Interesting concept and story which moved well. I was skeptical that the story would be cliched time travel story. I enjoyed the character development and plot.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Receiving an advanced copy was a delightful surprise. I believe both existing fans and newcomers will find it equally enjoyable.

I reviewed an advanced uncorrected proof. It is my genuine hope that the most egregious error in this text is corrected before being brought to print. In reference to feeling aware of an incoming uncomfortable topic of conversation, the main character is said to be on “amber alert.” I believe this must have been mere ignorance to have included this as a.) Amber alerts are named after a real person, Amber Rene Hagerman, and b.) this terminology is recognized internationally in its adoption. There is no way an Amber alert fits the context of the novel, and it should be changed. If it becomes brought to my attention that this content is removed, I will happily update my review to remove this area of concern from my review.

When I started reading this book, I was under the impression this author wrote a fanfic about a dead commodore from an infamously doomed Arctic expedition based upon a “foxy” daguerreotype, and honestly, I was here for it. I have found the mystery of Franklin’s expedition curious since I read about it as an example text on a standardized exam many years ago. The fact I never developed a crush on one of the crew members seems in retrospect a missed opportunity.

I wanted to like this, but it is trying to do too many things without fully realizing any of them. This book asks you to suspend your disbelief a lot more than I found I could. For example, is it realistic that our narrator could teach Commodore Gore to be less racist? No, at least not in my experience with old racist white people today. I doubt someone from the 1800s is going to be more flexible than grandpa, born only slightly before the Civil Rights movement. This is more of an issue than time traveling, for which the science is either ambiguous or so obtuse that I simply skimmed through it as I have no memory of the tech being explained at all.

The romance I expected is nonexistent. From early on, the needlessly unnamed narrator describes Gore both as her “overgrown son” alongside notes about his erotic appearance and manners. This happens more than once throughout the novel. When the romance does appear about 66% of the way through the novel, it is fast, hard, and abrupt, not at all the slow burn I had expected from previous reviews.

There is so much cigarette smoking described in extreme detail down to how much ash is produced at a time and where they are depositing it. Maybe this just bothered me, but I was annoyed at being told about the habit on what felt like every page.

The writing style is unique. Metaphors are lengthy and creative, but also they are often ineffective. If my complexion is “fungal,” does that mean like a mushroom or like a yeast infection? And also, what does either one look like?

The most interesting part of this story for me was about our narrator’s struggle with her family’s assimilation to the UK and the legacy of her mixed heritage. I would like to have read more of that instead.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for an advanced copy of this book to review.

I'll be honest: if this was billed as just a straight time travel romance, I wouldn't have even picked it up. Time travel usually confuses me and, though I did try to read and watch Outlander, I just never bought into the craze like some of my friends did. BUT seeing that The Ministry of Time promised to be "a time travel romance, a speculative time thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of the power of truth" drew me in. That, and Kaliane Bradley has a number of impressive short story publications under her belt. I decided, on a lark, to take a chance, knowing that I would probably be sorely disappointed.

But, oh boy, was I wrong. First off, Bradley delivers on every single one of those premises which is, in and of itself, an impressive feat. Second off, her writing is so fluid and flexible that it is impossible not to get sucked in. Third of all, she made me fall in love with a 19th century explorer. What magic is this?

If you go in expecting a plain romance or a spy thriller or a workplace comedy, I think you will be disappointed (hence, as of writing this review, the 3.6 stars on Goodreads). Because TMoT is none of those things and all of those things at once. In true litfic fashion, Bradley probes at the seams of everything she writes. I would liken this to Ling Ma's excellent Severance, so if anyone here liked those diasporic themes, this one is for you. And, like in Severance, Bradley writes characters and scenarios so well that it is impossible not to feel them coming to life around you.

