Ministry of Time

This reminded me somewhat of "The Echo Wife" by Sarah Gailey in that it's science fiction turned inwards rather than outwards, focused on the individual rather than the grand sweep of history. Considering that time travel is a central part of the story, that's an interesting choice, but honestly I think it's a bit inspired, because it's a reflection of the main character's myopia regarding her place in her society and in history. A couple elements weren't inspired: there's a lack of explanations about certain characters and events and there's a twist that's probably obvious to those who pay attention to the signs of such things. Still, thought-provoking overall, and sad and sweet in equal measure.

I enjoyed this and thought it was an inventive story. Apparently, some readers didn't like the writing, but I thought it was fine (OK, there were a lot of similes; I noticed that, but it didn't bother me). I guess I would describe it as mostly a romance, with sci fi, historical and thriller elements. Some of the romance stuff didn't completely work for me (e.g., an expat gets to the point where he's regularly using a motorbike, a cell phone and a laptop, and yet somehow he still has Victorian ideas about courting). However, the sci fi/thriller aspects kicked into higher gear in a pretty satisfying way toward the end. I liked the tie-in with the Franklin expedition and was glad to see AMC's The Terror thanked in the acknowledgments.

Time travel - if considered a genre, is a favorite of mine. (I especially enjoyed The Psychology of Time Travel and If/Then). I found this was such a cool premise, having people return from centuries past and see how they adapt to the modern world, however, it was slow going. For me it picked up a little toward the end.

I was excited to read this as the premise is brilliant. Sadly, I found it a bit of a dud. The story got progressively less engaging and incorporated a “twist” I found trite, and the middling resolution made the whole story weaker. No characters were particularly engaging and I found the arctic chapters and the musings of the main character more of a distraction than an enhancement. I didn't particularly care for the writing style, and also lampshading something doesn't magically make it not bad. All told, an ok read but not a book for me.

I'd be curious what genre readers enjoy this, as it choppily blends historical fiction, romance, time travel, spy thriller, and reflections on genocide. Only the first two seem a strength here, and they're not my taste, but I would have settled in more easily for a slow burn romance across the last few centuries if the author hadn't kept interrupting me with the rest.

2.7 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

'We have time-travel,’ she said, like someone describing the coffee machine. ‘Welcome to the Ministry.’

Set some time in the not too distant future, The Ministry of Time opens up with an intriguing concept, time travel exists and the United Kingdom's government controls it. Told all from the point-of-view of a woman who previously worked in the languages department, she applies for an internal job wanting the higher pay. When the Ministry section of the government hires her to be a “bridge”, her life changes. I thought this started off strongly with an intriguing concept, The Ministry has selected people from different timelines that from recorded history, they know die in their own timeline. Our narrator's a bridge (someone who stays with the “expat” for a year to help them transition) for a Commander Graham Gore. Graham's an actual real historical figure which I thought gave this a slight fanfiction feel, to it's scifi and speculative fiction.

Ideas have to cause problems before they cause solutions.

It's all a little murky as to why the government has decided to pick these people and what exactly they're doing, our narrator's a company woman and doesn't question too much in the beginning. After I thought was a strong scifi start, the middle stagnated in pace and we get lost in our narrator's head for awhile. There's the transition of assimilating a man who died in 1847 to a twenty-first century London, along with the narrator's attraction to him. A lot of the attraction was already built as she's read his personal letters, knows his story, and romanticized him through this knowledge and liking a daguerreotype existing picture of him. For Graham's part, since we don't have his pov, he's a not a clear readable character; it seems he could be attracted to her but it could also be him trying to play his cards right. I've seen Outlander comparisons and I would caution reading this for the romance because you'd probably be disappointed (there were a few open door scenes but those alone do not a romance make).

The middle also explored inherited trauma and warring with helping your country but not enabling their same made mistakes. Our narrator is the daughter of a Cambodian refugee and she carries some of her mother's trauma which creates some push and pull in “just following orders”. We get introduced to some of the other bridges and expats, with two of them, a WWI soldier and black plague survivor playing bigger secondary character roles. Through their experiences to the new world, we get some discussions on gay rights and feminism.

The truth is, it won’t get better if you keep making the same mistakes.

After the more sluggish middle, the latter second half picked up speed with the building spy thriller aspect and what The Ministry is actually trying to do. There are some hints sprinkled throughout that you could kind of guess where the story is going (I wasn't hundred percent correct) and we get some action and takes on climate change. When dealing with time travel, there are always going to be some holes, this had those with some of the “whys” not fully answered and the “hereness” and “thereness” not completely making sense. The romance wasn't the strongest and the thriller aspect waiting around too long to fully hit, giving some of a rushed ending feeling. The discussions and takes on racism, trauma, sexism, imperialism, and other issues had some mealy mouth, I get the narrator is working through them herself, but it left me feeling like not a lot was said when done. This was a whole bunch of elements mixed together that I'm not sure all fully got realized and created a got lost on it's way middle that really slowed the pace and dented it's impact for me.