The Ministry of Time

I hated the first few pages. So much purple prose. Something was described as “Sisyphean” and I had to roll my eyes.

But the book redeemed itself, with the plot and characters. I loved Graham and the expats and the concept of the ministry. I loved learning about the arctic expeditions.

One of my favorite things to wonder is what a random person from the distant past would think of today’s world. If plucked from their time and dropped into ours, what would they think of electricity, internet, modern medicine? What about smaller stuff, like the way we talk, current fashion, and, depending on when exactly they’re from, how long everyone lives? It’s a fascinating thing to think about. And now I have a new thing to wonder: What on earth gave Kaliane Bradley the right to take this concept and break my heart with it!?

The Ministry of Time is a great example of a book whos author knows exactly what they’re doing. Kaliane Bradley has researched the time periods of her characters so well that they feel completely real and alive (and in the case of Graham Gore, he actually was alive in the 1800s as a member of the Royal Navy and an explorer, though very little is known about his life other than that). They jump off the page and say “Look at me! I’m from the past and I’m amazed by your world!” This is especially the case with Margaret, a woman from the 1600s, which we all know is a time when women weren’t treated very well. Margaret absolutely thrives in the 21st century, taking great interest in feminism, crop tops, and the freedom she never saw or even dreamed of in her life before time travel. I loved reading about her adventures and how she took to modern life with such gusto.

The romance between the MC and Graham is an extremely slow burn and I enjoyed every minute of it. Between the MC’s ‘modern-day woman’ views and Graham’s ‘man from the 1800s’ behaviors, they had some incredible, laugh out loud banter. Their relationship is complicated, but sweet, and I love that their romance isn’t the main focus. As the daughter of a woman from Cambodia, our MC is half british, half Cambodian, and she experiences thinly-veiled racism and xenophobia on a regular basis. As she shares her experiences, there are parallels between her story and that of Graham’s who, as an ‘expat’ (as they call the time-travelers), is something of a migrant himself, though he has come from the past rather than another country, which I found very interesting.

Although there was a part towards the end of the book that felt a little cliché, I am overall very happy with The Ministry of Time and I loved the ending. I’d easily recommend this one to anyone who loves speculative fiction, slow burn romance, or the concept of bringing people forth from the past to see what the heck they’d think of the future.

unfortunately the part the author was most interested in was not that interesting, and the rest really wanted to be baru cormorant

Fascinating links drawn between time-travel and immigration, and adaptation to a dominant culture.Characters are flawed and human—perhaps too flawed in the case of the narrator. No evil cackling villains.Was a great prompt to read about Franklin's lost expedition.The love story was a bit overwhelming, too “omg I found the one”.Time-travel craziness eventually showed up, not my favourite thing.I've never read “Rogue Male”, so I couldn't appreciate all the links to that novel.

• Fascinating links drawn between time-travel and immigration, and adaptation to a dominant culture.
• Characters are flawed and human—perhaps too flawed in the case of the narrator. No evil cackling villains.
• Was a great prompt to read about Franklin's lost expedition.
• The love story was a bit overwhelming, too "omg I found the one".
• Time-travel craziness eventually showed up, not my favourite thing.
• I've never read "Rogue Male", so I couldn't appreciate all the links to that novel.

Interesting concept, interesting people, well written, no sidetracking but the author lost me with the plot. At the halfway mark there doesn't seem to be any forward motion. It seems to be people living their lives, trying to deal with disconnects and unrequited desires, and interacting with others. And maybe a hint of mystery.

I do love good stories about unique characters and their interactions with each other but this story isn't about that.

Loved the writing. Really liked the framing device. Plot wasn't incredible. Want to read when she writes next. Very good.

It was an interesting read. The premise was certainly intriguing: What would someone from the past think if they were thrust into our modern world? But I feel as though the other had too many ideas that she tried to execute, and wasn’t able to satisfy all of them. A third of the book just felt like the narrator’s sexual musings about the man she’s been forced to live with. The conclusion of the book was decent though, and I enjoyed the read.

I really enjoyed this and was really unsure what to do when it ended. It was over too soon and that is my only complaint.

Took a lot of effort to come back and finish it. I kinda like the middle with all the thriller/mystery elements but the start and end were dull and verbose. I feel like the whole story was written as an excuse for the "romance"

Maybe a 3.5 if I’m being generous? While the story is intriguing, the execution is muddy. It is never really clear what anybody’s motivations are, and the on-the-brink-of-collapse world-building is depressing. It feels like the author had a goal in mind, but I could never work out what that was (something about refugees and colonialist attitudes?). The authors also had a very odd turn of phrase when it comes to similes; they sound poetically original, but fall apart if you think about them too long...

This was the January read for the Sword and Laser podcast. What a great book! In the near future, the UK has discovered time travel, and use it to bring “expats” from the past to the present. Our protagonist is a “bridge” (a person whose job it is to acclimate the expats to the present). This is part sci-fi, part thriller, part romance, and all really well done.