Bradley's England, even though it's set in the near-distant future, feels real and palpable, and her twist at the end had my heart racing. Although the middle, which felt very "slice of life," as other readers have noted, started to lose me a little bit, when I got to the end, I understood it all: it's not slow-paced, it's TENSE, with the subtlest of clues that something is off (and, of course, adorable scenes of Graham Gore falling in love with Spotify and discovering the joys of motorcycle riding). This is the kind of book that I immediately want to go back and re-read for everything that I missed, and that I desperately want to get my English major self back into gear for, annotations and all. I will be recommending this to everyone I know who likes their books sexy, smart as hell, and utterly heartbreaking.

This is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it was CERTAINLY mine.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Avid Reader Press, and Kaliane Bradley for gifting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest feedback! The Ministry of Time is one of the strongest debuts I've read in a while and I will be eagerly anticipating Bradley's next work.

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley.

I loved this book so much! I hope it gets made into a movie. Consider its recipe: time travel, historical fiction, romance, spy thriller. YES, PLEASE. Turns out Capt. Graham Gore was a real person in the doomed Franklin expedition. Bradley imagines a scenario in which Gore is plucked from his own timeline by a secret ministry in the UK, whose goal is partly to fix climate change before it occurs. He is not alone though, because the Ministry pulls several other characters from different centuries in too, all of who become a cohort of acclimation to the twenty-first century. To make that transition, each is assigned a “bridge,” an officer responsible for living with the “expat” (I.e., time traveler) and teaching them about modern life and the history they missed.

But it turns out that Gore is the stuff of a Bond foil: ruggedly handsome (think Tom Hardy), charismatic, charming, likes to cook, learns to ride a motorcycle in leathers (please cast Tom Hardy in this film), can draw, plays the flute, and eventually, and unsurprisingly, becomes a hot, hot lover. For a time, the expats and bridges make friends, go clubbing, and have fun.That is until they realize they are being hunted by the future at the same time.

I hesitate to say more because I don’t wanna spoil so much that is wonderful about this book. Anyone who enjoys books liked Kindred (this imagines the time traveler moving forward in history but similarly having to grapple with historical problems and ethics), spy, novels (feels a bit Mr and Mrs Smith at moments, sexually tension, both highly trained agents, etc.),, or the recent Emily Wilde (similar romance) fairy books, will probably enjoy this book. Read it!

ok I was very excited abut the plot but this book ended up being kind of confusing. Things jumped around a lot and many things were left without being fully explained. The characters fell a little flat for me and lacked depth but I still found myself intrigued enough to not be able to put it down - so I guess that's something! The ending was also a little confusing and I wish I understood it more but I also did kind of like the art of the vagueness ?

This was an interesting book, rounded up from 3.75.

It started out really strong with a great opening chapter and a really strong premise. I felt it became a little lost around the middle and I got a little confused at times, however this is a time travel book so fair play.

The ending kind of snuck up on me! All of a sudden the action started and boom! The pace really amped up. I would have liked to have seen a more even pace distribution.

There was an open door romance scene at about 70% though the book, but other than that there was little explicit content in the book.

It was similar to the book Psychology of Time Travel in that it deals with the mental and physical health complications of time traveling and the issues with government involvement. It was different enough however that it still felt original.

This was a curious book and great for fans of Time Travel books. It is reminiscent of Outlander. I definitely have a history crush on Graham Gore and a new found interest in arctic expeditions.

The writing style was witty and I enjoyed the commentary throughout. Go into this expecting a slow burn and you’ll love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an eARC copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The Ministry of Time touts itself as "a time travel romance, a speculative spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of the nature of truth and power." Which... it is, kind of. The romance happens, but only after more than half of the novel has progressed and, even then, feels a bit out of place. One of the main settings is a workplace, but the story isn't very funny nor is it totally "ingeniously constructed". What this book is, and where it succeeds, is as literary science fiction blended with a somewhat bloated spy thriller.

