoyment was the way the narrator would make mention of the downturn in events to come which lent a sense of foreboding.

"Forgiveness and hope are miracles. They let you change your life. They are time travel."

Britain has managed to figure out time travel. So of course, they go off into the past and bring back to the near future people who would have otherwise died in their own timelines. Known as expats, these people will spend a year with a Ministry of Time 'bridge', who will attempt to assimilate the poor souls who know nothing about not only technology but things like feminism, and diversity.

The main character is a Ministry employee who has to 'babysit' Commander Graham Gore (also known as 1847 for the year he was taken from). Gore is a real historical character, whose polar expedition ended in tragedy. Graham initially struggles with some aspects of contemporary life, particularly the information that no one in the expedition made it out alive. But soon, he starts adapting, even appreciating parts of his new life.

Meanwhile, our protagonist realises that she's becoming increasingly intrigued by Gore, leading her to form a relationship with him beyond her remit. At the same time, something odd is happening at the Ministry: her handler disappears, Gore spots someone with a strange device, and a man known as the Brigadier shows up wanting information from her.

This book combines sci-fi, historical fiction, romance and adventure to create a wonderful genre-bender. The main character is deeply flawed and often naive, but I became as engrossed in Graham and his timeline as she does. The other expats are equally interesting, from a 17th-century woman who falls in love with cinema and dating apps, to a kind WWI captain.

This book explores how what makes us human doesn't change over centuries and that some things, like love and kindness, remain universal. It's a fascinating story that will lead the main character to question everything she thinks she knows.

A highly original and entertaining debut.

I was really looking forward to this - the premise is the British Government have access to a time travel portal and have brought several people from the past into the present day (which is in an advanced state of climate change and uncertainty).

A team of "Bridges" are tasked with bringing these time travellers up to speed on all that's happened in the centuries in between - everything from the abolishment of slavery, two World Wars, penicillin and innoculations to 9/11 and the internet. The travellers, it is hoped, will adapt and thrive in the new era - they have no option to go back to their former lives and everyone they knew before is long gone

Sadly though for me it didn't hold my interest, the love story just wasn't for me, didn't feel it was necessary in this book and whilst I'm glad I finished it, as there's a great twist near the end... BUT I've read a huge amount of amazing reviews so read it and make up your own mind!

All of the way through The Ministry Of Time, a surprisingly heartfelt time-travel spy adjacent style thriller, I was wondering if Kaliane Bradley had watched the first season of The Terror. Her plot after all involves several people snatched out of time to the modern day, and our main time-displaced character who needs to be babysat by our heroine comes from the ill-fated Franklin's Expedition to find the Northern Passage, which was the subject of The Terror. Of course she had, it's in her afterword as very much the jumping off point, not least to take one of those sailors, adventurous, bold but of their time, and see how they fair in the 2020's. And I don't doubt the excellent characterization of that show has helped her here, and while her lead Commander Gore comes bundled up with all of the appropriate prejudices of his day, how his liaison - his bridge - breaks these down is the real heart of the book. Yes, there is a Time War, but as we know the more nebulous time wars are kept, the better for all of us.

It is right not to get bogged down in its own time travel mechanics until the very end, but these people are snatched from time because they would otherwise be dead without anyone finding their bodies. Gore went missing looking for help, we have someone who died in the Great Fire Of London and a WWI Tommy. How those side characters operate, and of course the frustrating machinations of any civil service department will also give you plenty of narrative opportunities, but Bradley is mainly interested in unfolding her characters and creating a low-level flatshare love story too.

The Ministry Of Time is a very entertaining and heartfelt read, and one of the few time travel films where people come to their future and genuinely try to engage in more modern culture (Gore is old-fashioned and finds films tricky and depressing, the woman from 1666 can't get enough). When it finally gets to its Time War portion it feels natural and more importantly, you care about the characters, who might be a traitor and of course the revelations of the final reveal. It might have been partly inspired by a TV show, but it'll almost certainly become its own one too.

I really enjoyed this take on a time travel story. Think a mixture of Doctor Who, Jodie Taylor’s St Mary’s novels and the Horrible Histories team’s series, Ghosts. It isn’t a funny book though, it’s more interested in looking at how people from different time periods might respond to transposition.

