The Ministry of Time

Kaliane Bradley
Completed 5/17/2025 Reviewed 5/17/2025
5 Stars

I rate this book very high although I know that many people may not like it as much.  It’s a time travel/thriller/romance set in the near future.  There isn’t that much science in it.  It was the emotional and thriller aspects that captured me.  I only guessed a few of the mysteries of who was doing what, but even with that, I was simply enamored with it.  I guess I really am a romantic at heart, as was evidenced in previous book reviews.  I read the bulk of the book in two days, including a 140-page marathon that kept me up until 1:30 this morning, LOL.  It’s filled with humor and intrigue and yes, some naughty bits.  This book has been nominated for the 2025 Hugo and Arthur C. Clark awards.  I don’t think this is my top pick for the Hugos, but it is pretty close. 

The main character is an unnamed narrator.  She is part British, part Cambodian (like the author).  She is a civil servant translator who applies for a job which pays a lot and requires high security clearance.  She gets the job in the Ministry of Time, finding out that she will be a “bridge” to assist people transported from the past assimilate into present society.  She is assigned to Commander Graham Gore who supposedly died on a nineteenth century Arctic expedition to find the Northwest Passage.  Also known as “1867”, Gore is a handsome, upright, uptight, chain-smoking Victorian who eschews many modern inventions, though he loves Spotify.  The narrator rather successfully brings him into the present, while navigating her growing feelings toward him.  At the same time, she appears to be a target of a mysterious “Brigadier” who is systematically trying to assassinate the participants in this Ministry experiment.   

Despite having read a fair number of time-travel books, romances, Victorian period pieces this past year or so, I thought the premise of the book was very intriguing.  The group of ex-pats from the past are monitored for their being accepted by our time, as well as vice versa.  One ex-pat seems to be rejected by the present while at the same time, rejects her “hereness”.  Others, like Margaret who died from the Bubonic Plague in the 1600s, and Arthur who was killed during WWI, balance their “hereness” and “thereness,” and take to the present like champs.  They don’t always show up on modern scanning devices unless concentrating on their hereness.  They work hard on assimilating.  The romance is a little predictable, but I thought the progression was well done.  And of course, I was thoroughly frustrated by Gore’s stiff upper lip, but have become quite used it, especially coming off the Victorian romance of Spectred Isle.  

I didn’t know until I finished the book that the author was Cambodian and British, as was the narrator.  So the themes of genocide, refugees, and assimilation were very present and well done.  They pertained to the narrator as well as the ex-pats.  I really identified with her, as a gay man who spent most of his life trying to assimilate into straight society.  She was “white-passing,” a concept many people who feel different or “other” spend excessive energy on.  This made her relatable, even as her sister embraced her otherness and worked to make sure mainstream society got what she went through growing up being ridiculed and bullied for.  

The ex-pats were incredible.  Gore, with his Victorian reticence, suffering under the weight of doing what he thought was acceptable versus his own feelings.  Arthur, the WWI soldier who was gay, trying to figure out what he wanted out of assimilating in the present.  Margaret, the 17th century woman who finally explores life as an out lesbian, embracing Tinder and film and feminism.  They are all loveable.  Margaret provides a lot of great comic relief.  Arthur is simply the sweetest guy ever.  

I thought the thriller part was also pretty well done, although I saw some things coming, while completely missing others.  But that’s pretty par for me.  Many of my friends in book club often figure out the mysteries well before the end.  I think I liked it because it wasn’t as convoluted as many time travel thrillers are.  Having read the book in two days, the twists and turns were fresh in my mind as they unfolded toward the reveals at the end.

I give this book five stars out of five.  I was thoroughly engaged with the characters and the time travel.  I thought it ended with excellent reflections on living life in the present with hope and forgiveness to get through the future.  The ending also left you hanging a little, not necessarily for a sequel, but to make you think about the implications of what decisions you make in the present may have on the future.  I think if this were read in my book club, the other members might find it schmaltzy or trite.  I thought it was one of the best sci fi romances I’ve read in the recent past.