My main problem, after struggling through this for weeks, was that there was too much happening, not enough explanation put into the bits that needed explaining, and too much time spent in the first-person POV of our nameless bridge. (Also Bradley could have just made up a character instead of fictionalizing Gore??? I cannot stress enough how weird it was to read about the character Graham Gore orgasming and then remember that not only did this character share the same name and face of the real Graham Gore but was literally him!!)

Bradley mentions in the foreword how she "got really, really into reading about polar exploration" and thought it would be funny to image her favorite polar explorer as her housemate. I think there is another Ministry of Time where the bureaucracies of time-travel are insubstantial to the romance that blooms between a Victorian Arctic explorer and a disaffected British civil servant and also a novel where no romance exists at all. Blending the two made Bradley's actual novel the worst of both options.

(It was also very hard to take her seriously when, upon gazing at the man who she calls out as being "very, very attractive," my first reaction was "...him?" Bradley could have kept her sexual fantasies about Gore to herself and then I wouldn’t have had to figure out why a bureaucratic time-travel thriller was billed as a romance.)

2.5 rounded to 3 stars. thank you to netgalley for a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!
the more I put down my thoughts about this book the more I realize how good it actually is once I go beyond the plot. I think it's genius that she uses naive characters to get to the actual nitty gritty of things. she uses an almost infantile soul/clean slate character to actually shine a light and magnify how strange and maybe even wrong the modern human experience is. race, religion, culture, sexuality, all of it was so masterfully navigated and expanded upon in such a subtle, simple, but poignant way. i love this writer. I love what she says and how she says it. rarely have I related to and recognized what an author is saying and their observations on race as much as i did Kaliane Bradley. I liked the subtlety? I'm not sure how to explain it. she says the things I subconsciously think but don't put a name to. and in such a witty way. I never really describe an author or writing as intelligent but this author? intelligent, genuinely funny, witty, sarcastic, and unique. this is exactly my kind of humor and wit. she says things that I would say.
that all being said I think her genius writing style makes up for the fact that the pacing and plot are actually quite slow. i got into this book because it was touted as a time travel spy thriller with romance and don't get me wrong those aspects are in there. unfortunately it feels like the plot doesn't actually start until more than half way through and once it does it feels rushed and quick to finish. good writing but eh story but im still quite interested in what else this author has to offer

This just was not for me. I found the writing style insufferably self-consciously quirky and annoying, plus the love story didn't really do much for me. Closer to a 2.5 than a 3.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Ministry of Time.

I'm not an avid reader of time travel themed novels because it can get confusing and tricky to follow but the premise of The Ministry of Time was so intriguing, I wanted to give it a shot.

The characters are interesting, especially Graham Gore, and the writing is good, though overly wordy, heavy on the metaphors as if the author wanted the main character to sound smart in case we had any doubt.

I liked the slow burn romance between the main character and Gore, but found the sex scenes unnecessary.

They didn't add to the narrative, and though I'm up for a sexy, erotic love scene as much as the next person, what's the point of those scenes?

The narrative began to take a turn for the romance-y which I'm not a fan of.

The story was slow for the first half, not surprisingly bogged down in political and social inequality discussions, which made sense since Gore had to acclimatize to a new political and social landscape, but it was apparent the main character had social and ethnic identity issues of her own she never dealt with.

The world building was decent, though I was still confused (not a surprise) about the time door and the purpose of 'extracting' the expats in the first place.

Why bring the expats back to the present (future)? To see if they can survive the time travel continuum or whatever?

Will they contribute to society? Will they discover the cure to cancer?

I just didn't get the purpose of the Ministry and their goal of screwing with past timelines and using the time door.

Just because those individuals they 'kidnap' are going to die in the past doesn't mean their deaths won't be irrelevant in the future.

This is what I mean when I say time travel in novels/movies/shows is confusing.

I liked the twist, and I guessed the identity of the mole correctly.

It took me until nearly the end of the novel to realize readers are never told the name of the narrator, like the narrator in Fight Club.

