This Is How You Lose the Time War

zeerooth@ramblingreaders.org reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

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.

Mr.F reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

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".

Clare Hooley reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

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.

Lien reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

Beautiful words

5 stars

Beautiful poetry of language. A familiar enough story in a completely refreshing way. Strikingly reminiscent of Sofia Samatar's short stories in its focus of characters' hearts into epistolary confessions, and how the science fiction is not meant to be fully understood. Unlike Samatar, there was maybe less groundedness, lived-in feeling of the world, and connections of the characters. However, Red and Blue's personalities and changing relationship with each other shone through as powerful. There's also a nice rhythm to the book, over all the weirdness: a structure that makes it all flow and unconfusing. The highlight of this was how precise and perfect the poetic language of the book was.

Derek Caelin reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

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 Amal El-Mohtar

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.

Merovius reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

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

5 stars

Hauntingly beautiful. A love-letter to the written word.

bookafnd reviewed This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar

probably not for everyone, but it's very good

5 stars

it's a magical realist (?) romance in a science fiction Time War setting, an unusual choice, but one that works well, given how strange the consequences of warping causality would be. If you can get ahold of the audio book, it's pretty good, has different readers for Blue and Red.