This Is How You Lose the Time War

zeerooth reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Sweet love letters travelling through space and time

5 stars

Can love persist through multiple timelines; against devastating forces of all-powerful empires at war? Unlikely, but that doesn’t stop Red and Blue from trying. Each part of the opposite side, working as an agent killing, destroying, shifting timelines and hunting the other. They connect through secret letters, smuggled in the most innocuous ways. So their relationship blooms, but could it ever last?

The story in this novella is very beautiful, but also bittersweet. There are many references to literature and events of our planet, but also many constructed worlds through which our heroines travel. The only downside is that they’re never polished at all, but maybe that’s for the better? This way, the Red-Blue relationship and their struggles is always in the spotlight.

Overall I had an amazing time with the book, even if the language is a bit difficult and the references quite obscure.

Aimee Gunther reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Vacation reread: rating upgrade due to slow reread to catch all the details 🌿🤖 #Bookstodon

5 stars

The first time I read it, it was in audiobook form and the interruptions meant I missed a few things. This time, so much more fit together.

Elise reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

I can't think of a way this book could possibly have been improved.

5 stars

Even in the flaws it grows stronger. This is a book that is going to stay with me for a long, long time.

Mr.F reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Cute romance with a disappointing sci-fi setting.

3 stars

Amal El-Mothar and Max Gladsonte's "This is How You Lose the Time War" follows two agents, Red and Blue, on opposite sides of a war that spans all of time and (some of?) space across multiple universes.

Each chapter starts with a snapshot of what each agent is doing to advance their side's cause, whether that's taking part in major historical events or planting the seeds for 'coincidences' in the future, and ends with the discovery of a letter from their counterpart. What begins as acknowledgements of respect, nods across the battlefield, gradually grow into something more.

Fans of science fiction may be disappointed by the lack of focus on the time-traveling, universe-hopping backdrop to this story of star-crossing lovers. Details are sparse, and little is disclosed about the factions or why they are at war other than hints and impressions throughout the book.

The gradual, tip-toeing romance between Red …

Amal El-Mothar and Max Gladsonte's "This is How You Lose the Time War" follows two agents, Red and Blue, on opposite sides of a war that spans all of time and (some of?) space across multiple universes.

Each chapter starts with a snapshot of what each agent is doing to advance their side's cause, whether that's taking part in major historical events or planting the seeds for 'coincidences' in the future, and ends with the discovery of a letter from their counterpart. What begins as acknowledgements of respect, nods across the battlefield, gradually grow into something more.

Fans of science fiction may be disappointed by the lack of focus on the time-traveling, universe-hopping backdrop to this story of star-crossing lovers. Details are sparse, and little is disclosed about the factions or why they are at war other than hints and impressions throughout the book.

The gradual, tip-toeing romance between Red and Blue via their elegantly composed letters is the strength of this book. There is a sweetness as the characters, hovering just beyond what one might call "human", discover that they are capable of such love, and for who should be their mortal enemy, no less. Readers who never tire of "Romeo and Juliette" will find much to love in "This is How You Lose the Time War".

Phil in SF reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Not really for me

3 stars

Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone write gorgeously, but I had trouble following the story.

Clare Hooley reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Love letters meets time travel

3 stars

Worth reading but I wasn’t up on all the literary references as much as you need to be. The quality of the writing was obvious and superb, but, oddly for a novella, I felt it a little too long. I wanted the story to move on from the love letter correspondence between Red and Blue one or two letters earlier. The immersion that was achieved for the diverse locations with such brief descriptions was my highlight. There’s a mystery character appearing at the end of each letter, and although readers (esp. any fantasy/SF reader) would spot who that is, when we actually meet them, for the end game, I got more into the romance of it.

markusreads reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Great read, savored it to the last drop, took it as slow as I could

5 stars

Once into the flow of the correspondence, I knew I wanted to take it slow, only read on my commute, which is ideal given that the chapters are short and I could change trains or transports and divide the chapter into action and letter. I really loved the tone, story, the arch it builds, everything... This is certainly one I will revisit.. it's so imaginative and at the same time relatable.

Marina reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

A piece of art

5 stars

If you like books where you don't get all the answers, that aren't necessarily linear, and are more about prose and gut-wrenching heartache, you'll enjoy this book. It's art. If you don't like artsy books, you probably should pick something else to read.

