I enjoyed this book. It has time travel as the background, but the main story is centered around the relationship that develops between our main character (I just realized she's unnamed) and Graham who has been plucked from 1847. It's a lovely cast of characters from various time periods that come together and form delightful friendships.

I know how petty and spoiled I'm going to sound in this review, but I can't, in good conscience, ignore this extremely promising debut novel. I'm a complete sucker for time-travel novels and stories, and all the weirdness that accompanies the (incorrect, in my opinion) History-changing antics of time travelers. (I think there are many worlds in the multiverse.) The notion here presented of making use of the lives of those who died too soon for Other Ends is one with a lot of appeal to me.

And yet this is a five-star idea in a four-star book. I love the idea! I like the execution because it's not fussy, doesn't cram in irrelevancies but *does* offer squads and fleets of enriching details, bothe about the past and the story-present, just a bit down our own road. So what's wrong?

She makes the spy story an excuse to tell this fundamentally romantic story, not this idea to propel a spy story. The way it's resolved is good just not great, and that's down to the wrong-endedness of the grasp. Nameless Narratrix is, it's absurdly evident from the get-go, going to fall in love with her new "expat" (coy bureaucratese for "kidnapped time-traveling hostage") and they are going to Do the Deed. I'm on record as not liking heterosex in my life, no matter where it comes from, so this was never going to work for me. But after thinking a lot about this book and its wonderful humor, its inventive take on the purposes of time travel, and its very well-limned characters, I realized I'd be just as tetchy if Nameless had been a man bedding a man the way god intended.

The problem for me is that I think the romantic plot is just too similar to the squads and fleets of inferior iterations of Outlander that litter the romance-reader's landscape. Why do more of the same? Well, in this case, because 1) it sells, and b) it's vastly...enormously...better-done than anything else in its competition.

But here's whiny little me, moaning "just leave it out!" as Nameless and her "expat" have headboard-smashing sex. Y'all are voting with your wallets, the book's a hit and rightly so! But it isn't the book I wanted.

Hence four, not five, stars. And my shamefaced admission that this is NOT the review that this book merited.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for providing the ARC.

This book was a delightful mix of sci-fi, spy thriller, and romance that I just couldn't help but sink into. A little jarring with story lines feeling stilted or rushed, and sometimes a hard time of keeping track of who was speaking, but I had thoroughly enjoyed this time-traveling fever dream of a book.

So much intrigue, trying to figure out who did what and when, and who was responsible for the mess they were in, while watching two people from two different time periods fall in love. A truly winding tale full of excitement and more as the reader uncovers the truth.

This book has been getting a lot of hype lately and I can understand why. It’s an enjoyable and unique read. Best described as part time travel, part spy novel, it’s really so much more.

Ministry of Time takes place in a version of London where time travel has recently been discovered and a handful of “ex-pats” have been taken out of history and placed in modern times. Our narrator’s job is to serve as a “bridge” to help the new arrivals acclimate to modern life. She is assigned to Graham Gore, a 19th century explorer from Franklin’s doomed Arctic expedition. As can be expected, romantic feelings develop and nefarious characters emerge.

The book is full of witty dialogue, especially while Gore and his fellow ex-pats attempt to navigate a new century and culture. The narrator’s own history, as the child of a Cambodian mother, provides interesting commentary on racism and past trauma.

Thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read and review this wonderful novel! Highly recommended.

I considered DNFing this early on but persevered and for a brief moment it had potential but really I should've just DNF'd.

It was fine but I just didn't care about it.
It was jarring at parts - I had no concept of what sort of time was passing so everything felt rushed and the character development was non-existent - or rather, they did develop but it felt out of the blue. I have no idea why Graham was joining the ministry and then at the end he seemed to do a 180 and resent out main character who's name I've already forgotten

Also why.. WHY.. did we make him an actual person?
We have pretty much no info on who the real Graham Gore was and it just felt a bit off to me to make the character him and give him traits that could be wildly off rather than a character inspired by the man. I do feel a bit harsh as I'm not 100% against books about/featuring historical figures and telling their stories but typically those are people we have more facts on so we can write with some sort of foundation and not just purely speculate on the beliefs and characteristics of someone. I also fear that it allows us to look at the character and glorify them when in actuality we have no idea if that is a person we would want to portray in any sort of positive light (but equally they may have been an incredible person that we write wrongly and would have offended. Even if they've been dead over a century)

I also have no idea what purpose the alternate POV chapters served. I feel like nothing happened in them and they were just boring, though as I listened to the audiobook and clearly wasn't fully invested in the story, perhaps I just stopped taking them in.

