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kell_xavi 's review for:
The Ministry of Time
by Kaliane Bradley
medium-paced
A novel weak in science fiction and flawed in romance, which depends on unrewarding tropes and fails to fully develop an intriguing concept.
In an interview, Kaliane Bradley says that an obsession with the historical Graham Gore is the Franklin expedition inspired her debut novel, The Ministry of Time. This starting point helps to make sense of a somewhat thin time travel mechanism and the lack of concrete detail around the ministry that utilizes it to experiment with bringing people from previous centuries into present-day London. The book is framed as a romance, which goes from slow burn (ie. Victorian) to all-at-once in a single scene. Where it was loose and unconvincing up to that point, the protagonists’ development stagnates there.
Bradley uses obvious foreshadowing, with phrases like, “I didn’t know it would be the last time” and “it ended up like this because of my stupidity” (paraphrasing). This doesn’t contribute much to the plot, but does make the narrator annoying. Since Graham Gore is mainly shown from her perspective, as a handsome, charming gentleman, he reads as false and boring.
In contrast, his “expat” friends, Maggie and Arthur, are more dynamic; however, the way queerness is treated through these two characters felt off. I’m not sure whether the author is queer, but their sexuality came across as an experimental quirk to prove a point (of 21st century progress, of Gore’s winning personality) rather than a realistic unfolding identity.
Some of the expats’ learning and emotions around coming to the 21st century interested me—Arthur and Graham’s music performance, a game of finding things from their times, etc. There are hints of good fiction here, but they don’t make up a solid core.
Some of the expats’ learning and emotions around coming to the 21st century interested me—Arthur and Graham’s music performance, a game of finding things from their times, etc. There are hints of good fiction here, but they don’t make up a solid core.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Murder
Minor: Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Vomit, War