Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

The narrator, whose name we never learn, is in the sixth round of interviews when we meet her. She is interviewing with Adela, the Vice-Secretary of Expatriation. And she will be working with ex-pats from history. What in the world does THAT mean?

Well, the Ministry has recently gotten their hands on a machine which can scoop people up from anywhere in history and bring them to the modern world. And the narrator is to be a "bridge" to one of these "ex-pats" and work to assimilate them into modern-day Britain. Easy, huh?

Her ex-pat is a naval officer who served in the Franklin expedition of 1845 to find the northwest passage across the Arctic. Actually, he was scooped up in 1847, just before he would have died and when he didn't return from a hunting trip he was presumed dead by the others in his company. Referred to in the official documents as 1847, he is actually Commander Graham Gore, an actual person on that expedition who did disappear while hunting and was presumed dead.

The job of the bridges is to live with the ex-pats for the period of one year, at which time they hopefully will have learned enough about their new world to fit in and become just another British citizen. There are five bridges and five ex-pats: 1916, 1665, 1645, 1793, and, of course, 1847. They meet so the ex-pats can mingle, as can the bridges and Graham makes friends with 1916, Arthur Reginald-Smyth, scooped up during the Battle of the Somme, and 1645, Margaret Kemble, the Great Plague of London.

As the year progresses, there are hints as to what the Ministry's actual plan is, but it is not considered important for the bridges to know everything. But the truth does emerge and everyone is suddenly in mortal danger, both from inside and outside the Ministry, through shadowy forces.

I LOVE a good time-travel story and this is a really good one. It bogs down a bit on details, but stick with it. You will be glad you did.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this! I've had it for quite some time but when it was picked up in BOTM I finally decided to take the plunge.
I think this just isn't my style. I give it 3 stars because I did keep reading...but I just don't completely get it. I think it lacks some world building (at some point in the future that is very dystopian but not really clearly so we gain the ability to bring people back from various time periods and we do so....but with no real idea why). I am all for suspended disbelief and magical components...but I also need to really feel connected with the suspension, and I felt more I was left purposefully vague.
The romance is good but not great? The story itself gets a bit convoluted with some twists at the end that turn it more into a spy novel. The time travel bit starts to fall apart?
Don't get me wrong. I finished it. But I wouldn't go so far as to say I liked it.

4 STARS

CW: death, starvation, cannibalism, violence, gore, sexual content, racism, murder, mention of genocide, colonialism

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book really surprised me. When I started reading, I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did but the story really drew me in despite it essentially being a self-insert fanfiction about a Royal Navy Officer from the 1840s who actually existed and was part of a lost expedition to the Arctic. I have googled his picture and I must admit I do not share the author's opinion about his attractiveness (but that's subjective anyway, suffice it to say Graham Gore is not my type).

The set-up of the story is rather simple: time travel exists and a ministry has been established to get people from the past to the present. (Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm wondering what this is actually for... What's the merit of having people from the past that were supposed to die in the present where they're unfamiliar with the entire world at large?!) The time travelers include Graham Gore, the aforementioned Arctic explorer from 1847, Arthur from 1916 who fought in the trenches in WWI, and Margaret, a woman from 1665. (There were also two others but I didn't really like them as much alas..) I was very entertained with the vision of Margaret discovering feminism, being curious about social media and being allowed to be entirely her. Arthur was from the most recent past so it was super interesting to see how different these characters were. From our standpoint, the past is just one entity but maybe we should rather think about different pasts.

I have to be honest, I think I cared about the main character the least. She narrates her story but I really couldn't warm to her. She was annoyingly naive and it got on my nerves fairly quickly. Still, this story, the worldbuilding (despite some discrepancies) and the other characters and situations kept me engaged and I really loved learning more and more about the Ministry of Time and the various expats. Graham, on the other hand, was a very intriguing character and I loved his relationship with Arthur and Maggie especially.

From a narrative perspective, there were definitely some very interesting descriptions and I think if you read the book closely and pay attention, not many of the reveals will surprise you. The big revelation in the end was pretty unsurprising to me as I had figured it out by the mid-point. Additionally, time travel narratives always are fascinating to read for me because it becomes very mind-boggling to think about repercussions for events in the future and especially if multiple timelines are involved, it just becomes more and more complicated.

Overall, I really loved this story and I was surprised by that. There are some elements that made little to no sense to me but my reading was not hampered by them for the most part. (I think the end was actually my least favorite, I was very frustrated with how it turned out but at the same time liked that it wasn't all butterflies and rainbows.) If you like stories about time travel, I'd definitely check this one out and I'd implore you to check the description to see if it interests you in any way. It was also very easy to read (stylistically).

