Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

93 reviews

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-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

So many thoughts, so many tabs on this one! I understand the critiques and the praise, but overall I can definitely see myself going back to this really unique literary sci-fi. And one I'd definitely recommend!

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reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous mysterious 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

Strikes me as similar to Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - not in plot but in tone. The vocabulary of this book alone sets it apart from most.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional mysterious reflective 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

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

This book is supposed to be a time-travel romance. It is not action and adventure or a thriller, not really. Maybe a mystery or a thriller when you consider nobody in the government who knows about the time travel project can be trusted and every so often a person tries to kill you for mysterious reasons - not a thriller or mystery, to me, because that’s likely the case for ANY highly classified government project, with any project matter, existential threat or not. So, it was more like “ah, I’ve read a few chapters so makes sense there’s another kill attempt at this point.” The book explicitly dialogues near the beginning to not get caught up in the mechanics or the physics of the time door or how it works or branches of realities and timelines. They make an in-book excuse for it, but really, it’s telling you that this isn’t a book about quantum physics and string theory so just accept it exists here and focus on the characters. Which is exactly how this book should be read and I detest any book invoking time travel that attempts to spend a good portion of it explaining it. I much more appreciate reading about a character dealing with the effects of it than the hows and whys of it.

This book is also largely commentary on colonialism, institutional racism, and generational trauma. As a white woman, I don’t feel as though I saw that much portrayed in this book I don’t already witness in the human experience for my non-white friends. There was no “ah ha” moment for me, or an angle I never thought of. Except for one passage, on generational trauma, and something the narrators mother said in passing. Which was so shocking and awful and such a complete testament to the compartmentalization of trauma I could NEVER comprehend.

The romance had potential but more so potential than anything. It didn’t help that all we ever knew of the narrator was that she was a bi-racial (Cambodian/English) woman from London who was a civil servant and thought Graham Gore was hot as hell. So, when he seemingly had feelings for her…I didn’t understand why. There isn’t much to her. While he is charming, witty as fuck, situationally hyperaware, and “of the most pleasant of temperaments.” I simply could not understand the narrator’s POV for most of the book. the naivety was outstanding and annoying. However, there were a few moments, a few lines a few pages, that hit hard and very incredibly emotionally astute. Especially the very last page. 

a decent observational story on the human condition, essentially.

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adventurous emotional funny tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad 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

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark tense
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is so fascinating. It’s mostly brutal with a dash of hope. Some parts are extremely well-done, and others (like the “romance” which is more like obsession) feel like they could’ve used some more work. As a sci-fi fan, I would’ve liked more of that plot.

I love what the author did by
never naming the main character, making you fully inhabit her mind, even as you grow to hate her for being kind of a sociopath and making such ridiculous choices. Her inability to question almost anything had me tearing my hair out. But still, I enjoyed the read.
And I loved Arthur and Maggie.

I wouldn’t say I’d whole heartedly recommend it, but I’ll definitely be thinking about this book for a while. 

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