She's not a bad character, but I felt she was kind of naive and lacked street smarts despite her upbringing and her position as an expat.

This had an original premise though with typical time travel plot holes, and unnecessary wordy prose.

I did not particularly like this book, but I think it will find its readers. While I understood the story and the plot, the sometimes vague and nebulous writing often left me confused and disinterested.
It’s about time travel but also about a woman. I actually don’t have a clue what the point was, and I’m disappointed for what this book could have been.
Here’s a good quote though:

‘Belief has very little to do with rationale. Why demand a map for uncharted territory?’

I liked the character Graham Gore, who was based on a real person. He was funny, strong, observant, and believable. The protagonist was confusing and unlikable to me, and I didn’t believe their love connection.

Thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

This was a DNF for me, and I do feel bad about that. I'm usually all over the time travel books and thought would be just up my alley. I'm not sure why it wasn't, but after about a third of the book it was really starting to feel like homework. Not much was really happening, other than the time travelers going through their historical educations. There was some humor but not enough to get me to feel entertained and invested in the story. So this book was not for me, but I'm sure others will love it.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered a new and exciting position. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible. She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore, pulled from a doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who, surrounded by concepts such as “washing machines” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts. Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be an uncomfortable roommate dynamic evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen in love, with consequences she never could have imagined.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC! I was drawn to this book by its very interesting and unique premise. The book read like a futuristic Outlander with a bit more commentary on race and colonization. It was an accessible sci-fi with a touch of romance that I think a lot of readers will enjoy. I really enjoyed how the expats adapted to modern living and found those moments funny and endearing. I also found it interesting and poignant that the bridge, who narrates the book, remains nameless throughout, I thought the book was very well written, but at times the story seemed to stall and drag on a bit. This isn’t a genre that I typically gravitate towards so perhaps that’s why at times I was a little bored or waiting for more exciting plot points to occur. The majority of the exciting plot points took place in the final third of the book, so I found the pacing to be a bit off. The book was witty but the execution fell a bit short of my expectations.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Simon & Schuster/Avid Reader Press for the opportunity to read this book ahead of its release date!

Wow-how to explain this book? In one sentence, this is a romantic, time-travel spy thriller, which after this beautiful cover, immediately caught my eye.

This book follows our nameless main character who is the daughter of a Cambodian immigrant mother and a white British father. We learn that our main character, who struggles to find a sense of identity throughout her adult life, randomly joins a secret sect of British government called "The Ministry of Time" in order to fulfill a soul-deep need to feel power. She has no clue what this Ministry does when she signs on for the job, but soon realizes that her purpose is to act as one of several "bridges" or guides to a "expats" that the British government has "rescued" from the past, right before the times of their deaths. The bridges are to live with the expats for a year to help them "assimilate" to London in the 21st century. The narrator is assigned to be the Bridge of Graham Gore, who is presumed to have died in 1847 along with the rest of his expedition trying to discover the Northwest Passage.

I was immediately sucked into this story from the first page. Kaliane Bradley, who is British-Cambodian herself, offered such an interesting perspective to this story, and I could tell as the reader that the narrator's experience as a white-passing mixed-race woman living in England very much paralleled the author's own life experiences. She writes with such wit and sharp observations that were simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious. The majority of this story was actually an interesting (and often funny) study of how people transported from the past (all from different points of time) interact with each other and the modern world around them. This eventually turned into a really touching love story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Also, be prepared to obsessively Google Graham Gore and his expedition throughout reading--I know I did!

In my opinion, this book really went off the rails in the final 25%. It randomly turned into a pretty underdeveloped spy thriller/espionage situation that felt bizarre and confusing. There were a lot of loose ends and very little final explorations of our narrator's journey of self-discovery. My ARC, which is a pretty early proof of the final novel, also had a lot of strange spacing and confusing use of quotation marks, which may have affected some of the book's overall impact for me. Hopefully this will be worked out prior to the pub date.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story, and it is a pretty solid debut. I really look forward to reading more from Kaliane Bradley! Thanks again to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press.

