"The Ministry of Time," the debut science fiction novel by British writer Kaliane Bradley, starts with a rollicking premise. New time-travel technology gives the opportunity to pluck people out of history. Only dying people are gathered, so the timeline is not affected. Or so it's believed.
As a huge fan of the Dan Simmons novel, "The Terror," recounting the history of the ill-fated Franklin polar expedition, I was happy to see that her charge was Graham Gore, one of the lesser known members of the 1840s expeditions. The period of "adjustment" to late twenty-first century Britain was great fun, as the Victorian explorer was caught off guard by the changes in mores.
However, when she became infatuated, the explicit sex, racism, and colonization aspects of the book became heavy-handed, causing her to be regretful instead of hopeful. An odd conspiracy was introduced. The novel is a finalist for the 2024 Hugo Award, but its twist ending suffered from what I consider to be "Jumping the Shark," time-travel wise.
