Reviews

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

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nolamillet's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.25

elaine707's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

In a world of time agents who can move along the time stream to correct and shift timelines according to a greater plan per each organization, these two unlikely forces find solace in a letter.

I loved everything about this. I had never read a concept like this, so I was enthralled. I loved reading through the letters, which kept us, as readers, shrouded in mystery. The ending was the only thing that could have happened, yet I was still surprised.

recklessric's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

One of the more challenging books I've read just in terms of style and complexity but in a way that felt earned and rewarding. A story that ultimately ends up feeling like a book of poetry wrapped around a multiversal scifi story where the story fades as the poetry gains strength. I came into this with very little expectations about what the book was and I think that helped my reading experience too. Had I expected something, this certainly wouldn't have met my expectations but starting from a clean slate I think this book was allowed to be as strange and fluid as it needed to be.

bookdust's review against another edition

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5.0

First time around I listened to the audio book...which I am usually distracted while listening to audio books. I just knew I needed to read a physical copy of this one because of how richly detailed the prose are. I'm glad I did.

caobooks's review against another edition

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2.0

Sooo... Romeo and Juliet but interdimensional fighter-lesbians?

goodyeargoodbooks's review against another edition

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1.0

1.5 stars. I was so let down by this. I was excited to pick it up; it has good reviews, and the synopsis made it sound like it was right up my street. What I wasn't expecting, however, was a complete lack of character, world building and plot in place of meaningless, pretentious purple prose. This story is nothing but a set of wishy-washy 'love letters' that are actually devoid of any sense of romantic connection or understanding between the two characters (due to lack of background, or indeed recognisable or interesting characterisation), interspersed with a random collection of 'scenes' that do nothing to further the actual plot and seem to just serve as an opportunity for superficial visual description in the form of more purple prose and nonsensical metaphors. Maybe 70% in, there was a brief moment where an attempt is made to give Red any semblance of a narrative arc through her conversation with the Commander, and I saw a glimmer of hope for the piece, but alas, it turned straight back to the substanceless wishy-washy again a few pages later. In short, this book fell completely flat for me.