The characters in the book all have distinct personalities that play well off each other. The expats' adjustment to 21st-century London and the heroine's personal experience—she is white-passing, but her mother is a refugee from Cambodia—allow the reader to explore issues like global warming, racism, colonialism, feminism, LGBTQ+, and religion.

I really enjoyed the banter between the characters and the narrator's internal thoughts. I'm a sucker for a grumpy gentleman with a slightly sarcastic wit so I loved Gore's character. Bradley's writing is lovely. That being said, there were times, especially towards the start of the book, when it took me time to work out who was who and who was speaking. This is probably just because the characters would also refer to themselves as the year they were originally from, so it took me time to memorize which year referred to which character name.

The pacing of the book felt a little off; compared to the rest of the novel, a lot happened in the last quarter. Still, The Ministry of Time was a great read, and I'm excited to read Bradley's next book!

Trade between the United Kingdom and its Asian partners would greatly benefit if a Northwest Passage could be found. Two ships, The HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror departed from Kent in May, 1845. All perished in the worst disaster in British polar exploration including First Lieutenant Graham Gore, second in command aboard the HMS Erebus.

The British government, experimenting with time travel, developed “The Ministry”. “Expatriates to the twenty-first century [who] would have died in their own timelines…are extracted…from historical war zones, natural disasters and epidemics”. What effect would time travel have on the nervous system? Might these travelers die during the extrapolation? How can they adjust to a different century when all markers of prior life have perished? Lt. Graham Gore…welcome to the 21st century! He had been thrown “into the world when they think they’re in the afterlife…”.

Who was extracted?

1645-a lieutenant from The Battle of Naseby
1665-a woman from The Great Plague of London
1793-a woman from Robespierre’s Paris
1845-Graham Gore, Arctic Explorer
1916-an army captain from The Battle of the Somme

Our narrator, a bi-racial Cambodian woman, chosen after six rounds of interviews, had scant knowledge of the high paying job at hand. What was the Ministry’s secret agenda? She was told that her job as a “bridge”, would be to help an expat transition from past to the future. This full time position would involve being Graham Gore’s housemate, monitor and report on his well being, and help him acclimate to his new life. If Graham truly adjusted to the 21st century, he could then embark upon life outside the confines of the Ministry of Expatriation at year’s end.

Who was Graham Gore?

-A handsome, thirty-seven year old man
-Had theoretical knowledge of cars but had never ridden in one
-Had never seen a washing machine, radio, vacuum cleaner or fridge
-Unfamiliar with enfranchisement of the working class

This character driven, time travel novel, despite its mystery and suspense, did not resonate with this reader. Perhaps the target audience is not inclusive of those who find speculative fiction too ungrounded. That said, many issues were brought to light including survivor’s guilt, displacement, sexual orientation, colonialism, Victorian values and budding romance.

Thank you Avid Reader Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was one of those books that makes me want to write because I enjoyed the writing so much. I learned long ago with time travel novels that I need to suspend disbelief and avoid trying to understand the permutations of time, and that advice served me well in this novel as well. I loved how Graham was written and the “fish out of water” nature of a nineteenth century Arctic explorer being placed in modern-day London. I didn’t quite understand all of the political machinations, but it didn’t reduce my enjoyment of the story. I’d recommend this for history buffs and spy novel fans!

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a sucker for time travel books so I was really hoping to like this more. This book did a lot of nothing until 87% in and then it threw everything at you with a sack of marbles. I liked Graham being an expat from a polar expedition but I don't think anyone at the ministry was making smart decisions.

Bradley's writing shines in her ability to balance multiple genres and themes. The novel expertly weaves together a time-travel romance, spy thriller, and workplace comedy while exploring deeper issues of power, colonialism, and the potential for love to effect change.

The central relationship between the protagonist and Commander Graham Gore, a Victorian-era Arctic explorer brought to the present, is both charming and thought-provoking. Their romance serves as a vehicle to examine the clash between historical and contemporary perspectives, particularly on issues of race, gender, and empire.

