The Ministry of Time

A few friends have read this and enjoyed it so I thought it was about time I joined in.

Right from the start this has an interesting take on the time travel genre with a few twists and turns to keep it different.

Mixed in with the bureaucratic spy world of le Carre, not Bond this story really keeps you on your toes throughout and at a good pace, not quite breakneck but with no lull.

The ‘ex-pats’ were all so well realised and given a great deal of character, and the way they all reacted to being out of their time felt so realistic and I fell in love with Arthur and Maggie.

The idea of removing individuals from their time just before they are recorded to have died is interesting as it should circumvent changing time streams and the future. This seems to work but there are well thought out limitations.

and threaded through all of this this is a love story spanning cultures and generations.

Well written and exploring ideas of cultures, consequences, and colonialism using the joining together of people from different eras. Exploring what ifs and maybes, and doing all this without too deep a look at the ‘mechanics’ of this universes time travel, concentrating on the emotional and human outcomes.

I really enjoyed this, and the twists were well executed. Really loved the idea of time travel use being like smoking a lot.