This had such high potential but really fall flat to me. I don't even want to class it as sci-fi as we really don't experience much of that.

The British Government is testing time travel using 'expats' across history to see its effects on the human body, but also the fabric of space-time. A civil servant becomes the 'bridge' to 1847 aka Commander Graham Gore from a failed expedition to the Arctic. This more than awkward living arrangement turns into something more. They could never imagine the consequences of falling in love. And how this program could shape the future...

The 1st person POV is witty with a sarcastic flair, utterly clever and relatable. The reliability is amplified by the fact that the protagonist goes unnamed. I am sure most of us would think the protagonist's thoughts in this unusual situation. The narrative is embellished by random seeming observations that totally help set the scene, sprinkled with enticingly visual, pleasantly novel and emotion-fused figurative speech. And the awkwardness of the situation is so entertaining, the fish out of water aspect done marvelously. You will adore the expats Arthur and Maggie.

1847 has his quirks and is disarmingly charming, plus as an explorer, adapting is in his blood. Meanwhile, the bridge is despite not really wanting to be, the voice of reason. The dependable one. The sense of right and wrong is deeply ingrained in her. But she starts throwing convention to the wind, for the sake of others and the truth.

The growing of feelings is gradual, cautious and depicted quietly with beauty. Their interactions feel natural and the comparison between their two times makes us ponder the rightness of today's world. We also ponder how greed and the desire for power bleeds into everything, how an invention is good or bad depending on how we use it.

Time travel is treated as a social experiment, with lots of bureaucracy involved as it seems in the beginning, before we slip into government control & secrets, ingredients for a conspiracy theory. But there is also so much welcomed and anticipated time travel weirdness.

There were instances where the musings of the protagonist would get carried away, some of it confusing, some of it too long-winded. The interjection of Gore's past just seemed to interrupt the story for the most part.

Humorous and fun, but also pensive with an air of melancholy and then unexpected helpings of danger and gut-wrenching intensity, this is a book like no other.

Ouch 🤕

Before any GMA Book of the Month folks come after me…..

This book was quite messy. It’s a romance but the romance is very awkward and forced, it’s sci-fi but outside of time travel has no other sci-fi elements and seems to trip over itself.

The characters are not very well fleshed out and regarding time travel we are basically told “don’t think about it.”

The humor and romance elements of this book really missed me, and just didn’t hit - I’m sure this book will sell a lot and those that like more light-hearted and easy romances will enjoy this book! I believe the marketing for this one made me think a sci-fi nerd as myself would really find value and I didn’t.

I really wanted to like this book more than this but it just doesn’t feel very well fleshed out and the more I learn about it’s inspiration the less I’m intrigued…

I highly recommend Sea of Tranquility if you’re looking for a beautiful time travel story that is very well-rounded and whimsical!

This book is interesting examination of time travel, culture, science fiction, and romance. I really enjoyed the overall story. Parts of the pacing were a little weird. Overall, an enjoyable read.

Intriguing title, fascinating idea but muddled execution & plotting

Time travel and Time-loop related books are really my sweet spots. A book with the title " The Ministry of Time" seemed quite alluring especially as it plays around with the concept through time transportation. This is a book that is charming in parts. asks important questions regarding displaced people (culturally and temporally) but ultimately struggles to build an engaging coherent narrative.

Ministry of Time transports Commander Graham Grove of the missing HMS Terror to modern-day London as a time expat. His liaison in this world or bridge as they are called 'is our narrator on this journey – a biracial British- Cambodian translator. There are of course other time expats and bridges but our story primarily revolves around our narrator and Gore, a cultural expat and the time expat respectively.