I wish I hadn't read this book. For real.

First off - I think the marketing for this book does it a major disservice. All of the marketing materials make this out to be a time travel romance? But it's not??? But then why did they make it a point to put a quote from Emily Henry on the cover?

Not only was this not a romance, but it didn't even feel like the kind of scifi I expected it to be! It was extremely slow-paced and VERY MUCH a literary fiction book. There were so many big words that I had to google because I couldn't figure them out from context clues, which made me feel like the author wanted to show her readers that we were stupid? It felt insanely pretentious and honest;y just made me angry.

I kept thinking this book would get better, but it didn't. It felt like it was trying to do too much and didn't do any of it well.

And the fact that this entire book was just fan fiction about a real guy from history? Weird af.

Clearly this one wasn't for me.

A triumph in storytelling and genre bending, The Ministry of Time is everything I love about time travel stories. It’s hopeful, bittersweet, and I sobbed at the very last page. I loved every word.

Our unnamed narrator works for the titular Ministry and is assigned as a bridge - or companion - of Graham Gore, a fictional version of the 19th century arctic explorer. He was recently saved from death in his own timeline and sent to the future through a time door, to test the limits of time travel.

What starts as a simple domestic affair as our protagonist helps Gore assimilate to his new time period, transforms into a devastating and emotional journey of love, identity, and forgiveness. Our protagonist, who is British and Cambodian, grapples with her identity and inherited trauma, how to bridge the knowledge gap for this man out of time with the realities of racism and the ever-evolving future, and her conflicting feelings about her work for the Ministry and her growing connection with Gore.

A perfect blend of romance, humor, sci-fi twists and thrills, and cultural commentary, The Ministry of Time is a stunning debut, and my favorite of the year so far.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for this ARC.

Kaliane Bradley debuts with a zinger of a novel. Her love of an Arctic explorer mixed with futuristic time travel seems an unlikely success, but take it from me, this was exceptional!

Several historical figures are brought to the near present in Britain through a time door that the Ministry stumbled upon. The idea was to save them just at the moment of their untimely death and reintegrate them as field agents. The Ministry brings in handlers, called bridges, to observe the expats as they acclimate to the future. Graham Gore, Victorian era Arctic explorer, seems to be the only expat to really adapt successfully, but there is a mole in the department that seeks to take out Gore and his bridge.

Told from the perspective of the unnamed bridge of Gore, many characters are introduced but beautifully described so you feel you are in the story. This is a little bit spy thriller with some romance and history peppered throughout, and the time travel aspects are not so far fetched. I did not want this tale to end! The writing is wonderful, and I can only hope that there are more tales from Bradley that will take us on an adventure through time.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

I devoured The Ministry of Time in just one day. I’ll be recommending this intriguing novel to all my friends. Thank you to author Kaliane Bradley for taking Graham Gore out of the history books and into this fabulous adventure story. Memorable reading experience, for sure.

It's so tempting to call this book genre-bending but honestly I'm preferring to reflect on it as a unique and clever take on the classic spy novel. I really loved everything about it and enjoyed reading about the good Ministry agent the bridge and intrepid Victorian Naval explorer Graham Gore immensely.

I won't bog down this review with a regurgitation of the plot, and jump straight into my impressions. Firstly, I thought it would annoy me that the main protagonist isn't ever actually named but it didn't. The fact that Graham refers to her as "moggy", "little cat" etc is freaking adorable and really was the only clue he feels any affection towards her at all for most of the book. Secondly, there is a depth to the time-travel aspect of the story that I appreciated - clearly Bradley has put a lot of thought into the concepts of "hereness" and "thereness", and the way this impacted the ex-pat characters (those plucked from the past and brought forward to our near-future) was explored in interesting ways.

We're never quite sure what is going on politically as we are limited to the bridge's POV and I got the same sense of disorientation as when I watch a tv show like Killing Eve - I never can quite put my finger on who is telling the truth, who is bending it, who is lying and spying and ready to double-cross. It keeps the reader off-balance in a way that is intriguing and slightly uncomfortable, a good trait in a book that is meant to be somewhat of an exciting thriller as well as a spy romp.

The romantic subplot was hugely enjoyable, I was actually beginning to despair of anything materializing between the bridge and Graham because the slow burn was SO subtle as to be almost indistinguishable from their working relationship. Talk about repressed emotions! When the storm broke we were treated to some great intimate moments and their banter went to the next level, absolutely fabulous stuff.

