Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

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

59 reviews

rickireadss's review against another edition

4.0

this was a mind trip for sure. in some ways, i feel like i actually kinda understood what was happening, but in other ways, i feel like i was much too stupid for this book haha. i enjoyed listening to this on audio. the gasp i gusped at that ending-- WTF. overall, i had a good time, but i'm still not sure i understood 100% of what happened/was happening/where that ending took us.

representation: Sapphic FMCs

content warnings:

death, violence, war, blood, murder, body horror, gore, injury/injury detail, grief, torture, suicide attempt, genocide, self harm, confinement, stalking, abandonment

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Torture, Stalking, Abandonment, Confinement, Self harm, Genocide, and Suicide attempt

peggy_racham's review against another edition

4.75

A war across time and space, love across the same. Two agents and lovers. I loved reading this book,falling in love with the characters, as they are falling on love with eachother. The descriptions of love as a hunger, as violent, profane but beautiful and full of life. And its lesbians.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death, Genocide, Medical content, Gun violence, War, Body horror, and Confinement

the_true_monroe's review

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I read this for a queer book club and I was very hesitant at first as the writing style was beautiful yet so difficult for me to understand. 

Despite how confused I was throughout the book, I think I was able to follow along well enough to at least very much understand and LOVE the ending. 

Also, the cover is beautiful!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

Minor: Confinement, Genocide, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Torture, and Suicide

yourbookishbff's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Murder

Moderate: Genocide and War

tarareadsalot's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

My new favourite book. I listend to the audiobook version and loved the narration.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Blood, and Genocide

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

elspeth_h's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Genocide, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Torture

q_bert13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

An interestingly arranged story of correspondence between two alien agents of opposing forces. Not plot heavy at all- chapters include little increments of world building/action, and end with a letter addressed from one mc to the other. A quick, possibly at times confusing read- but overall super enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal death, Violence, Death, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, and War

Moderate: Stalking, Genocide, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Colonisation, Body shaming, and Sexual content

jasminawithab's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.75

might bump it up to a 5 star on a reread

i actively do not like time travel and sci fi as a whole isnt something i gravitate towards, but oh gods did i adore this book. my most prevalent annotation was just "AAAA". im not joking, i probably wrote it at least 20 times.

the twist at the end was admittedly one i saw coming (i guessed it by the second letter) but i could not figure out how it worked so it was still interesting and shocking when it did get revealed.

 per my adult/minor relationship cw:

one of the main characters (Red; an adult) travels back in time and kisses the other main character (Blue) who was a child at the time with romantic intent and for other more spoilery reasons. this comes at the end of the novella after the two have already fallen in love and confessed when they are adults. while Blue was fine with it in the future/present when she realizes it was Red, she did not consent or know what was happening when she was a child. i added the cw because this made me feel a bit iffy and i felt like it could have been resolved another way. it was literally only a paragraph or two though

fav quotes:

"[i am] yours as i review your words by their sequence, their sound, smell, taste, taking care no one memory of them becomes too worn"

"i want to meet you in every place i have loved"

"there was, i am sure, a time i did not know you. or did i dream that me, as i've so often dreamed of you?"

"i'll be all the poets, i'll kill them all and take each ones place in turn, and every time love's written in all the strands it will be to you"

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, War, Violence, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Sexism, and Murder

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-paced

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

3.25

A pleasant read, although at times it felt like the authors added sci-fi mumbo jumbo to make the characters look more impressive than they were. The poetic writing got a bit tiring after a while but I did enjoy most of it separately. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Death, Grief, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, Torture, Confinement, and Stalking