While tackling serious themes such as climate change, government corruption, and intergenerational trauma, Bradley maintains a light and engaging tone throughout. Her witty prose and clever observations keep the narrative buoyant even as it delves into weighty subject matter.
The novel's exploration of time travel's implications is refreshingly nuanced, focusing more on the emotional and societal impacts rather than scientific technicalities. This approach allows for a deeper examination of identity, belonging, and the lasting effects of historical actions.

Many thanks to the publisher for the digital copy of THE MINISTRY OF TIME. This unique and quirky book is out now!

Kaliane Bradley has somehow blended the genres of time travel, science fiction, romance, and workplace comedy into a very captivating and imaginative story. At the heart of the story is Graham Gore, a real-life British explorer who met his untimely end during an ill-fated 19th-century Arctic expedition. A secretive organization sometime in the near future has brought Graham (and others) to modern-day London, to be paired with a “bridge” or handler to help ease their entrance into a different time period.

I found this book to be surprisingly funny and poignant. The workplace comedy element provided a refreshing and entertaining twist, offering a nice balance to the more profound themes of the plot. In addition to the thrilling aspects of time-travel, a very tender (and spicy!) romance blossoms between Graham and his handler, the unnamed female protagonist.

This is a truly unique and captivating read. If your interest is piqued by the many different genres of this book, I suggest giving it a try. I’m still thinking about the real-life Victorian explorer Graham Gore! An incredible debut from Kaliane Bradley.

Unique idea – I love time travel, spy thrillers, and romances – but it didn't quite work all mashed up into one. The story took a while to get going and make sense. The flashbacks were insightful but a bit convoluted. And I still wish they would have explained how the time travel portal worked.

This was a very interesting and unique concept for a book. Overall I enjoyed but I thought there could be better character development. I wasn't very invested in any of the main characters. It got better at the end with the twists and turns.

Have you ever wanted to read a book that is 95% a slow, dull Mork and Mindy retelling and then in the last 5% goes absolutely nuts with rapid fire futuristic geopolitical subplot that’s confusing then wraps up into absolutely nothing? This book is for you! I had such high hopes from the summary and reviews, but this book felt like binge watching Mork and Mindy then watching the finale of Loki out of context.

I enjoyed this book, but I went in with extremely high expectations and it didn’t quite reach them. It was much more of a slow-burn character study than I’d expected, and then it landed in a direction that left me feeling a bit frustrated and unfulfilled. I’m still glad I read it, and I definitely connected with the main character. It also left me with some things to ponder, always the sign of a decent read.

Thank you Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

What an interesting book! It's like sci-fi mixed with romance mixed with a bunch of ethical and existential questions. With a story that kept me interested/never bored, I was always thinking about it. I really enjoyed this book, and will probably read it again in the future.

Don’t read too much into my review because science fiction is just not my favorite genre. “The Ministry of Time” is a combination of time travel, romance, and dystopia. I loved the idea of bringing ordinary people of the past into present day. In this story, time travel becomes real, and those from the past are paired with bridges to help them adjust to the present. When a romance develops between one pair, the bridge discovers that the program is much deeper and darker than publicized.

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The Ministry of Time REALLY surprised me - I didn’t know what to expect by this description but I was deeply infatuated with this book and story. Ugh! I want to go back and read it again and have new stories fill the pages. I’m amazed that the author was able to give us so much in these pages - building the world and so many unique characters with unique POVs that remained so true to themselves throughout. There were some details that I found a little confusing and I wish the ending was more fleshed out because it felt like we were quickly gaining momentum to a final interaction that passed by in the blink of an eye.

The central relationship really made me fall in love with this story - thank you the NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the ARC!

Many thanks to Netgalley and publishers for providing my review copy.

I wanted to love this but unfortunately it was not for me. I felt the specific vocabulary used throughout removed me from the story because I didn’t exactly know the meaning for many of the word choices. Maybe that’s a me problem.

