Reviews with content warning for Racism - The Ministry of Time

Okay, I enjoyed reading this book...I liked the mix of historical fiction and sci-fi, I thought the sex scenes were surprisingly hot, and the humor was dry which always gets a laugh from me. For the anime watchers reading this, it's a slice of life for sure. The ending was kinda roughshod... not a happy ending, not a sad ending, potentially a cliffhanger for a duology if she wanted. Ultimately an interesting concept and I'm glad I read it.

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ssolov's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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cinderellasbookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

This is the kind of book I want to reread multiple times because I know I’ll always find something new or discover something I may have missed.

It’s hard to put into words how much I love THE MINISTRY OF TIME. It has a little bit of everything and is written so well. I had been curious about it after @em_jacobs_reads recommended it and the idea of time travel being at the center of it.

Stories about time travel always fascinate me, whether it be in books or in movies, because of what it unravels. In this case, THE MINISTRY OF TIME explores what it would mean to bring someone from the past (who was already meant to die in history, so there’s no disruption to the space time continuum) and immerse them into our modern world? What would it be like for the person in the present helping them adjust to the displacement and what would their relationship be because of it?

My first thought upon that is the movie “Kate and Leopold,” but Kaliane Bradley pushes it further into a realistic perspective. Through her prose, prolific vocabulary, and grounded storytelling, she’s able to explore and ponder on society, race, gender, and technology in both the past, present, and even the future that had me contemplating for days what I had read.

At the heart of this novel is an unnamed British-Cambodian female narrator, who is assigned to be a “Bridge” for Commander Graham Gore from 1847, who actually did exist in real life. I really liked seeing their relationship play out between Gore’s larger than life presence that also exudes sensitivity, and the Bridge’s complex history while being torn between duty and her own affections for Gore. Humorous at times and subtly beautiful and thought-provoking in between, especially in the later half.

The story does take an action-packed turn near the end that may remove some readers from what is initially presented, but it didn’t really bother me. The final moments round it all back.

This is not the kind of story you would expect, but becomes much more. Time travel isn’t just about time, but is also a journey within yourself and who you can choose to be from it.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thanks to Avid Reader Press for the free copy of this book.

- What an inventive, emotional, and thought provoking book THE MINISTRY OF TIME is.
- This book is what I would call literary sci-fi, which is one of my favorite genre mashups. It’s also quite heavily character focused, with most of the action happening in the last third of the book.
- Despite my usual love of plot-heavy books, I was immediately drawn into the story of our unnamed narrator and her displaced-from-time charge.
- It’s easy to see how much research Bradley put into this book, but it never loses the intense emotion amid the historical tidbits.
- I don’t even have the space to touch on the elements of race, survivor’s guilt, and of catching someone up on centuries of history. There is so much going on in this book and I’m going to be thinking about all the pieces of it for a long time to come.

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nicklybear's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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cardlikecredit's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I was so excited to finally get this book because the premise sounded so good, but it was a borderline DNF for me. The first 75% of the book was so slow, it picked up nicely in the end but it felt like too little too late. The comedy of the expats discovering 21st century life was entertaining, but it didn't make up for the overall lack of interesting plot development. There was some lovely prose too, but the story was just kind of blah. I've

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sarahweyand's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

If you don't know me, know I am a time travel HATER. The biggest hater. So I surprised myself when I was looking forward to listening to this audiobook, where "Time" is literally in the title. I appreciated that for most of the book, time travel was a catalyst for the story to occur and not a primary plot element. I found the characters and their relationships with one another to be charming and endearing, if not fully realistic for the time periods they were from.

I enjoyed the spy thriller aspect of the novel as well, but not as much as the romance and character building. Unfortunately, this element takes over the plot towards the end of the book, and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the first 75%. I won't get into spoilers, but more time-travel based plot also comes into play here which I also didn't like (and am a little confused on the ending).

All in all, I really enjoyed most of this book, but the ending fell a little flat for me. I think it's a very strong debut and I look forward to keeping an eye on Bradley in the future!

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sarahyjackson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Incredible. Triumphant. Remarkable.

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