Omg omg omg! I read this book in one sitting, simply could not put it down. Even from the authors opening note, I knew I was going to like this one—Kaliane Bradley addressed very openly her process of creating this novel, by essentially becoming obsessed over an obscure historical figure and imagining what having him as a roommate might be like. I thought ok, this has my interest and wow, what an engaging mysterious and meditative journey this book is on human history and what it means to be human. I loved it so much!!!!! Thank you to Avid Reader Press & NetGalley for the early opportunity to read and review it. Smash hit five stars, cannot wait to convince my book club to read this in May!

Requested this ARC after Emily Henry mentioned it was good on her blog. I will follow Henry anywhere, and that recommendation just solidifies my faith in her. This book was weird but in the best way possible. So funny—I loved the moments in which the MC had to teach Gore modern intricacies. Also a very cute romance. She seamlessly combined science fiction, humor, romance all in one and I was here for it. I loved it! Unrelated to the novel itself, my one gripe was the ARC file was formatted weirdly, which sometimes confused me. So I’m it looking forward to purchasing it and reading it in a hard copy.

Received this as an ARC and I loved it so much! It ticked several of my favorite boxes - time travel, spies, slow burn romcom - but it’s so much more than that. Probably the most thoughtful time travel novel I’ve ever read, touching on racism, sexism, homophobia, and the experiences of refugees/immigrants/displaced persons. Funny, heartbreaking, tense, and sweet.

My opinion may be in the minority on this one, but I found this book to be dull. The writing style is not for me, a lot of SAT words and just overly formal writing. The description of this book led me to believe it would be a lot faster-paced and climactic, but the first half was so boring and slow-moving that I nearly DNF'd. The second half did pick up the pace and finally, like the last 25%, we got what the book's description promised. It just felt like a lot of lead-up to very little action. I did enjoy the end and was glad that I finished the book. I give the first half 1-2 stars and the second half 3-4 stars with an average of 3 stars overall. Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I'm not sure I would read another book by this author, but clearly, others are loving it, so please take a chance and read it for yourself!

From the moment I encountered the premise of Kaliane Bradley's debut, "The Ministry of Time," I was intrigued. Promising a blend of time travel, romance, and espionage, it immediately brought to mind Connie Willis's Oxford Time Travel series—a favorite of mine. Such a comparison set the bar high, fueling my anticipation for a reading experience filled with adventure, humor, and depth.

Bradley's debut is ambitious. Her narrative displays a dedication to historical authenticity and a clear passion for her subject matter. Bradley's enthusiasm for Graham Gore is infectious; her portrayal is rich and breathes life into the historical figure, making the past resonate with the present. Yet, the romantic subplot centered around Gore fell short of my expectations. The main character, serving as our narrator, remained elusive throughout much of the book, leaving me feeling detached from her and the unfolding plot at times.

The first act fuses time travel with workplace comedy, setting a light-hearted tone with hints of darker intrigue. But as the story progresses into its later acts, the seamless blend of genres begins to unravel. The narrative's shift toward a spy thriller diverges from the initial whimsy, leaving the romantic narrative thread dangling. I was expecting Connie Willis, but the third act felt more akin to Blake Crouch.

Despite these criticisms, Bradley's exploration of England's colonial legacy stands out as a narrative highlight. The climax, a confrontation that masterfully ties together the story's thematic threads of racism and colonialism, underscores Bradley's skill in weaving significant social commentary into her storytelling. This moment, more than any other, showcases the depth of Bradley's narrative ambition and her ability to engage with complex historical and contemporary issues.

This was a solid 3.5-star read for me. For those drawn to time travel fiction and speculative innovation, Bradley's debut promises an engaging, though at times uneven, adventure. Her potential is undeniable, and she is definitely a name to watch.