The Ministry of Time follows a main character who, we don't even know her name--- all we know is that she's half Cambodian and a lot of people have trouble pronouncing her name correctly?? She's hired by a mysterious sketchy government organization who is bringing people from the past into the present and seeing how it affects their bodies (but also by the end that makes zero sense but ok continue). The people picked from time seem incredibly random and isn't explained why. They also call them "expats' which also makes no sense seeing as expat is short for expatriate meaning someone who has left their home country, and these people are pretty white English and the book takes place in England so that was lazy. MC's paired with this 18th century polar explorer... and I hate them both.

The MC is very well written- but reading through her story was like watching a train crash where she's conscious of her faults and fuck ups but she's like "everything is fine" and does it anyway. She's bi-racial but she's would roll over and show her belly to the crown. She wants to fit in so she downplays racist experiences, fills herself with internalized self-hatred, but still wants to be liked by everyone and that leads to a character chock full of contradictory bull shit. She studied Khmer (and I assume other Asian languages), but hates that her sister writes about their non-White up bringing. Here are some quotes that showcase this,

"Why would I want to point out the places where my flesh was soft, my organs vulnerable? If my white friend casually called sushi 'exotic,' couldn't I be pleased she was eating something other than unseasoned red meat?"

"I thought I was doing something constructive, escaping exploitation by becoming exceptional. In fact, what I was doing was squeezing my eyes shut and singing la la la at the gathering darkness, as if the gathering darkness cared that I couldn't see it."

"the truth was that we were shackled to the idea that the orders were good and the job was good. Keep calm is just another order like Shoot that man or Delete the rest. We carry on."

When she tries to explain anti-racism concepts in a way that a 1800s colonizer definitely would not understand she notes, "nothing I'd said would have made sense to him, but I wanted to get a good mark from Simellia for my anti-racism (totally normal to want, totally possible to achieve)" (Simellia is the only Black person on the team) So the only time she's willing to talk about anti-racist/colonial concepts is when the other party is not going to understand- but when it came down to it and her actions- she hides behind the mask of stable white bureaucracy. So much so that at certain point, Simellia says to her, "How hard did you try to be a white girl that you're asking me whether racism exists?" (Which is brilliant thinking of what she becomes in the end). They also have a conversation,

Simellia: "I never wanted to test you" MC: "What did you want?" Simellia: "To not watch you become a facist in slow motion."

MC's contradictory actions and thoughts and regrets make up 40% of the book- and the author does a great job building her up as a character but for What Reason. All that work and for What.

The MC trips OVER herself again and again to try and impress her colonizer 1800s ward and any of her higher ups. "My England wasn't like this, he'd told me- but this was the natural evolution of his England. I was the natural evolution. I was his lens if he would only raise me and look with me." But guessssss what! HE sucks too, but he's not as well fleshed out or well written. He's literally a person who was part of the slave trade and killed Inuits! And yet, he's written as if he regretted and turned a blind eye to the first one and only 'accidentally' shot one of the second and spent the rest of his life repenting for that. In an interview with NPR, the book is described as a romance about imperialism?????? ??? It then says, "Bradley hopes that through this love story readers walk away understanding that anyone is capable of change, 'for the better, [but] also for the worse. You can even take a colonist...who can look critically at his role and reconsider it.'" GIRL, WHERE????? Did I read a totally different book?? This is the worst version of "I can fix him" that I've ever seen. The whole book felt like a fan-fiction to this dude, who if you search for a portrait of him, IS NOT HOT AT ALL. I CAN'T EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH. (I have now posted his photo in the comments)

There was so much opportunity for the author to have introduced the reader into other human crises outside of "Hiroshima, Auschwitz, and the Twin Towers." Why didn't the MC talk more about Khmer Rouge, for example? Oh yes, probably because the 1800s imperialist only has empathy for white people and the MC is trying to avoid thinking about it. He sure does like to cook Asian food though! I didn't understand the point of bringing up the Twin Towers until the end of the book- at which point I was like ahhhhhh OK yes. Racism! :D

The first 85% of the book was all like that. Then, you know when you're reading a book and there's only 100 or so pages left and you're like, "oh no, how will everything get wrapped up in time there so much stuff happening." ...