Some of the relationships were genuinely moving, although I can’t help feeling that the woke police had more than a little influence on 2 of the 4 time travellers being gay and everyone else being bi.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an arc of this book.

I nearly DNF'd this early on as I wasn't engaged but after seeing some reviews all raving about it I started it over and.. I could've just DNF'd.

It wasn't bad but I just didn't care.

Honestly, I found it jarring at parts - we seemed to jump forward months and would only know when a comment was made about how long since they had been brought to the future and the character development was non-existent. People just.. changed - again, because months would pass and they'd be more settled and starting to integrate into society but in my mind it had barely been a few weeks. Why Graham was joining the ministry felt sudden and random and also why.. WHY.. did we make him an actual person?

We have pretty much no info on who the real Graham Gore was and it just felt a bit off to me to make the character him and give him traits that could be wildly off rather than a character inspired by the man.

I also have no idea what purpose the alternate POV chapters served. I feel like nothing happened in them and they were just boring.

This had such high potential but really fall flat to me. I don't even want to class it as sci-fi as we really don't experience much of that.

Consider a plan to bring back people from the past - one from each century from 17th-20th - to see how they assimilate and survive in modern Britain (although one suspects much darker motives are at work). Each 'expat' is assigned a 'bridge' person for the year to help and guide them.

We follow the bridge assigned to Lt Graham Gore, a 19th century naval officer assigned to the doomed Franklin expedition (all the expats were at the point of death when taken, so not to upset the timelines). And while we smile at his efforts to process this new world, we also build up great admiration for the man himself. As does his bridge.

However, other factors are at work; the handler Quentin disappears, the expats seem to lose substance and are no longer visible on electronic scans, and Gore and the bridge have a high level of sexual tension to cope with.

Its a very interesting concept and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The characters are well defined - I loved the traumatised WW1 expat Arthur and Margaret from the 17th century, for whom everything is a revelation.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and Sceptre for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all thanks to Netgalley for the ARC copy of this book, dead thrilled to have been dropped on it's proverbial doorstep.
This was a highly interesting read, a multitude of genres and a fascinating central cast of characters. I felt the author built trust very effectively, and used her narrative fairly well to create the necessary level of understanding. I'm a lover of fantasy and sci-fi, and am so glad I was given the opportunity to read this.
Additionally, I had so much fun with the metaphors she used throughout, they were arresting and exciting, invoking imagery in a way simple words could not. I have picked out one just to illustrate my point but I loved too many to count - 'It was like she had hung up her sense of self in a cupboard somewhere'
I can understand that this use of language and other elements of the story could be frustrating but, to be frank, I loved it.

The Ministry of Time arrives with much fanfare, a huge bidding war between publishers and a BBC series already planned. I can see why; it’s enormous fun and incredibly visual, rather like a modern day Douglas Adams. The premise is that 5 people have been pulled into the future by the Ministry, supposedly to observe them and see if time travel is survivable. Junior staff have been promoted into the job of bridges - they will live with the subjects as they learn to navigate modern day. Our narrator is one of these bridges, a half Cambodian woman disaffected with her life and job, she leaps for this new opportunity. She isn’t expected Graham Gore, a dashing Arctic explorer from the 1840s who will turn her life upside down.
Kaliane Bradley has a lot of fun with the time travellers as they explore the modern day. The other 2 travellers - a 17th century woman and a 1st world war captain provide some of the most entertaining and charming parts of the book. The romance that slowly develops between Graham and his bridge throws up many issues about how romance and relationships have changed over the years.
The book is part comedy, part time travel thriller, part romance - sometimes it doesn’t quite work and feels a bit rushed with some plot points and characters glossed over or not developed properly. Ceratainly you aren’t going to learn anything much about time travel at a scientific level.
However, it’s undeniably a fantastic and original novel. I raced through it and can’t wait to see how successful it transfers to the screen.

