This is a first class time travel/romantic suspense/spy thriller novel; which centres on the relationship between swoon-worthy Graham, who has been plucked from 1847 by the Government and forced to exist in modern day England and his handler. This is a beautifully written book, with an unusually advanced vocabulary - I usually only have to look up untranslated foreign words; but in this case, I found myself stymied several times by the liberal use of unfamiliar words - for example, within a chapter or so, we have aphorism, performing exegesis, quotidian, excoriated, victual….. so as well as being captivated by the story, I feel educated! In addition to the enthralling spy action/romance story, the book tackles many complex issues head-on; such as racism, mental health and modern day sexuality. Many thanks to NetGallery and Avid Reader Press for allowing me to get an early copy of this debut novel - I have a feeling this will be a massive success when it is out on 7 May 2024! Highly recommended.

I was very intrigued by the concept of The Ministry of Time where time travels were brought to the future to see how they would assimilate. The book did not disappoint. I loved how all of the travelers interacted and the small details that built the world as well as the intriguing mystery throughout the novel.

Loved the premise (to test the feasibility of time travel, the government is bringing people who have died in the past to the present and the main character is a "bridge" who helps one of these "expats" adjust to modern life): this was fast and fun, and we do get attached to the characters and their quirks. I cared about what happened to them.

This reads like a fluffy thriller romance with twists and turns, but at times, the language is overwrought and trying so hard to be kind of high brow, that it didn't match. To be clear: I liked the writing itself and I liked the plot itself, but it felt like a mismatch, and every time I noticed the mismatch, I was pulled out of the story. There were also just a couple of unbelievable parts of the story that I had a hard time getting over.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press!

4.5 stars rounded up. This is a hard book to describe without spoiling, but it’s a puzzle-box time-travel novel in the vein of Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, but funnier, and more of a love story, and darker and more political. I imagine the marketing team had a hard time figuring out what to do with this one, because it sort of feels like two different books in one.

Most of the first half is joyfully, deliciously self-indulgent RPF (fanfiction about real people, for the uninitiated). It feels like it could have started its life as a Yuletide fic. The premise is literally “what if your favorite blorbo came to life and you had to live together, for science?” Hats off to Bradley for pulling this off in tradpub!

The premise is a perfect sitcom concept, and the book automatically gets a lot of mileage out of that: What if a medieval peasant discovered dating apps? What would a Victorian google if a Victorian could google? Many variations on that sort of thing. It’s a bit formulaic, but it’s a pretty successful formula. Occasionally some of the humor feels a bit…low-hanging fruit? But for the most part I found the book genuinely funny.

In the second half of the book, things get complicated and intense, as though it’s switched genres from quirky romcom to spy thriller—and not, like, fun campy spies. The violence feels very real. You have to pay close attention to the plot, and even then you need a certain tolerance for confusion. There’s a lot going on—it doesn’t quite have the elegance of Sea of Tranquility (elegance in the way mathematicians mean, when a solution has a beautifully satisfying simplicity). But mostly the twists are satisfying, even if they’re not exactly simple! A couple of the lesser twists/reveals strained my credulity, like, this Top Secret department just happened to dispose of highly classified documents without shredding them? How convenient! But, on the big stuff, the book delivers.

I don’t often read books that center a love story between a man and a woman; I tend not to care for them. But this book made me invested. I, improbably, loved the white guy from the 1800s. The relationship is lushly romantic and erotic.

Overall, this was really good and I would definitely read more from this author. Pick up this book if you’re in the mood for some of everything: it’s sexy, it’s funny, it’s ridiculous, it’s horrifying, it’s swoony, it’s elegiac, it’s self-indulgent, it’s a harrowing self-reckoning, it’s a commercial plot with literary prose, it’s got a time-traveling lesbian on Tinder. What more could you ask for?

