Review of "The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley
It is a great joy to find new authors I like, as one of the effects of getting old is that my favourite authors are dying.
Genres are in essence, quite boring in the end. Consider “space operas”, “whodunnits” and all the various popular genres. It is a bit like fast food. Nutritious in a way but in the end completely unsatisfying. Ah but I hear you say, we don’t read to revisit reality, why would we do that? We read to escape. As far away as possible. Perhaps. If that is your thing, then you probably will not go for this book.
The Ministry of Time defies genres. It is sci-fi, time travel and the modern workplace. But not as you have seen it before. Most of all, it is dense writing. Writing that actually engages with you in a deep and interesting way. It is like an actual, proper restaurant meal. It is quite something. Imagine one moment you are in 1850, the next in 2024. You would be disoriented, panic stricken, perhaps you might go unhinged completely. In “the ministry” some do.
The modern workplace. The not being quite sure who is conspiring for your demise. That sinking feeling that all is not as it seems. It is unclear what the Ministry is for. It cares for the time transported, certainly. But why? To what purpose?
The time-travel paradoxes? Go back in time and kill Adolf Hitler? These cliches are avoided.
There is an underlying thread, a substrate if you like. That we are all on a ship heading for deeply dangerous times. Slowly, inexorably, the realities of climate change will confront us. Not in a simple way. But in ways that are more profound and more damaging than anything we have ever seen. It sits underneath everything in this masterful work.
What might capitalism do with time travel? Isn’t that the actual question? How do we avoid a calamitous future? Yes, both these questions are dealt with. I really enjoyed this book and I hope the author produces many more.