I want to like Aliette de Bodard SO MUCH but I keep bouncing off her work. The ideas are great but the execution never works for me. I think this is going to be it for good. 

DNF @ 27%. The guy she's supposed to fall in love with showed up in the story and every thing and every one became just a little bit stupider across all levels, ruining what could have been a fun plot otherwise. 

I'm totally down for the concept of this book and I really liked exploring that, but hooooly shit I hated Lampo and couldn't stand the idea of being in his perspective for this entire goddamn book. 

DNF at 44% because I cannot go down the route of doing another hate read, and that is where this is leading. 

I can't even try to come up with a brief description of this because its left such a bad taste in my mouth. Thin plot, obvious and unoriginal world building, and not a single character that I cared for. 44%, nearly half of this book, and not only was I still trying to keep characters straight (many of them are so similar that you could exchange one for another and nothing would change in their plots) but I JUST DIDN'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE OR ANYTHING.

Not for me. Sooo not for me.

I’ve lost interest in this world, and Zinnia’s  meta and self aware voice is incredibly grating. 

ohhhh bitch it's been a while since i rage DNF'd a book. and in the middle of a serious series binge? incredible. 52% of the audio. just finished chapter 32.

i had to sit through MULTIPLE chapters of absolutely dumb shit with the dog and casey chasing it without thinking and them getting lost and then more dog bullshit and now casey is in a precarious life threatening position (AGAIN mere CHAPTERS later) and FOR WHAT? FOR FUCKING WHAAAAAAT???? TO FIND A BODY? i was screaming in my car about how STUPID she is and i don't care that she calls herself out for it (thank you, casey's inner dalton voice) because i've have to sit here listening to her be FUCKING STUPID and TAKE ALL THE BLAME and fucking GUILT TRIP HERSELF every other moment and now it's too late and she's reaping what she fucking sowed.

LIKE, THE COUGAR WASN'T ENOUGH???????

this feels incredibly petty and i'm almost certainly going to skim the rest of the ebook to see how this ends but my god i am too aggravated by casey and this whole series of events right now to want to continue.

FUCK EVERYTHING THAT JUST HAPPENED

FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF

I thought I was going to get something exciting here, but the veeeery long time we spend sitting with Watson and her depression felt like I was being dragged through molasses to get to a promise of something good. Then, when I came to Goodreads to read a few reviews to see if it was worth going on, I saw the author. And you know what? I'm not doing this during Black History Month. ✌🏾

DNF @ 56%. I deeply dislike both these characters and the setup and I'm not interested in whatever semblance of a plot this is moving into. 

DNF at 47%. While this was an easy read, it wasn't really enjoyable. I hesitate to call it boring because there are the bones of something good here, but...the execution is severely lacking this far into it, and I just don't care enough to keep pushing through.

I've also just found out through this Guardian article (https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/may/11/the-ministry-of-time-author-kaliane-bradley-it-was-just-so-much-fun) that the author is basically writing self-insert fanfic of The Terror, which I am NOT surprised by. That show had a bustling fandom on Tumblr, and the writing here gives all the best of the Tumblr aesthetic especially in the constant, CONSTANT long metaphors that don't make sense when you actually try to understand the sentences but still give The Vibes overall. Good for her, I guess, but I'm not gonna continue on. 

I wish this had something more going for it. I can see why people enjoy it so much - it is punchy and muses on how strange modern life is, and the time traveling fish out of water trope makes for some fun moments. The seeding of the weirdness at the Ministry makes me want more of that, and less of whatever is going on with the narrator and Graham. But the point of this novel isn't that it's sci-fi or mystery, despite using that as a backdrop to the main themes (and that I think it would be more interesting if it leaned more into the genre aspects). It's musing on the human condition and the author's struggle with their biracial identity and Cambodian culture and living in a world full of microaggressions. It's also trying to tell a story about this weird Ministry and Graham and his time travel cohort trying to acclimate. And whatever romance is about to happen. I wish it was a bit more focused in one way or another.

Someone tell me if I'm right on this prediction about one of the weird tertiary characters who keeps popping up at the Ministry and everyone is all "they're weird, right? idk what they even do here":

People from the future? It has to be. That dude is just too weird not to be from the future.

Anyway. This ultimately wasn't for me, and it joins the 60% of books in the top 10 of the Goodreads sci-fi category that I firmly believe shouldn't be in the sci-fi category. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I’m so glad that the Cosmere universe has rabid fans because I easily found out what the “necessary” content for Oathbringer in this book is and I can now DNF with a vengeance because I cannot STAND Lift. 

Hopefully she (and Sanderson’s writing of her) matures as the series goes on.