Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

94 reviews

darlingmermaiddarlings's review against another edition

4.0

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

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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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Cannibalism

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism

taylorparrott99's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol

rosa_lina96's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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: Complicated

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Admittedly, the synopsis for this book sounded remarkably corny when I first picked it up, even if the Franklin Expedition is kind of a niche interest of mine (the acclaimed AMC show The Terror, anyone?). A time travel book with a hint of romance? Oh, brother. Gag. I was half expecting to open the book, read a couple of chapters, and then immediately DNF it because it would push past the realm of possibility too much.

Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. Kind of obnoxiously flowery prose aside, the narrative flows well. The mechanics behind this form of time travel were actually explained quite well without straying into being overly technical, something which I feel that other books have kind of floundered with through the years. All of the characters feel loveable and well fleshed out--you even find yourself having sympathy for the ones who are supposed to be the villains at several points, which is a hard feat to pull off--and just based on all of the knowledge that I've voraciously devoured about the Franklin Expedition and how London life was in the 1800s, it's clear that the author bothered to do her research and then some when it came to getting details about Gore's life correct (even down to the mildly uncomfortable discussions of the different sensibilities towards race that a Victorian man would likely have). 

Been a while since I've read a sci-fi book that actively stirred me emotionally as much as this one did. Highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Cannibalism

Minor: Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, War

karinreadsalot's review against another edition

3.0

mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Gun violence, Violence

alanahcw's review against another edition

2.5

challenging tense slow-paced

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 This one wasn't for me. I liked the premise but I couldn't get fully into it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Vomit, War

dreadspawn's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous mysterious medium-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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Xenophobia, Colonisation, War

Minor: Drug use, Genocide, Cannibalism

chris_reads's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Colonisation, Dysphoria

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting

Minor: Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization

rnbhargava's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-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: Yes

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I really enjoyed this book. The pacing is mostly quite well done. The characters are wonderful and there’s a lot of diversity in the cast. My only gripe is that the absolute ending of the main driving plot feels a bit rushed thus slightly anticlimactic. I even really like the denouement. Overall, this book is highly recommended 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

The triggers are mostly of the variety of time displaced individuals saying, showing or doing things that they either were allowed to do that are no longer appropriate in the contemporary world of most of the rest of the story or the opposite, indulging in things that they weren’t allowed to do openly before.

softanimal's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny mysterious 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: Yes

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Yet another new favorite! This has been a great year for me in reading newly published books. I thinks this one's best without knowing much going in so I'll just say, best time travel I've read in a long time and very loveable characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Cannibalism, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Colonisation

rrubin97's review against another edition

1.75

challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I am not sure why I just didn’t DNF it. The main characters were all annoying and obtuse. The author is very wordy. The whole thing made no sense in the end and sci fi is fine but she didn’t have rules around it just we don’t understand how it works so trust the narrator which is frustrating 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Murder