This was a fascinating premise about an agent who is transferred to work for the new and mysterious Ministry of Time, where she is assigned as a 'bridge' to an arctic explorer from the 1840s as he acclimatises to life in the 21st century. With very little background on how the Ministry discovered time travel, our narrator is told that in order to study the effects of time travel on humans, they are conducting an experiment by extracting historical figures just before the point in which they would have died in case there are any adverse side-effects, in which case the 'expats' would have been long dead anyway. Our narrator is of Cambodian heritage, born in Britain to a refugee mother, so her experiences of intergenerational trauma, displacement, othering and institutional racism are explored all while she navigates her growing feelings for the expat, Graham Gore, who was a Commander in the navy at the height of the British Empire. Overall, I enjoyed this book and Kaliane Bradley's writing, which was humorous, engaging and thought-provoking. It was rather slower in pace than I thought it might be, but it explored some rich themes around power, colonialism, identity and, of course, time travel, which is always a winner in my book. But if you are expecting fast-paced sci-fi, this is most definitely not that!

Was immediately intrigued by this storyline and absolutely adored the characters. What a premise and thoughtfully crafted story.

The Ministry of Time had a great premise. The setup was unique, and I felt invested in the time-traveling test subjects. I read the first few chapters and was hooked. That said, I lost a lot of interest as the story progressed. It felt like it was two stories awkwardly combined. One was a social commentary on being an expat in a place you don't easily fit in. And the other was a spy story with the government doing sketchy stuff. I would have been interested in either if they were separate, but combining the two concepts just felt like the story wasn't picking a lane, and both story arcs suffered because of that.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review The Ministry of Time. All opinions are my own.

This one is a genre bender. It's plot is sci fi, many of the characters are historical, and the plot development depends on a love story. The author's writing style is literary, and she has some of the best, most original similies I've ever read. Like, you really know what she means when she likens one thing to another.

The time travel was good and explained just enough to be believable. I liked Gore, the 19th century sailor, the most; some of the other characters could be one-dimensional.

This is one of those unique, kind of sad stories that you want to tell everyone about, just because it's so unusual.

Unexpected in a lot of ways—this book combines slow-burn romance with political intrigue and kept me engaged at every turn. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about the ending, but I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes time travel stories or just wants an interesting summer read!

Bradley's debut novel is both fresh and timeless. By fusing both romance with a well-researched study of the doomed Franklin expedition, the author has created the buzz-worthy Ministry of Time. This is not a novel for the time travel quantum physics enthusiasts. Rather, it is a study of now that we have people from the past, labeled as expats, how do we integrate them? The Ministry is in its infancy, the expats are the first subjects. The questions: what are the psychological effects of temporal displacement, and more importantly how do alterations to the past impact the present and future? Finally, this is a bureaucracy, is there a hidden agenda?

Bradley treats her plots with a light satiric touch. The fish-out-of-water theme subtly explores the immigrant viewpoint. In an interview with the Guardian (13 May 2024), the author mentions growing up in east London in the 1980s it wasn't unusual to be mixed race. It was when she entered academia that she found herself surrounded by white people, and began to regard herself as "a person of colour in contemporary Britain". The culture clash between the Victorian era and 21st Century London is both funny and poignant. Just as an immigrant mourns his homeland, Gore, the expat, realizes all his people are dead.

A word about Gore, he is based on a historical person. Lt Graham Gore was a member of the ill-fated Franklin 1845 Arctic expedition that resulted in the death of all participants. The real Gore was described as "a man of unwavering character, a very good officer, and an even temperament."

From this historical reference, Bradley has created a fully realized character. Likewise, the narrator, whose job is to serve as a liaison for Gore. The intention is to gently bring them into the world as we know it. Bureaucracy can be stifling, but humanity persists, and romance ensues.

What follows is a plot very reminiscent of the best of Terry Pratchett. Funny and thoughtful at the same time. I expect this novel will be receiving some critical acclaim. It is that good.

Full disclosure: I received this ARC from Netgalley and Avid Reader in exchange for an unbiased review.