Overall, the book left me feeling a little melancholy and introspective. The way the world is clearly ruined by climate change and war in the bridge's near-future is a warning bell. The final act is a rough ride but ultimately Bradley chose to end on a note of hope. This is a fab dystopian/time-travel/spy book and I recommend it to anyone looking for something a little different to read.

I so badly wanted to love this book. I thought the concept was beyond amazing and I wanted to know more about what happened. However, this book made me feel like an absolute moron. It felt like the author wanted us all to know how smart they were. Some of the obscure words they used in place of simple words were so unnecessary and it just took away from the enjoyment of the book. I ended up dnf'ing because I didn't feel like looking up a new word every single page.

This review is based on an ARC received on NetGalley. 3.5/5 stars

I have to applaud the author. Unlike most books I read, I did not see the plot twist coming from a mile away for once. I loved the two side characters, Arthur and Maggie. I was impressed by the author's ability to weave, sometimes subtle, sometimes very obvious, social criticisms into the story. Kaliane Bradley has a way with words and also manages to capture what it would be like for historical figures to suddenly land in the twenty-first century. For a debut novel, the author deserves this praise.

All good and well, but I did end up rating this book 3.5 stars. Why? Honestly, I don't think I am the right audience for this book. I am unsure how to describe my thoughts on the other aspects of this book. I think it didn't live up to the expectations I originally had after reading the blurb, and that this might have influenced both my reading experience and my rating of the book.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the idea behind this story, but when actually reading the book, to me it all sort of blurred together. I felt like I was being dragged from genre to genre. The first half of the book I absolutely loved, but I kept getting distracted because I kept comparing the main character to the author. Seeing things from someone else's perspective is one of the many reasons I read books, but sometimes I felt as if the author was really just writing about an alternate version of themselves and it got me out of the flow of reading, if that makes sense? Add to that that Graham Gore was an actual real person, instead of some made-up character based on a polar explorer, and I was sucked out of the story even more.

This story had a very good idea, it just didn't work as well as it could have for me personally. Still, kudos to Kaliane Bradley for attempting to blend all these genres together and writing this story. I did have a good laugh from time to time and enjoyed most of this book.

Thank you to the publisher for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I just wasn't pulled in, and interested in the story. The time travel elements made sense and were easy to follow, mostly. The characters and their interactions happened quickly and without deep, meaning or consequence. I did enjoy some of the humor that was a strong suit of the story. I do think this is more a me problem but I accept these review copies in exchange for an honest review. Sadly this wasn't for me but if you like a mash up of history and time travel this may be for you, it's worth trying.

Often I find I love these punch bowl novels more than most straight-up genre fiction novels. By punch bowl, I rather mean something like what I and my friends call “jungle juice”: a bottle of this wine, a bottle of this liquor, a bottle of that liquor, a bottle of champagne, a bottle of some clear soda like 7-Up, a whole lot of frozen, chopped up fruit thrown in to keep it cold and to mask the taste of the alcohol… You know? A little bit of everything thrown into one big bowl until it becomes something dizzying, delightful, and unpredictable.

That’s what The Ministry of Time is: part-spy thriller, part-time travel romance, part-science fiction novel, part-psychological fiction, a whole lot speculative fiction (which is really what this novel should just be classified as, but try telling that to marketers), and it’s all wrapped up in such lovely storytelling prose I can only describe it as literary fiction.

This book led me through hill and dale, up mountains and down into valleys. It was funny, only to take a steep drop into darkness. Romantic one second, only to turn around and be bereft the next. Often I didn’t know if I should be crying or not. Sometimes I’d find myself crying and didn’t know I had started. This story and these characters wound themselves around my heart, latching on with hooks, for good or for ill, and I knew this could only end in heartbreak but it was worth holding on anyway.

Insofar as the dynamic between our two main characters and their sociocultural norms and mores, that’s an intrinsic issue built into the framework of the book and is too much to explore in a review. It’s completely interesting, though. I highly recommend the whole thing.

I’m going to put it all out there at the risk of embarrassing myself and just confess that I had a bit of an obsession with Jean-Claude Van Damme when I was a wee thing. One of my favorite movies of his was Timecop—hold on—*fanning myself*—and this book has pretty similar vibes but not all the helicopter kicks. I quite like the premise; I am a SFF nerd and love time travel stuff. Bradley’s debut certainly has an interesting take and presents a character-centric novel that speaks more to humanity than to the theoretical side of time travel. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I also found the cohesion of time travel and its effect on the world and characters could have used some more development.

Bradley’s brilliance really shines in dialogue and storytelling. Several different people from different time periods get together and require assimilation into an environment of ultimate culture shock. All of these characters feel like they’ve been pulled out of literature from their respective eras. Navigating all of the cultural norms for each of those time periods and trying to navigate the complexities of acclimating all of these fish out of water was probably the best part of the whole book and quite clever to boot.

