Will I love The Ministry of Time?

The true test of a good novel, for me, is if I finish it with a certain sense of wistfulness, a lingering emotional aftertaste.

With The Ministry of Time, that was definitely the case for me. I found the book frustrating at first for various reasons, but it definitely grew on me as I read on. Very smart and beautifully written, with an attention-grabbing premise and sympathetic characters that really stay with you.

I can see why it's been so popular, and I look forward to reading the next one from the brilliant Kaliane Bradley!

I bought this book as I was intrigued by the author’s account of where the idea had come from. It’s not often a writer says they were inspired by a tv show! As I suspect she did, I fell in love with Graham Gore (one of the main characters) and how he adjusted to being dislocated in time. The plot was terrific, but it was the funny, touching, sexy relationships between the characters that I loved most. This was my second reading of Ministry of Time and it won’t be my last!

Combining three of my favorite topics: time travel, the British civil service and the Franklin expedition in an unlikely, highly original story, The Ministry of Time is a compelling and enjoyable read.

This is the rare book that I recommended to both my husband and mother...who read totally different kinds of books! In essence, this is a book about characters ripped out of the past, learning the present, and the character-building plus slow-burn romance were my favorite parts. But there's also a very thought-provoking social commentary side plus a dollop of Arctic exploration. It's the kind of book that benefits from multiple reads and is delicious enough to make that sound like fun.

This book really grew on me. Yes, it was frustrating at times for various reasons, but it was also very smart, beautifully written, with a cool premise, and sympathetic characters that really stay with you. The true test of a good novel, for me, is if I finish it with a certain sense of wistfulness, a lingering emotional aftertaste, and with this one that was definitely the case for me. I can see why it's been so popular, and I look forward to reading the next one from the brilliant Ms Bradley!

I adored this book. I fell in love with the male main character, Commander Graham Gore, a Victorian explorer brought into a near-future London via a time travel machine. The author deftly handles how Graham might experience the modern world. His relationship with the narrator is complex and fascinating, and gets very sexy!

Bradley explores themes of colonialism, climate change, and identity within a thrilling time travel plot and swoony romance. I think her style of sci-fi romance—exploring big ideas within interesting, exciting stories with characters you root for—could be the next big thing in publishing. I can’t wait to… show more.

I'm a sucker for a time travel story but they often follow a similar path. This is a fresh take. Even though our heroine would love to go home, she's immersed in her new life and doing important work. The fish-out-of-water aspect is far from the same old, and the writing is wonderful and immersive. This was my favorite book of 2024.

The prose is innovative and full of writerly joy, every metaphor humming with her obvious love and mastery of her craft. It’s a monster feat of storytelling that never feels overwritten or overwrought, and I actually cried at the end, which is a thing I do not do.

A truly unique, cross-genre book featuring an unconventional, unforgettable romance

The Ministry of Time is an entity whose job it is to help "expats", that is people who have time-traveled from different times to the present, adjust to the modern world. The Ministry is hoping to find out if time travel is safe for both the body and the mind, and these expats they have stolen out of their own times are the guinea pigs for their research. But the Ministry is not the only group using the technology, and the expats may be in more danger than they think. I fell in love with the characters, especially the expats,… show more.