The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley Book Review

 The Ministry of Time 

By Kaliane Bradley 

Published Year: 2024

Page Count: 288 pages 

Medium Used: Paperback 

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Time Travel, Science Fiction, Debut Novel, 2026-read.

Rating : 3/5 😎 😎 😎 

Winner of Sci-fi Goodreads Award 2024. 

This is the kind of book you either totally love and vouch for or toss it aside and carry on with next read. I somehow made it till the end because its my motto to not DNf a book unless its so damningly frustrating and hopelessly boring. This is a convoluted story that made me scratch my head quite a bit and then ponder, ponder until I settled on an acceptable narrative. I don't mean to imply that there are more than one possible interpretations but there might be for all I know. The author has mashed together elements of time travel, spy thriller, romance and suspense to churn out this meal that, to to be honest, is not entirely sumptuous. I will explain a bit of the plot and give out my points of dissatisfaction and then complement on any merits in the story. 

So the narrator works as a languages expert in a government organisation in England. She gets recruited to a highly lucrative position by a ministry of time. She is told that the ministry is in possession of a time machine and has brought back six individuals from different periods of time in the past and her job is to help one of them acclimatize and cope with the present day by living with him and showing him around. She is basically his escort and housekeeper. So the person who is assigned to her is Graham Gore, lieutenant of the John Franklin expedition who is picked before he meets his death in 1847. The others are also picked from points before their certain deaths. The ministry reasons this as a research mission to see who can adapt to the "thereness" and "hereness" among other considerations. Graham Gore is a sure shot with gun. He gets psychically evaluated periodically and he aces the tests. He becomes one of the most easily adaptable of the six. He is fascinated with the new world he sees and shocked to learn of the fates of his fellow travelers on the 1847 expedition. 

Enter into the picture, some unknown folks from future who want to kill these expats. There is a spy/mole within the ministry who is feeding these folks information about the expats. Graham and the narrator escape one such assassination attempt and they are all moved into more secure houses. Gore and the narrator develop a physical relationship and no matter what anyone tries to spin it, I see it as a purely sexual relationship with no emotions attached. I didn't sense any kind of bond developed - atleast not from Graham's side. Maybe there was some scope for it to become a true bond later on but from the written text, Graham feels betrayed by the narrator and leaves her later. He points a gun at her head to make her comply. This doesn't sound like love to me. There are no verbal conversations between them other than the acts of sex which truly grossed out the old fashioned Graham.  

So the folks from the future have come to change past to change the future. This is actually one of the books I have read concerning time travel where there is a conscious effort made to better the past and thereby alter the hopelessly dark future. So these folks .. they make journey to the past .. lose their time machine .. then they begin plotting to take off these expats one by one. Why do they do this? I didn't fully understand. Maybe the reason is buried under the story somewhere but I just think no matter what past is altered, a damaged future is a damaged future. Maybe it only gets pushed back by a few years or centuries. Lol. 

The issues I had are calling this a love story which it didn't feel like. Also the conversations the characters had felt gibberish most the time. I mean after we reach like 60 percent of the book, Graham learns and is shocked that his fellow expedition travelers resorted to cannibalism. Lol shouldn't that have been clear right away? And the character development felt off a bit i don't know why. I can't put my finger on it but this is a debut novel and totally understandable. 

The merits being the story makes sense and resonates with larger audience. This is also a historical and contemporary romance simultaneously which is a wonder. I liked the concept of time collapse or time black hole which is new to me. 

Cheers 🥂 🥂