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adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A very unique and interesting take on time travel. However, I think the conversations about race and colonialism fell flat. The author didn’t go as deep into that commentary as I thought she was going to.
Also, aside from Graham, the characters felt one-dimensional. And, I don’t mind an unnamed narrator when it’s done well. In this case, it wasn’t. The main character was already flat enough, so making her nameless didn’t help.
On the plus side, this book has some of the best sex scenes I’ve ever read. They were sexy without being cringy or smutty. Writing good sex scenes is not an easy thing to do. Major props to Kaliane Bradley for that!
Also, aside from Graham, the characters felt one-dimensional. And, I don’t mind an unnamed narrator when it’s done well. In this case, it wasn’t. The main character was already flat enough, so making her nameless didn’t help.
On the plus side, this book has some of the best sex scenes I’ve ever read. They were sexy without being cringy or smutty. Writing good sex scenes is not an easy thing to do. Major props to Kaliane Bradley for that!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism, Sexism
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism
Minor: Genocide, Cannibalism
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, Medical content, Murder, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Racial slurs, Slavery
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
The time travel gets a bit wonky at the end. I really enjoyed the first half.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Blood, War
Minor: Torture, Vomit
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I think this book suffers from its own synopsis which makes it sound very scifi-mystery. It is weak on the science fiction of it all, no explanation for the time travel or even how it came to be, no proper explanation on the "project", but it is strong on the history, which I enjoyed. The main character stayed a bit too far out of reach for my liking, unnamed, undefined, but the expats were engaging and interesting and I wasn't bored for a second. The ending felt a bit rushed after the big finale, but I was glad to at least get a glimpse of a resolved-ish ending, I would have not enjoyed being left hanging in the aftermath of whatever happened with the Ministry. It did somewhat take away from the social/post-colonial commentary a little however, that ultimately, the focus was shifted so much to the romance rather than what was going on in the world at a larger scale.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism
Minor: Slavery, Cannibalism
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content
Moderate: Genocide, Racism, Sexism
Minor: Gore, Blood, Vomit
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-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
I adored the beginning of this book. I love the concept so much, I found the beginning engaging, and I really enjoyed the writing style. Consequently I will read Bradley's short stories, and an excellent sequel would make me increase this rating significantly. I love the cover. Unfortunately the book by itself was ultimately quite disappointing to me. The author described the book's take-away as "we don't need time travel to change ourselves, look to the future, and make the future more beautiful." I wish I agreed. Only the very last page addresses that, and I struggled to believe it given everything that had happened. What am I missing? The book left me feeling that the future would stay bad or worsen, change is hard, and some people are doomed to failure. Not true, but depressing.
Good: There is a lot of clever, humorous skewering of racist remarks and micro-aggressions the main character had experienced. The author uses a lot of fun vocabulary words and interesting descriptions. If the British slang, words drug from long gone historical eras, and arcane vocabulary get a little dense and sometimes ungoogle-able, or if a few descriptions didn't land--well, I want to see more of this style, so I can overlook that. I wish I hadn't googled vocab so much.
Detailed, frequently lustful descriptions of several people's bodies are rampant. That was especially frustrating given the general lack of character development. I kept wondering if the plot was building towards person x and y being in love, or x and z, or z and y, etc. ***Mood spoilers for the ending and very general allusions to plot in the rest of this review***
While one of those romances does suddenly happen , we never seem to learn the things about these characters that the book teasingly hides from us-- things that would make the romances or friendships so much sweeter. In fact the MC acknowledges her lack of insight about the other characters numerous times; nothing changes.
Worse, I felt the events in the last 25% of the book really ruined any enjoyment of the romance becausethe MC continues to treat her lover badly, never really reforms, and he understandably hates her and leaves her for it. The very end of the book is somewhat ambiguous and potentially hopeful but I struggled to feel that a few vague paragraphs really offset the second half of the book. I felt unsatisfied and disappointed. The MC spent so much time discussing racism and the way that racialized people should or shouldn't act, but it was ultimately very hard to tell what her ultimate conclusions were or if she had changed as a result of her own self-flagellations. It reminded me of Katniss Everdeen's attitude at the end of the Hunger Games, which seemed problematic given that the MC, unlike Everdeen, recognizes she's made a lot of mistakes.
Of course it's a nuanced subject, the author doesn't necessarily owe us anything, the passages probably weren't written for white people to understand!, the MC was part ofa horrible system that bears a lot of blame , and is a complex, flawed person. Perhaps I'm missing something. Ultimately it was confusing, very sad, and unsatisfying that the (at first) lovable MC is morally gray and never really reforms . That's how life is, but I just didn't want to read about that in fiction today, hence my rating.
Good: There is a lot of clever, humorous skewering of racist remarks and micro-aggressions the main character had experienced. The author uses a lot of fun vocabulary words and interesting descriptions. If the British slang, words drug from long gone historical eras, and arcane vocabulary get a little dense and sometimes ungoogle-able, or if a few descriptions didn't land--well, I want to see more of this style, so I can overlook that. I wish I hadn't googled vocab so much.
Detailed, frequently lustful descriptions of several people's bodies are rampant. That was especially frustrating given the general lack of character development. I kept wondering if the plot was building towards person x and y being in love, or x and z, or z and y, etc. ***Mood spoilers for the ending and very general allusions to plot in the rest of this review***
Worse, I felt the events in the last 25% of the book really ruined any enjoyment of the romance because
Of course it's a nuanced subject, the author doesn't necessarily owe us anything, the passages probably weren't written for white people to understand!, the MC was part of
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual content, Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation
Minor: Mental illness, Misogyny, War
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexism
Moderate: Homophobia, Slavery, Cannibalism, War
emotional
funny
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
Loving, sad, and at moments dark. An examination of “what if” that is somehow able to make you laugh at the exact wrong times.
The excellent narration and consistent voices made the audiobook a special treat.
The excellent narration and consistent voices made the audiobook a special treat.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Cannibalism, Murder
Minor: Death, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Alcohol
While most of this is minor and par for the course of a spy/romance novel, it discusses in first person terms the conditions during a failed Arctic mission that is presented to have devolved into cannibalism, which I had trouble reading. Skip chapter 8 intro and you won’t miss any of the main story if this is a concern.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism
Minor: Racism, Sexism, Vomit