Critique de The Ministry of Time par Josh

The first half of The Ministry of Time I give five stars, the second half three stars. So, from a mathematical perspective it is a four star book. You can check the math for yourself if you don't believe me.

The basic plot goes like this: the British government has stumbled upon the technology of time travel. To test it they bring several 'refugees' from earlier eras of history to modern Britain. They are all people who would have otherwise died soon after in their own eras, so bringing them to peaceful modern Britain is seen as a kindness. Each is assigned to live for one year with a "bridge" to support their transition to the twenty-first century - explaining things like cars, cell phones, politically correct language, etc.

The central character is Graham Gore, an explorer who, in the real world, probably died in 1847 as a member of Franklin's Lost Expedition. The story is told in the first person by Gore's bridge, an unnamed women whose mother was a less sci-fi'y refugee - from the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

I enjoyed the first part of the book because it's well written and the characters are charming. Not all that much really happens, but that's fine because the basic plot provides plenty of fodder for interesting dialogue and character development.

In the second half though, things go off the rails. The prose stays good, but the book turns into a sci-fi adventure filled with sex, chase scenes, convoluted conspiracies, and so on. There's much discussion of a mysterious weapon from the future which turns out to be, basically, a gun. The second half reads like it has been subjected to the merciless criticism of a gang of creative writing students who kept demanding more action.

Overall I thought the book would have been more enjoyable if Bradley had simply let the original seed of an idea run it's course rather than trying to turn it into an action packed thriller. Still, it was a pleasant an easy enough read.