bookswithlydscl's Reviews (639)

 4.25*

I was so intrigued when I saw the concept of this debut novel from Kaliane Bradley - A time-travel romance, speculative spy thriller and workplace comedy all rolled into one and it didn't disappoint.
This is an imaginative and innovative debut with wonderfully vibrant and vivid writing that brings the characters to life and for the most part manages to seamlessly weave the disparate genre strands together.

I'd read a little on the lost Franklin Expedition in 2023 and was glad to have that prior knowledge as it helped give me much more empathy and brought more of a connection to Gore and the situation he found himself in. The fish-out-of-water setting for the characters as a whole brought a lot of pathos to the story and also a great deal of humour and I enjoyed these sections of the narrative immensely. I felt immediate connections to Margaret and Arthur and their joy at discovering the new world and also the sadness and dissonance felt at being out of time but also with their own backgrounds completely in time in the present. I also appreciated the discussions around the ethics of the situation mixed in with commentary about the bureaucracy of the civil service and it's own lack of humanity and understanding when handling these people that they 'saved' from their own time.

The comedy in these early sections of the book does give way to focus more on the dystopian spy thriller aspects of the story in the final third. There are many complex and important threads that are touched upon (environmental disasters, migration, the refugee experience to name a few) and at times some of the analogies felt a little heavy handed. The romance also took me out of the story a little. I loved the slow burn build up and so I didn't need the in-bedroom scenes but, with the ending, I understood the importance of them.

These elements are quibbles and didn't stop me from loving the reading experience. This is a startlingly fun, complex, witty, and sad story. It's speculative and yet also so very human and I'm so glad that I've been afforded the chance to read it, absorb it and continue to think about it after finishing it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton | Sceptre for a digital review copy of "The Ministry of Time" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review. 

2 novellas in one audiobook.
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls - sweeping, majestic space opera at its core dealing with female on female conflict. 
The Tea Master & the Detective - space Sherlock Holmes 

Connected by a universe but otherwise unconnected and can be read as standalone stories. 

I didn't truly connect to either story, but thought TCoWP was beautifully imagined with some interesting themes and a striking ending - 4*

TTM&TD was a 3.5* - I liked the concept and how the story unfolded but didn't love it.

Don't have any really strong feelings for this one as i didn't dislike it, but i also didn't like it much, very much a middle of the ground sitter. There were parts that I really liked, and the writing worked well, but for the most part, it was a lot of nothing. Gothic but not really gothic, horror without pushing anything, romance without any real sensuality.

There was a lot of repetition, and for a realtively short book, it could have been shorter, perhaps novella length, and cut some of the complicating factors out from the middle that didn't really add anything. The supporting characters were also better than the main - Jasper, Caroline, and Bev. Opal was pretty insufferable overall, and Arthur just didn't have much going for me.

So overall, it's not a win, but I did like the concept, and it should have been so much more compelling than it ended up being for me.

I'm not going to rate this because this is not my genre at all and I don't like to judge if this is a good or bad example. Suffice to say if you like spicy/smutty monster romance it'll be right up your street but for me I think I'm one and done in this area of fiction!!

This is not an action-packed spy thriller, so modern readers unfamiliar with a John le Carré may be frustrated by the slow pace and wordy heavy narrative, but it worked really well for me. There are elements of the writing that create such a vivid image in your mind that it's like a film running in front of you (a descriptor of a pretentious moped springs to mind). This is a dull, drab world with spy craft that is about details rather than action and essentially nothing happens and despite that it's compelling reading and the rich tones of the narrator for the audiobook enhanced it all further.
This is book 3 in the Karla Trilogy so there is history which does enrich the story but reading out of order can be done despite that.

Undeniably Jane Austen, full of wit, social commentary of the time, astute observations, and plenty of meddling in romantic affairs. I just didn't like this one very much, especially in comparison to P&P and S&S. The Elizabeth Klett Libravox audiobook comes highly recommended, I wouldn't have got through it without such a good narrator.

Just didn't like the main character and team, great story premise but didn't capture my attention

I loved so many things about this book and can't say anything for fear of spoilers but for me the key piece was relationships and connection.

slow moving stream of consciousness meditation on life, death, and the fight for survival.
It slowly builds to the battle to catch and reel the marlin and then the final face off with the sharks.
Once we got to the marlin, I was all in, probably because I felt the struggle here was so similar to the scenes on the Orca when trying to capture the shark in Jaws.
The ending was so bittersweet, and I liked how reflective he was on his actions and particularly liked Hemingway's writing here.

My first Hemingway and I will try another in the future.

Recommend the audiobook for this narrated by Charlton Heston.