Reviews tagging 'Blood'

This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar

335 reviews

itsheyfay's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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__adrianwalker's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Now knowing the ending I think I would have enjoyed the book more knowing how it ended before I started...

Ending Spoilers:
Knowing that Red and Blue's lives were so intertwined makes this book more enjoyable once you are in the last twenty or so pages, but I felt like I missed out on so much subtext because I was unaware of the "time loop" they find themselves in. Not sure If that was a fault of mine as a reader or if the authors did not effectively communicate that.
With a book set in such a seemingly rich fantasy world, I wished the book could have slowed more to explore the aspects of time travel and the setting more than the brief, surface level glimpses we get throughout Red and Blue's letters. The world, and the character's relationship with one another, feel rushed and unfinished. I love the idea behind this book but it did not capture me in the ways I wanted it to, and my confusion kept me from enjoying what was on the page.
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valerian_honeybee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kitkathw871's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is definitely a book I have to sit with since it's so far out of my wheelhouse, but I definitely think I had different expectations for the story. I wanted it to be grounded because that's my taste in books, but it's not necessarily a flaw in this story. I think the plot didn't take many risks and the story unfolded more or less as one would expect, it was just the setting that made it interesting. The ambiguity made it hard for me to really get into it since I prefer books that touch the reality of life more. I really did like the format of the letters and hopping back and forth in time, I think it's a love story worth reading.
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mbelle97's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

could not get into this book at all. it was very beautifully written, but it wasn't really about anything. i couldn't get invested in the romance because I couldn't tell who the characters were or what they cared about. This book also didn't go into much of the actual world-building or technology, so I was left very confused and skeptical about the ways that Blue and Red were able to communicate in the first place. the book was pretty short, and I would have loved if it was a bit longer if the added length explained the world, the characters, the Agency, and Garden in more depth. the world seemed super interesting and I loooove time-travel and sci-fi, so I wish i was able to learn more about the characters' motivations and the world they lived in.
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kayanoelle's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Very dramatic, very confusing, very poetic, very lovely, very gory, very funny. Quite a few revelations, the occasional 💡-moment. A single tear rolled down my cheek towards the end there. Maybe that’s because it’s 2 a.m. but hey, I stayed up this late to finish the book so it has to be good. It was good. The last 50 or so pages really tied everything together!
One of my favorite quotes: “Sometimes you have to hold a person, though they’ll mistake embrace for strangulation.”
As a non-native speaker, the language was pretty difficult for me in the beginning even though I read almost every book in English but you get used to it!

A few things I said out loud while reading this book:
1) “Wait, am I the seeker?” (I wasn’t)
2) “Wait, did they hide a message in this book somewhere?” (They did)
3) Omg no way, she gave Blue her antibodies?! But that means she isn’t dead! Ohh, but Red had to think she was dead in order to go to these length to even give her the antibodies in the first place. Time traveling confuses me.
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antijeffbozo_love2read's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I mostly wish it was longer!! But yeahh it wouldn't have really worked if it was. The world building is so intriguing I kinda wish we got to learn more as I was left with a few unanswered questions (major spoilers!!!!:)
(like why does Red from the future (the seeker) follow Red to places/times where letters weren't exchanged? Also how did Blue know Red's real name?

I was so invested and interested the whole time though it was a super fun read (although I definitely needed peace and quiet to be able to comprehend some of that language lol)
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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

🎧
I heard good things on about this book on social media. For me, this book was alright. I spent the first part confused. 
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woodglimm's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.75

i thought i would love this more, since it was praised so much. you get thrown right into the story without much explanation which made it a little hard for me to get into it. the second half got way better tho, it somehow caught me and i found joy in it (after a long break about 60 pages in lol). 
worth a read, even though probably not the easiest? also, it's only 200 pages ;)

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justmys's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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