I loved the narrative! Admittedly, the actual explanation of multiple timeline time travel left me feeling dumb - but I am not dumb. I just don’t watch like, Marvel movies where it’s alllll multiverse. Might have worked for me in that case. If I was more in the mindset. Still, I thought I would not like this book and I was wrong. That’s always a fun feeling. Thank you for the ARC, will definitely be purchasing this title at our library.

So enjoyable, I really liked this story right from the get go! I found the concept interesting, the characters and dialogue were good and I had a good time with the whole read.

The Ministry of Time tells the story of a mixed-race British woman who is hired by the British government to serve as a cultural liaison in a secret time travel program. She is supposed to help one of 5 time travelers - people involuntarily yanked out of time, moments before their death, from the last few hundred years - adjust to the 21st century and determine if there are physical dangers associated with time travel that need to be accounted for before expanding the program.

Like in most time travel stories, there are aspects of the narrative that don't quite make sense and you just have to suspend disbelief and get on with it. But the heart of the novel focuses on the relationship between the narrator and Commander Graham Gore, which is believably built into a romance over the course of the book. In the moment, the narrator is woefully oblivious about mysterious hijinx going on around her but Bradley leans into the affordances of the first person POV and lets the narrator reference and foreshadow things she knows by the end of the book but didn't know at the time.

Overall, definitely a good, slow burn read that's worth getting to the end for.

The Ministry of TIme definitely starts with an interesting premise: the British government has time travel technology and has pulled several people who would have died anyway out of the past and into the modern day. Each is assigned a companion called a "bridge" who will help them assimilate. The story is told through the eyes of one of the bridges. I definitely enjoyed the creativity of the idea, but the story starts extremely slowly. The first two-thirds of the book is all character development with absolutely no action, before events start picking up.

Special thanks to Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for an ARC of The Ministry of Time in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book. It’s unlike any story from this genre that I’ve read before, and I honestly haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I can’t believe Bradley made me fall in love with the romanticised version of a real-life man who has been dead for hundreds of years. (I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this).

The plot of The Ministry of Time is so interesting. I'm actually grateful that it wasn’t over-explained at the beginning, which definitely added an aura of mystery that complemented its subject matter. It just made the entire experience so engaging. There were some technical aspects that probably went over my head, but I enjoyed this so much that I wouldn’t even mind reading through it again. I was constantly being ambushed by plot points and twists in the best possible way, and there were a lot of developments that I didn’t expect at all. Maybe this is because I missed a few things on my first read, but I just loved that the plot leaves you guessing and makes you really think.

Most of all, I fell in love with the characters and how the author’s captivating writing style made them bloom. The personalities and relationship dynamics were beautifully written, and there are so many quotes that I have bookmarked already. Almost all of them are probably regarding the narrator’s descriptions and feelings about Graham, but that’s neither here nor there (I don't blame her, and I wholeheartedly support her cause).

There’s no doubt that Bradley can write slow burn and write it well. I think this book just had that heart-wrenching quality that I often miss in other sci-fi/fantasy romances.

So many little details are incorporated into this novel that make it stand out as a really interesting, engaging story. However, there are still some aspects of it that I’m not really sure how to feel about—namely, the reimagining of Graham Gore, among some other issues. I think once I have another read, I’ll be able to articulate better why my gut feeling is to give this novel a tentative 3.75 stars and not 4 or even 5.

Overall, I really did enjoy this book, and I’m very much enamoured by Kaliane Bradley’s writing. I’m definitely eager to read more of her works in the future, and I’m curious to see how The Ministry of Time is received when it’s released.

DNF @35%. I kept waiting to understand half of what is being talked about but have reached my limit on caring. I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this book is entirely different from what I expected. (And in the loveliest of ways.) Exploitative time travel, forbidden romance and deadly espionage all show up in this poignant story that explores what it means to be different in spaces and places where everyone else aspires to be the same. THE MINISTRY OF TIME is a gritty, unique take on the complicated dynamics of belonging; one that still masterfully manages a light-hearted feel.

What more could you want from a book? I absolutely loved this!

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.