Author: Kaliane Bradley
The Ministry of Time presents an interesting take on time travel. Unlike conventional time travel books that focus on time travel per se, how it is done, what time travellers try to do to change history and/or how they fight to prevent history changes, parallel universe, etc., this book actually looks at socializing new time travellers who may not want to change anything. They just happen to find themselves further into the future, and they do not understand where the country they thought they knew has changed significantly.
In the Ministry of Time, a Ministry is bringing people from history to the 21st century UK, and expats (as they are called) are only brought to the 21st century if it is known that they would have died anyway. Therefore, the assumption is that there will be a minimal impact on the future albeit this cannot be guaranteed. Equally, it cannot be guaranteed that ex-pats will survive temporal changes and adjust to the new time, which indeed some do, and some do not.
What is particularly interesting in the Ministry of Time is the notion of teaching expats about the 21st century, including diversity, political correctness as well as technological changes that British society went through. I found it particularly interesting that expats are fascinated with the availability of music and that they can listen to what they want whenever they want thanks to the rise of communications and the availability of the internet, e.g., YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. I caught myself wondering whether we take these things for granted and I started to think about life before the internet and how much harder it was to keep in touch with people, access information, and yes, music. Once upon a time, in my lifetime, one had very little music available apart from whatever was selected by music editors for broadcasting on radios and TVs whereas now we can listen to whatever we want without having to buy every cassette, or later CDs. Fascinating but also often taken for granted. I also caught myself thinking that we and this includes me, focus too much on the negative aspects of digitalization but seldom remember the positives. Imagine a life without Google search and having to look for information. Yes, less disinformation but also less access and dissemination of knowledge.
Another interesting element in the book is the notion of diversity quota because the main protagonist, one of the so-called bridges who cohabitate with ex-pats and help them adjust to their new lives is a woman of Cambodian origin and thus she talks about diversity quotas and how one gets a job because of diversity, how they get asked about diversity, and she also has to navigate ex-pats not expecting to live and work with someone who is not white and English. In addition to that, expats certainly do not expect to cohabitate with people of the opposite gender, and they most certainly do not understand the new sex and gender roles, societal progress, etc. This was an interesting take on changed gender roles and a bitter take on diversity issues, and a tick-a-box approach to diversity hiring, which read well throughout the book.
There are some humorous elements too, such as the notion that the British government got access to a time travel portal because they stole it from people from the future, which I thought was hysterical, as well as the debate on whether the UK Home Office will get involved with expats if they start being brought in large numbers because they will see it as an immigration and border control issue. An absolutely hysterical take on the current political landscape of the UK and the immigration debate, which really made me laugh.
There is a lot more that can be said about this book including the fact it happens further away in the 21st century when the UK is facing drought and excessive heat due to climate change, which was very interesting albeit slightly underexplored. There is also a love story element too and a twist at the end. Overall, the Ministry of Time is a really interesting book with a novel take on time travel. Definitely worth reading for time travel and sci-fi lovers.
Thank you for reading!