This is How You Lose the Time War

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was so unlike anything I have read before and I loved it! The progression of emotions between Red and Blue through their letters was so impactful and intense for being a relatively short book. I had too many emotions when I finished this book.

Full Review with Spoilers

I almost cannot describe how I felt after reading this book. When I started I won’t lie, I was a wee bit confused. I knew the general idea of the story: Two opposing agents of a time war working against each other to tip the flow of time to the benefit of their side. They start teasing and taunting each other with messages hidden in various points of time. I was very amused by the concept. I loved that Blue is from a more natural and organic race while Red is a part of a mechanical and robotic one. They are the most opposite you could get, and yet in the middle of the banter between them through the letters, they fall in love.

You don’t get to know the both of them too deeply as separate people, but I feel like you really get to know them in a much more significant way through how they speak to each other. The letters are so raw and sexy and passionate and sweet and everything else in between. It hurt not to see them have any actually time together physically, but at the same time, I couldn’t imagine it being any better.

I really love when time stories cycle back over themselves as well and this one did that splendidly. So many odd moments through the story start to become clear, or things that felt random suddenly become relevant when we see Red running back through time to their moments of written interactions. Such a nice detail. The ending is also fairly open and ambiguous, giving you a spark of hope that they have the opportunity to run off together.

I can easily see how this might not be for everyone, it is very unique in how it is presented, but I can’t recommend it enough just for the beautiful language and amazing love story.