A review by booklistqueen
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

informative reflective slow-paced

2.5

After being offered an exorbitant salary, a government worker starts a new position at the Ministry of Time. Studying whether time travel is possible and feasible, she is tasked with being a "bridge", an assistant to a time-traveling expat. Now she is unlikely roommates with Commander Graham Gore, who history records as having died on an 1847 Arctic expedition. By the time the Ministry of Time's true objectives come to light, she has fallen hopelessly in love and must decide if she is able, and willing, to change the future.

First off, I have to say that marketing The Ministry of Time as a comparable to Outlander was a terrible idea. The Ministry of Time is not a romance; even worse, its love story felt more off-putting than swoon-worthy. Commander Gore was an interesting character and his interaction with his fellow time traveling expats was the only bright spot of the book. Unfortunately, the novel is instead told from the point-of-view of his unnamed female handler as she quashes any moral scruples she has about the project. Basically nothing happens for almost the entire book until it suddenly shifts to a high-action spy plot that would have mattered more if I had cared about the characters.