The Ministry of Time (2024) by Kailane Bradley

 Book Review

The Ministry of Time (2024)

by Kailane Bradley

  The Ministry of Time is a book that was released in the UK and the US at the same time but not really promoted in the US, meaning I was able to check the Audiobook out of the library right away.  The idea of combining time travel, spy fiction and romance intrigued me, as did the rave review from the Guardian.  I enjoyed listening to the Audiobook, since the plot involves bringing a bunch of folks from the past into the present- you get to hear all the different accents- including some that go back to the 17th century.   The romance strand of the plot- between the main narrator, a British-Cambodian woman who is working as a linguistic who is promoted to be a "bridge" i.e. a facilitator between the newly coined Ministry of Time and the time-travelee's.  She is assigned to Richard Burton-esque polar explorer who is plucked from a disastrous and fatal artic expedition.  That's the romance angle- and I thought that part of it was very well executed as was the character of the narrator- I might mention that the author is also a British-Cambodian woman, so that makes sense.

  The time-travel plot and the larger story is less well drawn- not that time travel stories are ever particularly great since it's one of those examples where fantasy is masquerading as science fiction but the author feels compelled to adhere to the genre constraints of science fiction and eschew the more expansive pallet of fantasy.  Basically, you get a spy tinged rom dram com for the first two acts, and then the third act turns into a preposterous action movie.  It's fun, yes.  Quite possibly a hit, but not great literature.