I loved it.

📚torstein📚 reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Either too short, or too long.

No rating

I can't decide if this would have worked better (for me) as a short story, or a full length book. If it was longer, it could have expanded on it's ideas. If it had been shorter, it wouldn't have felt so repetetive.

There is some good ideas here, but they deserve better than being hand waved away. How do Red and Blue target their letters to each other across strands of time? If there are certain contested junctures in time, shouldn't they be swarmed with agents, and multiple aspects of the same agents? If the protagonists are just cogs in two massive opposing machines battling for supremacy over all time - why does it seems like they are the only two operators in the field?

I'm not saying this is a bad book, there is a lot good writing here. But it didn't work for me. Two highly subjective stars. …

I can't decide if this would have worked better (for me) as a short story, or a full length book. If it was longer, it could have expanded on it's ideas. If it had been shorter, it wouldn't have felt so repetetive.

There is some good ideas here, but they deserve better than being hand waved away. How do Red and Blue target their letters to each other across strands of time? If there are certain contested junctures in time, shouldn't they be swarmed with agents, and multiple aspects of the same agents? If the protagonists are just cogs in two massive opposing machines battling for supremacy over all time - why does it seems like they are the only two operators in the field?

I'm not saying this is a bad book, there is a lot good writing here. But it didn't work for me. Two highly subjective stars. (I'm going to hold of actually rating as there are so few reviews here yet)

Nix Kelley (they/them) reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

The beautiful violence of love

5 stars

I could not stop listening. This book is SO good. Intricate and lovely. Prose this delicious is rarely written.

Derek Caelin reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

a teapot in a tempest

5 stars

"This is How You Lose the Time War" asks the reader to perch on the shoulders of two operatives on opposing sides of a time-traveling war.

Each chapter follows "Red" or "Blue" as they scurry up and down timelines and across dimensions. The book is both sweepingly broad and extremely contained and personal.

The settings flit by, dizzying: a temple for mechanized humans, an ancient holy cave, the assassination of Caesar - each sketched with broad, emotional strokes to give the setting an aesthetic. One gets the sense that a great web of cause and effect is being constantly constructed, altered, and destroyed, without ever seeing the full picture.

Against these backdrops, the characters "Red" and "Blue" write to each other - as nemeses, then as friends, ever deeper entangled even as they demolish each other's plans and forces. The letters make up an enormous part of the experience, and …

"This is How You Lose the Time War" asks the reader to perch on the shoulders of two operatives on opposing sides of a time-traveling war.

Each chapter follows "Red" or "Blue" as they scurry up and down timelines and across dimensions. The book is both sweepingly broad and extremely contained and personal.

The settings flit by, dizzying: a temple for mechanized humans, an ancient holy cave, the assassination of Caesar - each sketched with broad, emotional strokes to give the setting an aesthetic. One gets the sense that a great web of cause and effect is being constantly constructed, altered, and destroyed, without ever seeing the full picture.

Against these backdrops, the characters "Red" and "Blue" write to each other - as nemeses, then as friends, ever deeper entangled even as they demolish each other's plans and forces. The letters make up an enormous part of the experience, and they are comic, intimate... poignant. I didn't give a damn about the war - I just wanted these two characters to be alright.

I loved it. I stayed up past midnight every day I was reading, which wasn't long because I had to see what came next and kept reading.

Hirvox reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

A meeting of minds

4 stars

How do you have a love story between two beings separated by war, time and dimensions? With covert letters. They may be written in seeds or lava flows, but letters nevertheless.

penwing reviewed This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Wonderful, my Blue and Red

5 stars

I love this book so much. Just gorgeous in execution, and a story delightful in its telling.

Nick Barlow reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Review of 'This Is How You Lose the Time War' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I've had this sitting on my Kindle for a while, but I'm glad I waited in a way as it was the perfect choice for my last book of the year. Somewhere between a simple love story (but see Blue's thoughts on Romeo and Juliet) and the saving of the entire universe, it fits so much in such a small space and creates so many thoughts and images. A wonderful book, heartily recommended.

Simon Vandereecken ~ Nithou reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone

Review of 'This Is How You Lose the Time War' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Une chasse à travers le temps, une histoire d’amour construite à travers les époques. Assez unique et parfois très beau, égarant à certains moments mais finalement émouvant.