Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

17 reviews

emotional funny inspiring reflective 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

I've been hearing about this book forever, and I'm so glad I finally got to it. It's hard to describe it - it's a combination workplace comedy, love story, time travel adventure, and spy thriller - but it's great fun all the way through. The narrator tells us early on not to get too wrapped up in trying to figure out the logistics of the time travel situation, and that's helpful so you just go along for the ride. The characters are hilarious and full of pathos, and our main character is deeply flawed and yet deeply lovable. This book takes on colonialism, state-sponsored violence, believing you are part of the solution when instead you are integral to the problem itself, forcing your ideas of how people should be on them, what history really means, and if it's possible to actually make a difference. It does all things while being very funny, endearing, and compulsively readable. I loved this book!

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adventurous reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Great premise, didn’t totally enjoy the execution. The ending was also good. Interesting exploration of the intersections of social issues with this concept.

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adventurous dark funny mysterious 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: Yes

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challenging dark mysterious 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

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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: No

I generally enjoyed the story as a whole; however, the last 20% of the story, truly the plot-dense portion of the novel, was incredibly rushed. The verbiage was somewhat pedantic (even considering that characters were from different centuries with different language). The novel would’ve been better had it not tried to touch on so many genres. 

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I wanted to like this book SO bad! Graham Gore is a commander for the British Navy who after getting lost in an Arctic expedition gets taken to present day Britain by The Ministry of Time. The main character (who apparently doesn't have a name??? wtf) works as the bridge between Gore and modern day culture and concepts. The issue with this book is %100 the writing and characters. The concept of this book is incredible and if it achieved what it promised this would probably be my favorite book of the year. Unfortunately, this was not only unromantic, unfunny, and boring but it was also so confusing. Gore shows more interest in his best friend Arthur than he does the FMC. They have less than zero chemistry together and it baffles me that she spends like most of the book basically writing in her diary about how handsome he is and how she loves him. He basically only ever talks to her like a roommate even when they hookup. Gore was the most well developed and yet he still fell so flat as a character. The FMC was a one dimensional follower and never decided anything on her own. I was rooting for the bad guys at the end. I fucking hate that I didn't like this book but its just so poorly written it was basically mental torture to read. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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

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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