A review by sarahesterman
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

adventurous challenging funny hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It’s been almost 10 days since I finished The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley and I’m still not entirely sure what to say about it. 

I mean, I liked it. It was weird, which I tend to like. The writing was… odd… at points, not quite purple prose but filled with strange metaphors that made things fuzzier rather than clearer. But given that fuzziness served the feeling of the text and the story, I assume it was done on purpose. 

There was some romance, though I wouldn’t classify the book as a romance, given there was no clear happy ending for the couple. (The book is being adapted to a BBC miniseries, so I’m curious if the ending will change at all.) 

There was also humor, though in a dry British sort of way. For instance, our protagonist describes a colleague ordering a drink at a bar: “She came back with a glass of chilled red wine, which I hadn’t realized was a drink you could get on purpose.” 

Overall, I guess I’d say it was a vibe. 

I can see what some people don’t like about it, though. You’re very much getting a one-sided narrative that takes place in the not-so-distant future about bringing people from the past forward into the future—and much of the book is them just vibing day-to-day while learning bits and pieces about the politics of the situation. 

While some stuff is definitely happening in the outside world, a lot of what’s going on is in our unnamed protagonist’s head (and it took me way too long to realize we didn’t know her name). I imagine—for some—it could feel slow, maybe boring. And when you’re already feeling that way the weird metaphors and similes (of which there were many) might feel weirder. 

A few examples of sections I highlighted and simply wrote “what” in my kindle note: 

Quentin treated me with an impatient familiarity, as if we were both sticky and were leaving streaks on each other.

He would build sentences around the rooms where burnt and broken things squatted, and I would never be able to see the damage for the bars.

I had a feeling like I’d always assumed I was a real girl but someone had flicked me in the eye and it had produced no pain, only a glassy click: I was just a doll, with no more inner intelligence than a bottle of water.

And then there’s the moment when I learned that Gore was a real person in real-life history, and I realized that this book is maybe a self-insert fanfic about a historical character—and that confused things further. But not too much, clearly, because all of the weirdness worked for me, and I maybe even liked it more because of it?
 
I will say that romance readers looking for a fun time travel romance will likely be disappointed given the open-ended ending, but if you like sci fi and lit fic, I’d say it’s a good choice.

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