"The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley offers readers a captivating blend of science fiction, romance, and historical intrigue. Set in the near future, the novel follows a disaffected civil servant who is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious government ministry tasked with gathering 'expats' from across history to test the limits of time-travel. Her role as a 'bridge' leads her to Commander Graham Gore, an expat from 1847 who was believed to have died on Sir John Franklin's doomed Arctic expedition. As Gore navigates the unfamiliar world of the future, he and his bridge move from awkwardness to genuine friendship, and eventually to something more.

Bradley's writing is immersive and evocative, transporting readers to a world where past and present collide in unexpected ways. The relationship between Commander Gore and his bridge is at the heart of the novel, offering a poignant exploration of love, friendship, and the complexities of navigating different time periods. As the true nature of the project that brought them together is revealed, Gore and his bridge are forced to confront their past choices and imagined futures, leading to a compelling and thought-provoking exploration of destiny, free will, and the power of love to defy the constraints of history.

However, while "The Ministry of Time" offers an engaging premise and well-developed characters, some readers may find the pacing uneven at times, with certain plot points feeling rushed or underdeveloped. Additionally, the novel's exploration of its central themes may feel somewhat surface-level, leaving readers wanting more depth and complexity in its examination of time-travel and its implications. Despite these minor drawbacks, "The Ministry of Time" is a captivating and imaginative read that will appeal to fans of speculative fiction and romance, offering a thrilling journey through time and love.

I love time travel fiction - romcom, historical, literary, sci-fi - i'm just such a big fan. Kaliane did such a great job of meshing identity and government and immigration and love and humanity together to make this masterpiece.

This is such a clever novel. The way the author plays with the idea of time-travel as a form of immigration and the similarities between the two is such an original and unique concept. As well as this, each time-traveller embodies the period they came from to create a cast of varied characters that agree and disagree in nuanced ways. A really smart novel and well worth a read!

Sometimes a book just isn’t for you and that’s ok. That was the case for me. I was always hesitant because of the sci go and fantasy tags but I’d seen so much hype that I thought I might be able to read beyond that.
I liked the concept. Expats from another time are time transported to the present day and given guides / helpers / bridges to help them navigate their new lives and to monitor the effects of time travel.
But the scope and ambition of this book went way beyond that and I ended up confused by what was happening.
Liked the start, liked the concept, but I struggled with the execution.

This book caught my attention quite a bit and I enjoyed it undoubtedly. It's a combination of sci-fi, historical fiction, spy thriller with romance as a subplot. I haven't read a similar book, but I must say that this one is quite delightful. The approach of time-travel in this was intriguing. I don't think I was the only one who thought at first it would be a light romance when I read it, but I must admit that this book is full of surprises. The surface of the plot goes from how our unnamed language specialist works as a “bridge” at the Ministry, in which the British government developed the means to travel through time. There, in order not to mess up with the future, they start to gather expatriates “expats” to the twenty-first century. She is assigned the task of acclimatizing and monitoring Commander Graham Gore. This book shows how brilliant and witty the author is in combining so many genres and doing such research in order to achieve this effective plot. Post-colonialism, fascism, genocide, racism, and immigration are key themes that are explored and make you reflect on many things. Even so, the book goes further with the inclusion of topics such as gender, race and sexuality, above all, showing the contrast between then and now. Last but not least, as the main character reflects on her identity throughout, the book is quite relatable and moving. I was stunned as everything comes full circle with her and makes sense with the ending as she's confronting the past that shaped her choices and the choices that will shape the future.

I thoroughly enjoyed this unusual and very original twist on the popular time travel trope. With some superb characters and a great storyline with plenty of twists, it is written with an amusing and imaginative vocabulary. This is an author I will certainly look out for in the future.

Time travel and Arctic exploration and a smoking habit.

I wanted to love this, especially with all the hype. I have even booked to attend an author talk by Kaliane Bradley. Sadly, I was overwhelmingly disappointed. It all seemed a bit 'Men in Black-esque' .

The aspect I enjoyed most was the reaction of people from a different time to modern life. That must have been fun to write!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

I really wanted to love this book and was so looking forward to reading my favourite genre of time travel. It just didn't flow for me at all. I liked the beginning and the end - which I think I understood. Getting from the beginning to the end just took far too many words for me. It was very clever writing, perhaps too clever for me?