Reviews with content warning for Death - The Ministry of Time

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

238 reviews

juliaureads's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was so fun. I loved the humor, the “man out of time” aspect, and the relatable attempts to explain our modern world. About halfway through, this pivoted in a a great way to a spy novel. Fast pacing kept me turning the pages. The ending kinda broke my brain. But in a good way.

Content Warnings

ellagrady's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

bookb1itch's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

My own inability to understand time-travel narratives impacted my enjoyment of this book. I LOVED the premise, and I feel it was carried out very well, but I am unsure I completely "got" it. I hope Bradley's predictions for our near-future are inaccurate. Loved the 2 mc and their relationship, but also the other ex-pats, especially Maggie. Can't help thinking this would make a really interesting film or Netflix series.

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lizziaha's review against another edition

3.75

I think it’s hard to pitch a book that bends genre like this one does, but maybe because of that, this book wasn’t exactly what i expected. I expected a rom-com full of musings on modern-day society and it was that but it was also government intrigue and assassinations and betrayal and unanswerable questions about morality. Also I don’t know why I didn’t expect this book about time travel to include time travel but I didn’t and it does. The rules are not super clearly defined (that’s fine—I never really get time travel rules anyway) and differ from other time travel books i’ve read, but my complete unpreparedness to confront time travel did make the twist absolutely exquisite. Had I been reading a physical copy of the book, I would’ve slammed back to the first chapter so violently that it would’ve posed a threat to the structural integrity of the book.
Character wise, I think the book lacked depth. The main character (nameless as far a I can remember) is constantly trying to smooth out her rough edges and while she’s successful in her goal, it makes her very boring. (It’s funny that she accuses her sister of giving herself daddy issues when the MC so clearly does the same thing with mommy issues.) Graham and the other expats are much more interesting, but we don’t get to see as much of them. (Though I appreciated the small insights into Graham’s past.)

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cassielaj's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is fantastic — the writing sparkles, the characters lodge themselves in your heart and mind, and the premise is so exciting and original! I loved the way Bradley balances the bureaucracy of the Ministry, the excitement of time travel and the expats adapting to the 21st century, and a bit of intrigue and mystery. In addition to being cleverly plotted to the point where I was making these faces at the end 🥺😭🫢🤨, this book addresses themes like colonialism, displacement, legacy, morality, and racism in a unique and thought-provoking way.

Content Warnings

natreadthat's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional mysterious 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: Complicated

Ohhh how I absolutely adored this book! It’s my first five star, non-memoir read of the year if that says anything.

Five people basically kidnapped from different eras, questionable bridges (aka babysitters), sketchy government shenanigans, time travel, witty banter, slow-burn romance??? Wow, what a backdrop to the marvelous characters that make up this book. The dynamic between the two main characters was just delightful, and don’t even get me started on the secondary characters. I love them all!

Normally I’m not a sci-fi girlie, but this swallowed me whole. I’m still thinking about it days later to the point where I beg of you, read this book and then immediately let me know if you loved it as much as I did.

Content Warnings

himpersonal's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Confused about all the hype. It was a good story, though I somewhat disliked the way it was told as well as a few of the characters. Would’ve been ok if I’d never read this book. I mean, it wasn’t inspiring or provocative or poignant or exciting. It was an ok book. So why all the frenzy? I feel like I’m missing something…

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anikataylor's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I have never read anything like this before in my life but I am so glad I decided to pick it up. The writing style and pace of the book are very different from what I’ve ever seen. But I loved it. The plot was very original and the twist was surprising. I felt as though the romance was well done and focused on just enough to not lose sight of the main story. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would happily read another by this author. My only bone to pick is: why does our main character not have a name!?

Content Warnings