Well this was that but nothing was really answered. There was no "wow the author did such a good job concluding everything." Nope. It was "How will everything get wrapped up" until after I had finished the book. If I feel like "oh the story doesn't seem like it's over yet and there's probably is a sequel"- but then there isn't? Something wrong happened. If I have to search online, "[book title] ending explained" then something wrong happened.

WHAT WAS THE PLOT??????? I DON'T KNOW?????

To be fair I had the same thought about The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. which other have made comparisons to since it's also a book about a shady government time traveling agency. Time travel is a difficult concept! It's hard to do well in a not 100% sci-fi setting. Someone please recommend me a better one because neither of those books really worked out for me. At least D.O.D.O stuck with (mostly) white characters and (mostly) white history and didn't try to be all introspective and fake-critical.

I just feel like this book had SO MUCH potential but just like the main character- it was like an abused puppy still trying to appease its owner (empire) and failed to have a more critical voice. It was an absolute mess of a story with so many gaping wide plot holes, side stories that go no where, and unlikable characters. The whole thing makes no sense the longer I think about it. People who like the MC as a character are probably going to like this book.

This is one quote that I liked and it's a 17th century (maybe, I don't remember) lesbian.

"What is a 'feminist killjoy'? ... Have they a base? Mayhap a uniform? If not, I will design it. Ah, you laugh! But would we not look well in thigh boots and tabards broidered with FEMINIST KILL JOY? It sends a sturdy message.

THE MINISTRY OF TIME has an interesting premise: time travel, secret government research focused on humans, and assimilating characters from different time periods into the current age.

however, i do feel as though it struggles a bit to its footing. for one, this toes the line of historical spec fic and self-insert fanfiction. i was actually greatly enjoying graham's relationship/budding friendship with the main character (who btw doesn't have a name for whatever reason) prior to the main character developing feelings for him. people can write what they want when they want, but to package together a book that you sell containing scenes in which you (the main character/narrator) have sex with an actual historical figure is kind of bonkers. this could have easily been resolved by creating a fictional character.

the romanticization of historical figures feels...off for me. especially when the fact that he's from a time where black people were slaves, and he just...accepts that non-white people are ok now? there was very little pushback against the concept of black people being people? idk. it felt a little gratuitous and unrealistic, but maybe i'm too nitpicky.

for another, the pacing feels extremely off—and the front half is extremely slow and the latter third is progressively jam-packed. for what it's worth, i did enjoy the conversations that the main character and graham had as he made sense of the world. particularly the discussions surrounding race/ethnicity, the horrors of what we call "history" (that graham had no idea happened), and the nuanced ruminations on gender/sexuality/identity. i think this book would have been far stronger if it leaned into either the cultural meditation side of things OR the espionage/political/action-packed side of things. not saying you can't have both, but to frontload the story with mostly slow slice-of-life scenes that i felt transitioned choppily from one to the next then to switch to action plot is a bit disorienting. the plot itself wasn't the most original for time period pieces but definitely had potential. i just wished it felt more balanced.

in addition, i felt that the writing style swayed between whimsical literary and too modern? if that makes sense? which makes it very confusing. i actually think this (ironically) would have had much stronger writing had bradley nixed pop culture speak and stuck with her literary voice. the random drops of millennial speak pulled me out of the story.

for a debut, this is decent for me to have finished, but not compelling enough for me to reread.

Buckle up because this is a long review!

I had high hopes for this book, but I should have adjusted my expectations at the very beginning when the narrator says, “You’re probably wondering how time travel works. Well I’m here to tell you, don’t worry about it.” My biggest pet peeve in sci-fi and time travel specifically is when the author doesn’t bother to try to make up rules for it or at least technobabble their way through it. The, “time travel works but don’t worry how, just trust me,” immediately makes it harder for me to suspend disbelief. My hot take is that if your time travel is central to the plot but it’s logically inconsistent and unexplained, you shouldn’t write time travel. It ends up feeling like a shortcut for the author to do whatever they want whenever they want to instead of actually building a coherent narrative.