Also - I think it wills one of the more challenging prompts for Popsugar this year - A dystopian book with a happy ending

So this won Goodreads scifi award for 2024. I was a bit iffy at first, since Goodreads is the kind of place where ACOTAR wins awards, and so I wasn't sure if this book just won the scifi award on a technicality because although it has time travel it didn't sound very scifi-y. But I was pleasantly surprised!

The story centres around people who were destined to die in their original timeline, but instead brought out before this happens to live in 21st century London. The secretive Ministry that brings them out obviously doesn't have altruism in mind when they do this, though. As they struggle to adjust, the Ministry also comes under fire from enemy spies. And there's a (good) romance side plot too.

There's a lot happening in this book, and I almost feel like it could have been simplified a bit by removing a side plot or two. Also time travel is always a confusing topic to write about with changing timelines and the like. But overall a really great read.

I hail from the future, as I've already finished the January book—in December!

The first half of this book felt like a slog. It was slow, uninspiring, and honestly didn't fill me with much hope for what was to come. But then, everything changed. I didn't see the twist coming at all, and it completely caught me off guard. I'm curious—did anyone else see it coming?

Ultimately, the ending redeemed the book for me, but it's still not something I'd consider an “Obama book.” Just saying. If I could, I'd love to ask him, “Wuuuut?”

Will this be my last book of 2024? Hmmm...what does my book reading future hold for the next 3 days.

4.5 rounded up
The way this book reads felt very reminiscent of A Series of Unfortunate Events, but for adults. The narration style, the dark, dry humor, the lovely prose, and many metaphors all felt very nostalgic for me while fresh and enticing at the same time. The half mark is docked only because I felt something was missing from the ending. Maybe I wanted the farewells to be just a little more drawn out, just a little more emotional stabbing? I'm not sure. I'll probably bump it to a full 5 should I ever read this again.

I listened to the audiobook version and was immediately ecstatic the moment I heard “Chapter One” in Caitlyn Kiramman's (from the show Arcane) voice! Katie Leung was a phenomenal choice to voice the FMC! Even when I read a hard copy instead of listening in the future, I know I will hear only her as the FMC. And honestly, I even found myself picturing Cait as The Bridge. Experiencing this story via audiobook is already a great choice given the narration style, Leung's talent makes it a fantastic one.

Now that I've reached the end, I don't know if I want to immediately reread it or read the most heart warming fan-fiction set in Alaska that I can find.

This was a generally terrible book held up only by the many different aspects of potential it had. Interesting sci-fi, but no real delving into it. Romance, but its an odd author self-insert and not that interesting or deserved. Possible commentary on the progress of modern society, but its kind of preachy. Intrigue, but its just shallow "government program is actually the problem". I was ready to DNF this book 4 to 5 times during reading but for some reason wanted to see how it finished. Wasn't worth it.

4.5.

I didn't realize this book had such a romance heavy plot because I came in blind. I kept waiting for more things to happen, for more characters to come into focus. But once I realized the relationships were the story, I really enjoyed it.

This started strong but fizzled out around midway. I think the author tried to go in too many different directions and nothing was properly fleshed out because of it.

fuck it. five stars. so delicious in so many ways. ticks so many of my my time travel-loving boxes. loved the narrative tension (it made me feel tense). wonderful cast of characters who are all a little bit (or a lot) in love with each other and i???m in love with them. that???s all

I loved it. It takes a steady hand to write a book so charming, yet curious, yet suspenseful and yet still tender. A novel that is bursting at the seams to be turned into a blockbuster film.

I was really enjoying this book, and then my attention span evaporated. I'll return to it eventually.

Very entertaining cheeky romp featuring time travel, Victorian gentlemen, found family, cross-century teasing, and the most charming English dialects from previous and future centuries. Could have done without some of the typical time travel tropes that come in at the end, but all in all this was fun!

This is one of those books for which I really wish GoodReads had a .5 star. It is a 3.5 for me. It was almost good despite the lovely gentleman commander, but did it really have to take that long for things to happen?

4.5/5 stars

This book was at times discombobulating as all fun time travel stories are. I liked that the MC “Little Cat” was unnamed but Commander Graham Gore gave her one. I liked that Graham Gore was a real person who knew Robert McClure “Robbie” the discoverer of the Northwest Passage. I'm VERY interested in the people who tried to find the Northwest Passage so this was right up my alley. I especially loved the part when Graham called Sesame Street (he doesn't like t.v.) “deformed monstrosities against the will of God”. I was happy about the love story between Graham and Little Cat. I liked that Adela was the main character from the future and the reason the Ministry even had the time machine in the first place. Even though it seems the time portal was not destroyed I have hope that the Ministry of Time will be made obsolete. Even though it was unwritten if the MC finds Graham I feel it in my heart she does. Overall GREAT book would HIGHLY recommend.