I truly found the plot idea to be wonderful and coming off a fresh rewatch of Netflix’s Dark, I enjoyed making comparisons. I’m sure many time travel stories use the same tropes and mechanisms but I liked finding many similarities.

I found the book to be just okay, but it definitely had a few good moments.

If you’re looking for something fresh and interesting, this might be for you.

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley was a wonderfully, surprising 5-star read for me!! We have romance, time travel, fantasy, and roller coaster type thriller elements all beautifully woven into this book. The characters are fantastically written & Bradley handled the historical element of this book superbly. Love, love, love this book!!

Thank you NetGalley & Avid Reader Press for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Time-travel romances are often a fantasy of knowledge: Someone ventures back into history and dazzles the rubes by understanding germ theory, or else a historical figure is brought forward and gapes at the marvels of present-day technology. They can also be fantasies of power, as Kaliane Bradley’s THE MINISTRY OF TIME (Avid Reader Press, 339 pp., $28.99) makes clear.

When the Arctic explorer Cmdr. Graham Gore is hauled into the 21st century along with a handful of other expats, their government handlers — bridges, as they’re called — are granted an extraordinary amount of control. Bridges are not only responsible for explaining modernity, they also share quarters with their expats, monitoring their bodily functions, mental health, internet searches, geographic movements and political adjustments.

But of course, when you have two strangers with secrets trapped in a house together, someone’s bound to ruin it by falling in love.

Gore’s bridge and eventual lover is a protagonist whose name we never learn, like the second Mrs. de Winter from “Rebecca,” or the narrator of R.F. Kuang’s “Babel.” Bradley’s story blends the claustrophobic passion of the one with the bloody anticolonial critique of the other. It’s a bold, uneasy romance that defines history as both something we make, and something that makes us. We are implicated — in every sense of the word — in the events of our particular era. Or, as Gore’s bridge puts it, “If you ever fall in love, you’ll be a person who was in love for the rest of your life.”

this book made me feel like i was on a roller coaster. the main plot alone probably wouldn't have caught my attention if it wasn't for the subtle, slowly forming romance and tension between the two main characters. I loved Graham. I knew from the start i was going to love him, he was so effortlessly charming, sweet and funny, and the more i got to know him, the more i found to love. he cares about people, he takes care of his own, he's independent and confident without being arrogant, and he's way smarter than he lets on. i was giddy and positively charmed by his shyness, his blushing and his dimples. i loved watching their relationship evolve, at first i wasn't sure anything was going to happen but the ride was so full of delicious tension and yearning (from the main girl's perspective) that it became so much more rewarding when something finally happened between them. i really liked the twist near the end, it gave me some serious dark vibes, but it also felt a little rushed and i wish we got to explore more of it. i also felt bothered by the way it ended, it was kind of an open ending and it felt very unsatisfying after all the revelations and the climax of the story. it didn't slip my attention that we never get the name our main girl, she's always referred to as "the bridge" and as "little cat" by graham (which i thought was ridiculously adorable). and I was really surprised when i found out graham was a real person, it made me want to find out more about the story and appreciate the way the author wove it into the book a lot more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press for the e-book arc of this. All thoughts and feelings that I have expressed are my own.

I'm not going to lie, I have no idea how to properly review this book. It was a lot. A lot of characters. A lot going on. Some romance. Plot twists. It just felt like a lot dumped into a book, but then also not a lot happened until the last 15ish%.

This was OK. I am sure it will appeal ore to people who love SciFi/fantasy but ven I enjoyed it. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC!!

One of the best books I've read in a long time. The best way I can think to describe The Ministry of Time is that it's like what would happen if John Le Carre decided to write a sci-fi novel. It's a brilliant mish mosh of sci-fi, spy thriller, and literary fiction with beautiful writing, strong characterization, and fantastic dialogue. In another writer's hands, some of the thematic elements (the link between expats from history and expats/immigrants from other countries for example) could have been presented in a heavy-handed and didactic manner, but that certainly wasn't the case here. Highly recommended!