Genres:
Science Fiction, Romance, Time Travel, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Pages:
352
Published:
May 7, 2024
A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all:
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.
She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.
Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future.
✧ Overall Score✧
6/10
I had a good time reading this one, but I don’t feel that it really holds up under any kind of scrutiny. There is also the inherent discomfort of reading a historical romance… about real people. Who very much did not experience these things. It’s just a little bit off kilter. This one came highly recommended so I find myself perhaps more disappointed than I would be otherwise.
✧ Writing Style✧
6/10
The prose really did suck me in, but I feel like it tried a little too hard in places. Very few of the metaphors make any kind of real sense, but I do enjoy a writer who isn’t afraid to play around with things. There’s a good emotionality to the words… but I feel like certain things could really be tightened up.
✧ Plot✧
3/10
Honestly, I really wanted to like this more. The author spent the entire time sort of… alluding to things going on in the shadows and never really letting us in on it. The final part of the book was fairly interesting but it still just felt… rushed. And hard to have any kind of a connection to. Honestly, it reads like a romance RPF that the writer felt the need to justify using time travel. Hrmm.
✧ Characterization✧
4/10
Everyone aside from Graham really feel rather… undercooked. It’s clear that the author has a preference, which I can’t really blame her for, she did manage to write a very clever man. However, the FMC is unnamed and just… generally rather… blasé, I suppose. Never questioning, never prodding… she’s a very frustrating POV to live inside because you get the feeling that all the interesting plot elements are happening in the background while the FMC plugs her ears and goes LA LA LA.