I loved The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley! The story takes place in a near-future London where a time machine has allowed for 'expats" to be rescued from certain death in the past. These people, saved from the bubonic plague and from past wars and doomed missions have to be rehabilitated and acclimated to current times by a personal helper called a 'bridge'. These expats definitely struggle to acclimate but also reveal themselves to be human, with the same fears and desires to be loved as the people born in the current time. I loved the historical information included in this phenomenal debut novel and the insight into the author's Cambodian heritage that she shares with her main character.
It is a mystery-thriller-sci-fi-romance of a book that is un-put-down-able! Bravo!

I love a debut novel, I love to dip into a fresh perspective and a new style. So I couldn't be more excited for Kaliane Bradley's novel !

The Ministry of Time promises so many great things : some time travel, a little bit of romance, mystery, comedy, and so many other genres. Great promises come with great expectations.. but by the time you finish reading the 340 pages of Bradley's first novel, there is no more doubt : it is an amazing read ! Everything you wanted lies in those pages.

Read it. Recommend it.

A time travel romance and spy thriller rolled into one, this book is an adventure ride unlike anything readers have seen before. When a civil servant is assigned to be a "bridge" or guide through life for a secret time traveler, comedic misunderstandings abound. As she gets to know Commander Gore, who was supposed to have died on an Arctic Exploration adventure in 1847, the two begin to care deeply for one another. With the support of his bridge and his time traveling peers, Gore adjusts beautifully to present day life. But when it becomes apparent that all is not as it seems, the time travelers lives are on the line. With some truly mind bending theories of time travel and an atmosphere of suspense, readers will devour this one until the very last page.

There’s few people I agree with more on #bookreviews than @mynightsbooked and I knew I had to move this up on my list after seeing her #review noting that it was weird in the best of ways. The last paragraph of this #book might be one of the most beautiful and poignant things I’ve ever #read. It was incredible in every way. 100% one of my top #reads in 2024 so far. Absolutely beautifully done with an artful knack for navigating the commonalities and basic human needs, longing, and suffering of human beings throughout time and regardless of exterior attributes, and a brilliant glimpse at the way our time, culture, upbringing, race, and so many other social, political, geographic, and other factors out of our control shape us in the way we think and are motivated. #Romance meets #sci-fi meets spy thriller meets office politics, this one is everything and more.

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“Welcome to the Ministry of Time.” A government employee working for the Ministry has her life turned upside down unexpectedly when she becomes a “bridge” - an individual that lives with and monitors an individual brought back from centuries before via a time travel mechanism to be utilized by the government (albeit for what is not entirely clear from the get go). Her housemate, Commander Graham Gore, brought back from a doomed 1845 Arctic expedition, is as challenging as all of the other so-called ex-pats her fellow bridges are dealing with.

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As her time with Gore progresses, though, she begins to more and more see him as the actual human being he is, eventually crossing the boundaries between professional and personal, and forcing her to choose between trust in the government and her job, and her own internal, personal desires and morality. As a mole infiltrates the military and threatens both her and Gore’s life, a battle for control of time and their lives soon begins.

I really loved the Ministry of Time! I loved the character development, especially our protagonist and Graham Gore. I liked the mix of romance, historical fiction, sci-fi, and "big brother government is bad." The writing was a little clunky at times with odd similes, but overall I really enjoyed it and the writing felt propulsiv e.

This is a fun little sci-fi romance/thriller (very genre-bending lol), but it was a little difficult to get through at times. The writing was very…hefty? I’m not sure how to say it, but it was extremely descriptive and used a lot of complicated language; it also had very long chapters. It kind of felt like slogging through, but I did really want to know what happened and what was going on. I wish we got a liiiiiittle more out of the ending as well. I think this is a book you really need to sit down and concentrate on to love. If you liked TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW and Blake Crouch’s books, I think you’ll like this one too.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the opportunity to read before pub day! ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. THE MINISTRY OF TIME is out now!

Very clever variation of the time travel drama, which didn't rely on the common acclimation ploys usually found in the genre. If anything, I wanted more consideration of gender, culture and the understanding of purpose which the narrative considers topically. Some fine twists near the end of the novel which I didn't see coming, despite invoking the usual time travel paradoxes.

