Title: |
The Ministry of Time |
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Author: |
Kaliane Bradley |
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Category: |
Science Fiction / Fantasy |
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Rating: |
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Date Reviewed: |
December 30, 2024 |
In the near future, Britain has acquired a time machine. The details are vague. Perhaps it was stolen from the future? The book does not explain. With this time machine, the British have capture seven individual from the past and brought them forward to modern time. Each of these individuals was presumed to be lost and dead in their own time. The main character of this novel is Commodore Graham Gore, who was a member of the Franklin Expedition. The Franklin Expedition was a 19th century attempt to find the mythical Northwest Passage. Instead, both ships got trapped in the Arctic ice and every member of the crew perished, Gore presumably along with the rest. Instead, Gore now finds himself in present-day Britain and must adjust to our modern lifestyle. Other individuals are taken from WWI battlefields or 16th century witch trials. Why are these individuals brought forward in time? The book isn't really clear - there is some muttering along the lines of "to see if people can survive time travel".
The dislocated individuals appear to be perfectly healthy, but then a couple start to "fade" - although they are still present, they become invisible to cameras and MRI machines. (This makes absolutely no
sense at all, since eyeballs and camera lens both pick up photons of light).
Assigned to each of these unwilling time travelers is a minder, called a "bridge", to help them adjust to our century. The narrator of the novel (it is told in first
person) is a never-named Cambodian woman whose mother immigrated. This nameless woman teaches Gore about the intricacies of modern life. Gore adjusts surprisingly well. And that's the basic plot for most of the novel.
The bridge and Gore live in a house and talk and smoke a whole lot and do some cooking and eventually fall in love. Is this romance angle what people enjoyed so much about this book? I was bored. Bradley tries to inject some mystery and drama by having Quentin assassinated part way through, but after his death, things continue on as before. The bridge and Gore move
locations, but that is about the extent of the reaction to Quentin's death. At the end of the book, Bradley tries to liven things up by having the Brigadier and Salese arrive from the future. Are they here to assassinate someone? Are they trying to
kill Gore and the other expats? It was never clear to me what their goals were. The climatic scenes left me unclear as to what had happened, and why. What was Adela, (the bridge's boss) trying to accomplish? There are several short chapters that describe Gore back in 1845 while he was still trapped with the rest of the Franklin Expedition. These chapters turn out to have nothing to
do with plot in modern times. Perhaps Bradley just included them to show all the interesting stuff she learned from researching the Franklin Expedition? The brief chapters in the 19th century are told in third person and are certainly
more interesting than the bland events that are narrated in our modern time. Someone should have told Bradley that implanted microchips do not allow tracking of individuals. If microchips did work that way, then the numerous
dogs and cats that go missing each year could be found. But microchips have a read range of only a couple of feet - if you are trying to track someone who has been implanted with a microchip, you
will have to be standing right next to them. The Ministry of Time is as dull as dry toast. If you wish to read an exciting time travel book, try The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers, or The Time
Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, or The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, or go with the classic The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. All of those novels are much more enjoyable than
this lame offering. |
