Notes from the Shelf

This post contains affiliate links to Bookshop.org. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you. Your support helps sustain independent bookstores and keeps this blog going.

This post contains spoilers.

Book Summary

The Ministry of Time is Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel and is marketed as a sci-fi primarily due to the theme of time travel, but it is so much more than that. There is romance, workplace drama, and some comedy mixed in. This book explores the nature of power and the potential for love to change everything.

The book follows an unnamed narrator as she works for a recently established government ministry. The Ministry gathers expats from across history, people who were set to die anyway, to bring them to the near future to see whether time travel is feasible, for the body but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is assigned to be a “bridge”: someone who is assigned to an expat to monitor their transition to the now as well as help them adjust and live in the current time. She is assigned to Commander Graham Gore, codename 1847. According to history, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves is a little disorienting. He must adjust to washing machines, Spotify, and the collapse of the British Empire. However, he quickly adjusts thanks to his appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of his fellow expats.

Over the span of a year, what she thought would at best be a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true nature of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen in love. She must reckon with how and if she believes what she does next can change the future.

My Thoughts

Based on the premise, I wanted to like this book more, it sounded like something I would love. But for the most part I found it terribly slow. The chapters are so long, they don’t keep me engaged or hooked, and some of it was hard to follow. I felt like I dragged out reading this book, which for me, if I’m really into a book, I’ll devour it quickly. The fact this book took me over two months to finish is really telling.

Some of the comedy did land for me as some of it was quite funny in the moment, although it seemed very much like British humor, which can be a little too dry to an American. Also, I found it a little awkward about how the narrator talked about her heritage as if she were embarrassed and interacted awkwardly with her coworkers on race, although maybe it is meant to make the reader feel awkward about it. I did enjoy the back and forth of a chapter in the current time and a chapter in Gore’s time on the failed expedition. It was nice to see some things from his perspective and understand him more as a character.

While the first half was a little confusing to me, the second half of the book definitely was more interesting and engaging. About two thirds of the way in it was even more interesting when the narrator and Graham finally hooked up, but that seemed like so far into the book that it took me a long time to get there and it didn’t feel like a good payout by the time I arrived there. However, the last 50 pages were so good, I think it makes up for the beginning.

Final Thoughts

I wish The Ministry of Time had more of the action at the end peppered throughout the book to keep it more engaging. There wasn’t much sci-fi present in the book until the very end where certain things are revealed, and I wish some of that had been revealed earlier and given more background. The ending was very fun, but it didn’t have as much sci-fi or romance throughout the book as I had wanted.

If you’re interested in reading The Ministry of Time, consider purchasing it through Bookshop.org. Supporting this link helps sustain independent bookstores and keeps this blog thriving.

Other Time Travel Book Reviews:
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
In Five Years
This is How You Lose the Time War

Love what you’re reading here? Support the blog and fuel my next cozy reading session by buying me a coffee.