The problem with time travel, though, is that it’s pretty tricky to navigate and it’s been done a ton. I’ve read a few time travel novels that aren’t heavily focused on the technical aspects, and they work, but I was a bit confused as to how the stuff really worked here. The synopsis does say it’s a time travel romance, so I didn’t go into it expecting heavy SFF vibes. I feel like there was a bit of technicality that didn’t get fully developed and left me wanting more.

Because the book feels like it’s navigating so many different genres—romance, time travel, espionage, social justice issues, climate issues—the story line feels spread a bit thin for me. Just when things heated up a bit between Graham and his bridge, the story would shift focus to something else. Things would then slowly pick up pace and then shift again to something entirely different. If just the romance between the two main characters were pulled out of the book and bound by itself, I’m not sure it would take up even half of the pages. Plus, the end reveal just pours cold water all over the mood and sets the reader right back at square one. Two major plot lines really fight over the focus of this novel.

Despite that, I enjoyed it enough. I can’t give it 4 stars, but it was certainly good enough for 3 stars for me. The brilliant writing style and dry wit and banter made me laugh, so I compromised with a solid 3.5. I definitely recommend giving it a try.

My thanks to Avid Reader Press and Simon & Schuster books via NetGalley for the eARC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.

Intriguing novel in which time travel has just been discovered and the British government decides to test it by pulling figures of history, who died in their own time, into the present. It’s a really creative concept and entertaining to see how the “expats” adjust to modern life, including Commander Graham Gore, who was rescued from a failed 19th century polar expedition. The crux of this book is a love story, which carries the story.

I could barely finish this book because of the writing. It was Very very History heavy, long chapters, weird dialogue not listing who was talking. I thought the premise was very unique and it reminded me so much of the humans by Matt haig but it was the writing that made my rating

A cool and unique take on the time-travel novel, full of intrigue, thrill, and just enough romance to keep the pages turning.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The British government, after discovering a door in time, have pulled through several “expats” into modern day London. These historical refugees, who originate from the 1600s to WWI, are assigned a Ministry employee to serve as their “bridge” to help them adjust to modern life. What follows is a genre-defying caper—part romance, part spy thriller, part meditation on history, race, and humanity.

I really loved these characters. The “expats” all had unique, well-developed personalities and I felt real affection for them. I really enjoyed the banter between the protagonist and her expat, a real-life 19th century Arctic explorer named Graham Gore, and the development of their relationship was a highlight.

My biggest gripe is with the book’s structure. Especially in the first half, I found myself struggling at times to get into a flow while reading. The book had longish chapters composed of many short sections. Several times, just as I was getting into a scene, it ended, often at the most interesting part. The reading experience felt a little choppy.

In all, this book took a big swing, and I found it to be a very promising debut. I will look for Kaliane Bradley’s future novels.

I feel like I'm gonna stay thinking about this book for a while.

In an alternate universe (or the very near future) in which time travel has been found out, our narrator has been given a promotion within the Ministry to work as bridge (or caretaker) for people that th Ministry has pulled out of the past and brought to the present. Our narrator has to then figure out how to acclimate a naval officer from the 1800s to modern day society. And then our narrator has to figure out her growing obsession (maybe too strong a word) for her 1800s client, And then our narrator has to figure out what seems like a conspiracy.

I make it sound a bit silly, but it was very thought-provoking and very easy and quick to read. There are some touches on racism, being white-passing, the future of the environment, ethics, and naivete and thinking you are the smartest person in a room. It was very interesting, and though I kind of wish it would have shaken out differently, I found the story to be very realistic, given that there is time travel. Context stays missing in regular adult conversations sometimes, people don't hear you out, and one can make mistake after mistake and not realize that any of it was ever a mistake at all.

I also thought the way the story was written was very intriguing. Some fourth wall breaks, some flashbacks, etc. I quite liked this book!

Thanks to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press for the e-ARC!

Ministry of Time is an inventive and original take on a time-travel romance. There are elements of history, science fiction, fantasy, and romance all seamlessly blended together. I love how serious themes are explored throughout, but the tone never feels preachy. In fact, I found myself laughing out loud at the antics of the characters more than once. Kaliane Bradley has written an utterly charming, effervescent tale with elements of the fantastical. The ending just left me wanting more, and I was sad for the story to be over. Thank you to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press for the review copy. Ministry of Time will publish May 7, 2024.

This one just didn't work for me. I DNFed about 40% through. The story kept getting lost in it's own attempt at quirkiness.