I feel a bit letdown by this one. I was interested at first, especially in the time travel bits and perks into the past. But then the pacing of the whole plot got a bit slow and boring for a while in the middle while the expats were “adjusting” to the 21st century- I feel like better execution here could have brought some nice comedy to the middle. The end picked up again with a bunch of excitement and a good twist. Not terrible, but better pacing in the middle would have helped keep my attention. A great idea, written well, just needed a bit more in the execution for me.

I wanted to love this so much more but it fell flat for me. So many times throughout I was confused about what was going on and who was doing what. I really enjoyed the time travel and the looks back onto Graham's time, and the other expats. Overall this had all the elements of a book I would love but the execution just wasn't there.

Not me full-tilt SOBBING at the end of this book. THE MINISTRY OF TIME is a truly glorious debut following a British bureaucrat tasked with acting as a 'bridge' (i.e. immigration life coach) for an 'expat' dislodged from time thanks to new top-secret time travel technology. Much of the heart and the life of the book comes from the bridges' interactions with the expats, who are all startled to find themselves in the 21st century after having lived in, say, WWI or the French Revolution or the Middle Ages. Bradley threads the novel with a thoughtful consideration of the intersections of empire, gender, and race, even though her heroine struggles to face directly the connections her subconscious (via internal narration) makes. The reader, however, is perfectly positioned to see the horrifying undergirding of the Ministry and all that it stands for. An absolute stunner of a novel -- I can't wait to read whatever Bradley writes next!

This plot intrigued me from the first time I ever read it -- however, there were a few elements to this book that didn't work for me. The pacing seemed off -- definitely slowed as the book continued, which caused me to become disinterested in the characters and their outcomes.

Truly a genre-bending novel: a historical fan fiction, a time-travelling romance, a sci-fi adventure and a spy thriller all in one! How does time travel affect the body and the mind? The Ministry of Time, a department of the British government, is trying to figure this out by transporting people from the past into the near-future London. Our unnamed narrator is a mixed-race woman who works as a “bridge,” a roommate and friend for one of the time-travelers (“ex-pats”). Her assigned ex-pat is real-life historical figure Lieutenant Graham Gore of the HMS Erebus (Erebus is the sister ship of The Terror). Graham and our narrator begin a will-they-won't-they romance, and we meet different ex-pats from different eras as well as their respective bridges (we get some LGBTQ rep here).

I thought this book was fascinating, though slowly paced (perhaps due to the fact that the author was blending so many different genres and I didn't know what else to expect, which can be a good thing). Our narrator was an obvious self-insert (hey, we all do it) and a bit bureaucratic and passive for my taste, but I liked her just the same. Generally, the erotic fan fiction element made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I just kept thinking about if someone took me from history and wrote sex scenes about myself without my consent... felt a bit ethically wrong. Otherwise, this wasn't a bad book by any means, but I got the most out of the "fish out of water" elements, especially with Maggie. However, ultimately, this book was not for me.

This timey-wimey romp was such a blast! I'm a huge fan of Jodi Taylor's St. Mary Chronicles, and this story was reminiscent of those. Bradley's pacing and humor was perfect.

"The Ministry of Time" is a debut cross-genre novel that immediately drew me into the storyline. Unfortunately, it failed to hold my attention as it started to get a bit heavy handed (in my opinion) with exploring the topics of racism and sexual orientation.

For lovers of time travel stories, the premise of the story is sure to appeal. The Ministry has selected historical figures at the anticipated moment of their demise and brought them to the present day. The next year is spent trying to understand the physical, psychological and emotional ramifications of that decision; one their subjects had no say in.

For romcom enthusiasts, there is at least one (and possibly two, if I read things right) love triangles at play.

There is also espionage going on as well, since not everyone in the Ministry is in favor of the time travel experiment. So, as some people are working feverishly to protect the displaced people, they're also left with no idea who they can trust.

It's this interweaving of the various genres that the author has managed to work out really well. And some of the conversations, especially the banter between Graham and his "bridge," are a lot of fun. But then there's so much that I just couldn't follow or wasn't interested in and that didn't seem to serve the story well at all. So I have mixed feelings about the book. While many other reviewers commented on not being able to put the book down, I actually found myself avoiding picking it back up, which is a rare experience for me.

Thanks to Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for an advance review copy.