Reviews with content warning for Cannibalism - The Ministry of Time

Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

210 reviews

tamarant4's review against another edition

4.75

challenging emotional funny lighthearted 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: Yes

The time-travel project was the first time in history that any person had been brought out of their time and into their far future. In this sense, the predicament of the expats was unique. But the rhythms of loss and asylum, exodus and loneliness, roll like floods across human history. [p. 271]

The near future. The British government has a machine which allows a limited kind of time travel: the Department of Expatriation extracts doomed individuals from their own times -- just before their deaths, so that their removal won't impact history -- and studies them to learn about the side-effects, if any, of time travel. The unnamed British-Cambodian narrator of The Ministry of Time is recruited as a 'bridge', a person to act as companion, supervisor and teacher to one of the ex-pats. She's assigned to Eighteen Forty-Seven -- Commander Graham Gore, formerly of the doomed Franklin polar expedition.

Gore finds the 21st century challenging, but acclimatises fairly well. He and the bridge smoke a lot of cigarettes (and some recently-legalised cannabis), ride bikes, and explore Spotify ('Any music? Any performances, any time, whensoever you wish it?'). They interact with Sixteen Sixty-Five (Maggie, who is an Absolute Delight) and Nineteen Sixteen (Arthur, who starts off thinking he's a prisoner of war, and ... is not exactly wrong). There is bureaucracy; there are spies; there is romance, and comedy, and hand-wavy science, and hints of a grim future. There are short chapters of Gore's last days in the Arctic, in 1847. And there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it a Wilfred Owen cameo.

The Ministry of Time explores colonialism, Empire, refugees and exiles, the nature of history, racism, and loyalty. That it does so with humour, pathos, and some truly hilarious scenes is a triumph. Our unnamed narrator is burdened with her refugee mother's experiences in Cambodia (she'd 'witnessed the sort of horrors that changed the way screams sounded'), with her own place in the mechanism of the British civil service, with her dual role as friend and as observer. She's constantly (and perhaps rightly) critical of her actions and choices, sometimes well before we're shown their consequences: this maintains tension throughout, and even the ending is less definite than one might wish.

I love this novel. It engaged me so much emotionally that the flaws (uneven pacing, some threads left dangling, that ending) don't matter. It is fun as well as inventive, and I'm looking forward to a future reread.

‘What happens if they survive?’ I asked.
‘Then you will have the lovely warm glow of having contributed to a humanitarian project.’
‘And if they die?’
‘Then you will have contributed to a scientific project.' [p. 38]

Content Warnings

fanchera's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

goeagles91n's review against another edition

1.25

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I cannot understand how this book is so popular. It tries to be every genre (romance, science fiction, historical fiction, mystery) without effectively being even one genre. It offers way too many details during the most disturbing parts of the book at the end and uses some of the most well-worn time travel tropes indiscriminately, throwing in plot twists that seem used only to try and distinguish this book from other time travel books (and make up for the whole “this book is about time travel and makes no sense, so we won’t bother trying to explain it to you” disclaimer in the first 10 pages, which is nothing if not lazy writing). The conclusion makes no sense and answers no questions, and the main protagonist somehow both is impacted severely by generational and current day traumas that define her character throughout the book and somehow “cured” via one internal monologue that lasts slightly over one page in the last five pages. The protagonist also bashes therapy multiple times, which I found hugely distasteful.

I should end with this books sole redeeming qualities, which were: (1) the author’s investigations into the multifaceted nature of identity, which were unfortunately too scarce throughout the book to make a read worthwhile; and (2) the commentary on immigration, which while shoehorned in felt important for the year 2025.

In short, don’t waste your time, and consider rewatching Dr. Who if you want to ponder time travel.

Content Warnings

fishreads's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous hopeful reflective 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: Complicated

A wonderfully, poetically written story about love, longing, and introspection.

An intriguing debut novel, with obvious self insterts by the author and an unusual obsession with an obscure Arctic explorer (but who am I to judge anyone’s obsessions?). This was the second book I reserved at the library, and I had to wait a month to get my hands on it. (I'm still waiting in line for the first one.) Although I can’t remember why I placed the reservation, it must have been because this novel was voted Readers' Favorite Science Fiction at the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards.

My point is that, in terms of sci-fi, I would classify this novel as "sci-fi light." It didn’t exactly fulfill my sci-fi cravings.

Still, I found myself mesmerized by the unusual metaphors and the quiet longing between the two main characters, although I wouldn't exactly call it a romance either. What I appreciated most about this story weren’t the advertised themes of romance and sci-fi, but the careful examination of contemporary issues like the modern workplace and present-day racism, which I found quite insightful.

This wasn’t the perfect story, and I feel slightly melancholic about that because it seems like the author was so close to writing a truly poignant one.

Content Warnings

sjabw13's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

singsinthecar's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous funny mysterious 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: Complicated

I found myself laughing at the conversations between the characters and the observations of the expats. It was more layered than I expected, with twists I certainly did not see coming.

Content Warnings

v_meck0405's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Main character is a touch more annoying in her selfishness and obliviousness than i prefer but it’s forgivable enough.

Content Warnings

sentcinematic's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

warnie23's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

ceilidhwilliams's review against another edition

2.5

slow-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

This is one of the slowest, most boring books I've ever read. When the plot does finally start (last 100 pages) its incredibly pretentious.
I honestly found the whole book quite creepy and pathetic

Content Warnings

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