Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

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

30 reviews

hirsute's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-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

4.75

I think the book is really well written, and technically it's a fantastic work. I enjoyed it enough to finish it, and am glad I did, but probably will not read it again.

I started the book listening to an audiobook version, and that way did not work for me. Because of the nature of the work, there are enough times where I did not have context to help me understand something that was said that I was left confused, frustrated, and feeling disconnected from the story. I think this is largely because in audiobook format, it's not easy to pause and review those parts and then resume. I wasn't able to reconnect well after those moments in the audiobook. 

Reading it in print made it far easier for me to move at the pace I needed to move to really stay connected with the story, and I went from being frustated with my own indifference to the book to really enjoying it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, War, Blood, and Cursing

Minor: Gore and Suicide

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

challenging hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Animal death, Death, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: War

monstrouscosmos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

Characters: 10/10
Relationships: 10/10
Atmosphere/Setting: 9.5/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Plot/Intrigue: 9.5/10
Internal Logic: 10/10
Entertainment: 10/10
Overall: 68/70, 5*

I love epistolary novels, quantum time travel plots, and messy star crossed sapphic romances, so I figured from the get that I'd be really into this. and I was! I especially loved the ways the characters spoke with one another across timelines, and gave context for themselves as individuals, within their respective collective experiences, and within their shared relationship over time(s). the writing about writing was also really fun! there are definitely moments that delve into disturbing themes and events, but for the most part I found the tone stayed hopeful in belief for better circumstances. 

it's definitely something I need to relisten to (I feel like I missed a lot in my first run thru due to the narrative bouncing around quite a lot), but I'm so excited to revisit it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, Torture, Abandonment, Colonisation, Animal death, Child abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, and Stalking

Minor: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Cursing

Graphic: spiders

litliz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Dysphoria, Gore, Confinement, Animal death, Death, Genocide, Grief, Violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and War

kananineko's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved this!!! I really loved the format and the characters and their relationship!! World-ending love for the win! And the writing was beautiful. But I took off one star because for a lot of the book I literally had no idea what was going on and it took longer to read than I normally would take on a 200 page book. But in the end it didn't really matter bc the characters and their relationship <3<3<3

lowkey thought this was gonna be one of my favorite books ever tho and it sadly didn't make that bc of how confusing it was... still loved it a lot tho and the writers are very talented!! I know that makes it sound like a 3 star but the characters' relationship dynamic was so amazing that it adds a star

*spoiler* I do wish we got a little more with the ending tho, like maybe one more chapter where we could see them together

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Gore, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Body horror, War, and Death

Minor: Torture

fragrant_stars's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.25

I started it today and I couldn't put it down!! I finished it this evening.

This book was more challenging than I expected because of how poetic the writing style was-- but I really enjoyed it nonetheless, especially the second half of the book. It's a masterpiece, one that I feel like I'm definitely going to want to re-read again sometime.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Violence, Cursing, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, and Torture

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Hot damn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Torture, and Body horror

dannothedino's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Mental illness, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Violence, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Vomit, Murder, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Animal death, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

Minor: Abandonment and Cannibalism

theirgracegrace's review

adventurous emotional reflective fast-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

4.5

In the endless battle between the dystopian Agency and the utopian Garden, agents battle across time. Travelling up and down the threads of time, Red and Blue come across one another by pure chance...or is it? Red belongs to the Agency and Blue is part of the Garden, but through a series of letters, their relationship turns from rivals, to friends, to something more. I adored the settings of their letters and the ending completely blew me away. I will definitely recommend it to my friends!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Murder, Body horror, Confinement, Grief, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, and War

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Cursing

Minor: Colonisation, Genocide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mobymaize's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Holy shit this book rocks my socks off. I genuinely love sci-fi that doesn’t need need a complete explanation or description of super complicated politics. I just need my time & space lesbians and I’m happy :)

Also romance through letters and missives is incredible. Especially when it’s queer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Torture, War, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Death, and Medical content