I understand why people call this a fan fiction. Besides the male love interest being based on a real person, the story is self indulgent in a way that I don’t fault in fan fiction but I absolutely judge in published fiction. The author’s note at the end mentions that the book started just for enjoyment and to be shared with a few friends and I can absolutely see that. There are a lot of loose ends and under developed aspects that the editors should have helped the author flesh out before allowing this to be published.

With that said, I have a laundry list of complaints I have about this book, so be warned, spoilers past this point!

Time travel mechanics

• They’ve been taken out of time physically, how does them mentally being in their time affect their readings? What is their “hereness/thereness”?
• Why does an expat have to die for people to go back home? The logic of how many people the time door can support is never explained at all. (Unless I missed it?)
• Where did the time door come from? Who made it? It’s existence and creation and use seems to be some sort of weird paradoxical time loop which is something that really needs to be explained.
• Apparently different timelines are a thing? Again, why is this not explained? If you go back in time and create a new timeline how can you possibly ever navigate back to your original timeline? What’s the purpose of going back in time just to create an alternate time line? These are all interesting questions that I expect a book about time travel to address!

Narrator is dumb af

• Working with time travel but when Graham sees some kind of weird futuristic tech she assumes it must be a game system or umbrella?
• The Brigadier said something about the narrator’s time readings but she doesn’t think anything of it? It’s like a throw away line! I get that she was getting shot at at the time, but honestly, I’m pretty sure she would have ignored it in any situation.
• The narrator is always mentioning Adela’s reconstructive surgery and how strange she looks. Again. You’re working in the Ministry of Time and you don’t think this strangeness might be related?

Just weird

• Why would time travelers be put up to live with workers who are then basically working 24/7?
• Surely they would have been trained on appropriate/inappropriate relations with the expats? The whole set up with expats living with their bridges and being so vulnerable and reliant on them seems rife for abuses of power and inappropriate relationships. (As we see in Graham’s reaction later in the story. Surely mc should have foreseen his feelings of betrayal?!)
• In general, I don’t really get the romance between the narrator and Graham. They don’t seem to have any chemistry. There was much more chemistry between Graham and Arthur or the narrator and Maggie in my opinion. Their feelings seem to spring from being basically locked in together and becoming codependent to an unhealthy degree, which I do not find romantic.
• The romantic/sexual scenes also were just not my taste. I generally don’t read a lot of spice and when I do it tends to be queer, so maybe this cis/straight romance was just not for me. “He rolled my nipple between his fingers like a rosary bead.” Or whatever the line was just sounds horrible. Ouch? Most of the sex seems just seemed… awkward.
• Arthur being interested in “women’s work” being portrayed as unusual and the narrator not knowing how to encourage him. Lots of men are teachers, nurses, chefs, bakers, etc. sure a lot of those fields may have more women but in London at this time it’s not strange for a man!
• To my knowledge, all the expats except Graham are completely fictional. Why is Graham based on a real person? Just seems like a weird choice.
• The narrator not having a name also seems like a weird choice. Like an attempt at a version of y/n fic that would be appropriate for publishing?
• 9/11 stuff apparently radicalizing Graham so that he becomes an anti-immigrant facist? Why is this glossed over? 9/11 was used and is still used as an excuse to destroy the Middle East and murder civilians without any self reflection on what sort of desperation and US manipulation literally caused it?! This could have been such a good point of discussion and analysis for people’s real reactions to 9/11 but it just kept getting brushed over?!
• The politics of this book in general are just all over the place. We have a narrator who seems to have no curiosity or political opinions of her own, a facist future version of her, a more politically left leaning coworker who constantly seems like the only competent person in the whole story, and a bunch of time travelers from the past who are rebuilding their identities. It strange parody of politics and refusal to dive into any real depth around politics or opinions makes me think the author is probably also just apolitical and a bit clueless without any strong opinions of her own? It all seems very superficial and not very well thought out. If there was supposed to be a message, I must have missed it.

I’m sure I’m missing things but I’m going to stop here. Overall, think book probabaly should have been a goofy time travel romance. The complete lack of care towards the actual concept of time travel ands its logistics and repercussion, along with a disregard for the political issues raised was really frustrating. This may be enjoyable for someone who doesn’t typically read sci-fi/time travel, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.