For most parts, the book is a rather pensive exploration of colonialism, slavery, sexism, freedom, identity, immigration, and conformity. The languid pace and man-out-of-time nature lend themselves to very pointed observations; most are point-on and fantastic. The character interactions especially when Graham Gore is on scene is rather charming

However, the book just didn’t work as a coherent narrative. The plot tensions surface abruptly and didn’t have much flow. I think I would have enjoyed the book if it was just character tensions and how they fit into this world rather than the spy elements of it and that completely derailed me in the last 20%. I didn’t enjoy it as much and that was a shame given how much I did want it to be good. The internal conflicts of the lead character were pretty intriguing for the first sections of the book but after a while, it just felt like a massive whine all through

Rating - 2 dubious government operatives on 5

I know everyone is so excited about this book, and obsessed, but I had a really hard time getting into it! And once it started flowing a bit easier for me and my brain, I just found that I wasn't interested anymore. But I would still recommend it to people, as I think this one is just a matter of taste and not at all about writing ability or storytelling.

Fantastic book--my favorite this year by far! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this!

Ministry of Time was a slow start for me. I tried it in print on Netgalley and eventually purchased an audio version. It's a little fish-out of-water, some humor. The plot is slow burn and a bit wry.

THANK YOU, NetGalley and the publisher!
What incredible character development, relationship building, and not-so distant future technology weaved together to create a really unique and interesting story line! I highly recommend!

Time travel, romance, spy story?!? I was absolutely all in! This is an amazing story about a woman going back in time to be a bridge by the UK's government and living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. The UK is gathering people throughout time (expats) to figure is time travel is possible. This was such a charming story that had me laughing out loud. A millennial meeting a person from the 17th century just cracks me up. Having someone from the past learn of all the new technology was hilarious. I absolutely enjoyed this book!!!

This book is a ride. The premise is fun, the characters endearing and the pacing is propulsive, which kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime. As for the plot, I felt like this book got a little messy toward the end, as the time travel logic started to collapse under its own weight (always a risk with time travel books!), but I liked the characters and the thought experiment so much, I didn’t really care. Plus, time travel! And Arctic explorers! This is lively, thoughtful and charming summer fare.

What a weird and yet delightful book! Never read anything quite like it! Time travel, spies, romance it has everything!!! It does feel like a self indulgent book for the author but she makes it very curious and fun for the audience as well!

THE MINISTRY OF TIME by Kaliane Bradley
Published: May, 7, 2024 by Avid Reader Press
Page Count: 352


An admirable debut novel that transcends the time-travel trope, while evolving into a spy thriller laced with inevitable romance. The British government stumbles upon an open “time door” and decides to study time travel practicality, safety, and possible benefits. They manage to “extract” a cadre of people who were doomed to die … either by war, natural disasters or epidemics. They all arrive in a discombobulated state. … acclimation to the present won’t be easy. They are assigned “bridges” to assist in their integration into present day life. These “expats” will need help in the simplest things, such as: how to dress, speak and behave. Many of modern day devices we take for granted may astound them. The main narrator, is an unnamed female of mixed-race … British father and a Cambodian mother who fled from the horrendous “killing fields” of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. She attained this top-secret job as a “bridge” after extensive interviews regarding her suitability. Her charge will be Lt. Graham Gore, a real-life Victorian naval officer and polar explorer. Extracted from sure death in the frozen tundra of the Canadian Arctic, while his men all perished with their ship trapped in the polar ice, and a dwindling food supply.
Kaliane Bradley proves to be a marvelous storyteller as she weaves together multiple plot lines that demonstrates the wonder of love and friendship developing to aid in the acclimation.
The relationship between Gore and his “bridge” gradually evolves, in spite of their initial reluctance . An element of spy thriller will arise as there is an attempt to murder them. Their banter is a source of inspiration and wonder. This a tale of time, tenderness
and forgiveness. Explored are the themes of evolving feminism and racism.
Thanks to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't for me, but I can see that some people would really like it. I honestly couldn't connect to the characters enough to be interested in It seemed like a quirky fantasy thriller but I didn't get enough of those vibes to excite me into reading. It just made the whole premise really werid.

I mostly loved this, but (as, I think, with most time travel novels) it got a bit knotted up at the end.

Review copy provided by publisher.

This is an interesting book. It seems to be on every list to read! In this book, they bring people to the present that would have died in their own time. The Ministry then helps them to acclimate to this time and how they can help out now that they are here. They have helpers who help them bridge the gap and help them learn what would have happened to them. This is an interesting premise and was a different type of book that was highly enjoyed.