Finished The Agency and The Ministry of Time.

They were good.

Been catching up on my media consumption thanks to my lack of news media consumption these last few months. By coincidence I finished off a couple of a TV show (The Agency) and an audiobook (The Ministry of Time) I’d been watching and listening to at the same time.

Both spy stories as it happened, although TMoT is also a time-travelling romance. Actually, having written that sentence down and looked at it I just realised that The Agency was also a sort of romance, or at least it’s main story engine, Michael Fassbender self-sabotaging his CIA career for the love of a former contact, was a sort of doomed romance.

I enjoyed both, although I was a bit surprised at the way Ministry wrapped up. I knew there was a twist coming, and I appreciated not picking the main bend, but I don’t know that I approved of the big narrative choice the author, Kaliane Bradley, made at the end.

Still, her book, her choice. And it is one of the bigger best sellers this year, so I guess I can fuck right off.

The premise, straight from the blurb:

In the near future, a disaffected civil servant is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering 'expats' from across history to test the limits of time-travel.

Her role is to work as a 'bridge': living with, assisting and monitoring the expat known as '1847' - Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to find himself alive and surrounded by outlandish concepts such as 'washing machine', 'Spotify' and 'the collapse of the British Empire'. With an appetite for discovery and a seven-a-day cigarette habit, he soon adjusts; and during a long, sultry summer he and his bridge move from awkwardness to genuine friendship, to something more.

There’s more obviously. Including a dastardly scheme that spans the centuries. But that’s enough to be getting on with. The writing is great, literary even, without being silly about it, and the romantic arc won’t get in the way if that’s not your thing.

Five stars. Would recommend.

The Agency had mixed reviews when I checked on Metacritic, but that’s only because a lot of reviewers couldn’t tell a decent bit of teev from a shit and anchovy pizza.

I liked it a lot. There are a couple of long, series-spanning story arcs to follow but each episode, in the modern style, is also kinda self-contained and satisfying in and of itself. The cast is top shelf, the camera work makes London look a lot nicer than it has a right to, and as the double-dealing and betrayals add up the emotional tension gets tight enough that I had to take a deep breath before diving into the final ep.

No spoilers on the plot. You have what you need. If you like spy stuff, this is your jam.