Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

78 reviews

adventurous dark funny reflective medium-paced

Such a clever idea deftly executed. When I first started the book (on audio, which I don’t think I’d recommend), I was a little nervous things would get cheesy or maybe kind of weird/icky, but I quickly found this kind of bonkers concept to be handled with nuance. Like it’s a book about time travel, which can get sticky conceptually, but that’s just the beginning. It’s a story about intergenerational trauma, survivor’s guilt, climate (and just generally the future) anxiety, about how we can change the future by changing the present. I loved the characterization of each character, they felt lived in and real (if sometimes a bit goofy). The writing was so beautiful and precise, there was humor and romance and poignant lines, making this absolutely a page turner. Reading it physically definitely was the way to go, I felt I missed too much by listening to it (especially when things got time-travelly-twisty). This was so fun to read while also remaining very thoughtful, a gem of the year for sure! 

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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

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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

Incredible. Triumphant. Remarkable. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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: Yes

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adventurous funny 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

The prose towards of the beginning of the book had me laughing out loud. The humor is quick and dry. The MMC and the side characters were so lovable and well-fleshed out. I was genuinely heart-broken a few times throughout the book and, maybe I’m just naive, but I didn’t see the plot twist coming at all. In fact, I had to stop and re-read when it happened because it was delivered in that same quick, dry way. The FMC did get a little unbearable at some points throughout the book but, honestly, it was pretty human. I was particularly interested in the power of narrative and how quickly we can pave the road to hell with our good intentions. Overall,, I’m glad I read this book. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny 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: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous funny lighthearted sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Quick, fun, surface-level read!

It starts out refreshingly funny while at the same time trying to tackle a lot of subjects along the way and only skimming the surface in my opinion (subjects are among others: integration of time travelers and their settling into their new environment, office politics, racism, misogny, refugees, romance). I wish the book had focused on 1-2 subjects and explored them more deeply and struck a better balance between funny and sad/serious.

If you are looking for a serious account of how time travelers would settle into a new time that has evolved massively from a technology and societal standards standpoint, this is not the best pick. But if you're looking for a book that does something new and genre-defying and features different writing styles, give it a try!

As a side note: I loved the short stories at the beginning of each chapter that described the Arctic exporation. I learned so many new things about these expeditions. It also shows the writing talent of the author since it's written in a very different tone as the rest of the book

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book

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