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adventurous
funny
mysterious
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
Loved it, the only reason I didn’t give it 5* is because I found parts of the prose grandiloquent where it needn’t have been. Can’t wait for the TV adaptation and to see Commander Gore brought to life on screen. Also the sex scenes are hot.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Colonisation
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-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
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
informative
reflective
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
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Cannibalism
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
No
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Sexual content, Cannibalism
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
if i could give this book 10 stars, i would. i think this is my new favorite book of all time. i genuinely don't have the words to describe it with even close to the type of justice it deserves, so i will just say: read this book, please.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Slavery, Vomit
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
The Ministry of Time is narrated by an unnamed civil servant, who was born to a Cambodian refugee mother and a white British father. In near-future London, she's worked her way up the ranks in the Languages Department until she gets the opportunity to transfer to a new top-secret project - Britain has time travel now, and she'll be serving as a bridge to one of the so-called expats.
Her "expat" is Commander Graham Gore, who was extracted from the year 1847. A Royal Navy officer who was doomed to die anyway on Sir John Franklin's lost Arctic expedition, he's deemed a prime candidate for this experimental project - determining the impact that time-travel might have on the human physiological state.
The bridge and the expat are meant to live together for a year, with the bridge both helping the expat adjust to the 21st century and reporting on the expat's behavior to the Ministry of Time. But of course, complications arise for our narrator - disagreements with one of the other bridges, her inconvenient feelings for Graham Gore, cryptic warnings from her Ministry handler and sharp observation by the Vice Secretary for Expatriation, Adela. Among all of that, she helps Graham and his fellow expats Arthur (1918, WWI) and Maggie (1665, the bubonic plague) learn to enjoy the freedoms of modern life.
I know there are divided opinions on this book, but I have to admit I really enjoyed it. I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately, and I finished this over the course of three days, including staying up til 1:30 am the first night I started it because I didn't want to stop! It's weird, wacky, disturbing in places, and I ate it up. I'm not a big sci-fi person and I'm sure a hardcore science fiction fan would find plenty to take issue with - although the premise is based in time travel, the book itself is more of a character study verging towards slow-burn romance. I thought it was interesting how Bradley used the scaffolding of the Ministry of Time and interactions between people from different eras to touch on whiteness, colonization and empire, political correctness, marginalization etc. both historically and in modern (well, near-future) Britain.
Where this fell a little flat for me was at the ending. I didn't take issue with the sudden change in pacing, with a lot of action falling in the last 20% of the book - that actually felt accurate to me for the espionage, time-warfare vibes that had been building until then - and I was pleased to have anticipated a few well-foreshadowed reveals. Given that it's a time-travel story, I wasn't expecting to fully comprehend how all that was playing out, but I must have read the last few paragraphs five times just trying to wrap my head around them. I imagine the point was to leave the reader wondering, but I also wish there was something a bit more concrete I could grab onto in that moment.
Hard to say who I'd recommend this for - I think if you're looking for either strictly sci-fi or strictly romance, you're going to be disappointed. Truly the best descriptor I have for it is weird, but for me it was weird in a way that was very compelling. Be warned that there are some heavy topics, ranging from racism to starvation, which are not always handled in a way that is politically correct. If you like a story that's a little dark but a little wacky, with a lot of introspection about characters who are morally grey, maybe give this a try - it might turn out that you adore it.
Her "expat" is Commander Graham Gore, who was extracted from the year 1847. A Royal Navy officer who was doomed to die anyway on Sir John Franklin's lost Arctic expedition, he's deemed a prime candidate for this experimental project - determining the impact that time-travel might have on the human physiological state.
The bridge and the expat are meant to live together for a year, with the bridge both helping the expat adjust to the 21st century and reporting on the expat's behavior to the Ministry of Time. But of course, complications arise for our narrator - disagreements with one of the other bridges, her inconvenient feelings for Graham Gore, cryptic warnings from her Ministry handler and sharp observation by the Vice Secretary for Expatriation, Adela. Among all of that, she helps Graham and his fellow expats Arthur (1918, WWI) and Maggie (1665, the bubonic plague) learn to enjoy the freedoms of modern life.
I know there are divided opinions on this book, but I have to admit I really enjoyed it. I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately, and I finished this over the course of three days, including staying up til 1:30 am the first night I started it because I didn't want to stop! It's weird, wacky, disturbing in places, and I ate it up. I'm not a big sci-fi person and I'm sure a hardcore science fiction fan would find plenty to take issue with - although the premise is based in time travel, the book itself is more of a character study verging towards slow-burn romance. I thought it was interesting how Bradley used the scaffolding of the Ministry of Time and interactions between people from different eras to touch on whiteness, colonization and empire, political correctness, marginalization etc. both historically and in modern (well, near-future) Britain.
Where this fell a little flat for me was at the ending. I didn't take issue with the sudden change in pacing, with a lot of action falling in the last 20% of the book - that actually felt accurate to me for the espionage, time-warfare vibes that had been building until then - and I was pleased to have anticipated a few well-foreshadowed reveals. Given that it's a time-travel story, I wasn't expecting to fully comprehend how all that was playing out, but I must have read the last few paragraphs five times just trying to wrap my head around them. I imagine the point was to leave the reader wondering, but I also wish there was something a bit more concrete I could grab onto in that moment.
Hard to say who I'd recommend this for - I think if you're looking for either strictly sci-fi or strictly romance, you're going to be disappointed. Truly the best descriptor I have for it is weird, but for me it was weird in a way that was very compelling. Be warned that there are some heavy topics, ranging from racism to starvation, which are not always handled in a way that is politically correct. If you like a story that's a little dark but a little wacky, with a lot of introspection about characters who are morally grey, maybe give this a try - it might turn out that you adore it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Colonisation
Minor: Cannibalism
emotional
mysterious
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
Moderate: Genocide, Racism, Sexual content, Colonisation
Minor: Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Slavery, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, War, Deportation
dark
emotional
sad
slow-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: Sexual content
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder
Minor: Genocide
funny
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Grief
Minor: Cannibalism
challenging
emotional
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:
No
While this book does have some fun stuff, especially as friendships develop, it is one of those books that’s a little bleak/cynical in outlook. The very end has a hopeful tone, which saved it for me, but the bulk was a bit harder to get through, which is why it has a slightly lower rating from me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Infidelity, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic