Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Suicide'
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
84 reviews
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.
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
atlantisblauw's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
Thank god, I reached the end. I have no idea how people can enjoy this utter drivel. No world-building, no character development, metaphors that make no sense. There's no explanation of how they travel through time, you don't know what the war is about. The characters don't even know each other, but they 'love each other'.
The authors are clearly trying to sound very deep by listing endless enumerations of imagery, repetition, contradictory statements and questions that aren't really all that deep. "She has won, yes, she has won. She is certain she has won. Hasn't she?"
And of course, many inanimate objects verbing. "Vines live [...] Rain clouds threaten. Lightening blooms, and the battlefield goes monochrome. Thunder rolls."
The metaphors are hilariously awful. "branches clatter like locust wings" and "a sun that is an eye with a great hourglass pupil like a goat's". Have they ever seen a goat? How is its eye in any way like an hourglass? "The ends don't always resemble our means." What's the logic here? "The seal breaks as easy as a spine" - Yeah we all know spines snap like twigs, right? *roll-eyes*
The letters start out extremely childish. "Postscripts sure are fun", one of the main characters writes in a PPPS. Yeah, I also thought they were fun, when I was ten. Then at some point it turns into love letters from a 14 year old Gothic girl, with silly things like "I want you to cut me" or "The pain truly is excruciating. It's wonderful, really" and the romanticising of suicide.
The only thing I can appreciate is there are two nice plot twists. Maybe it could have been a nice book if it had been written by someone more skilled. I'm stunned that this mess of a book was awarded both a Hugo and a Nebula award.
The authors are clearly trying to sound very deep by listing endless enumerations of imagery, repetition, contradictory statements and questions that aren't really all that deep. "She has won, yes, she has won. She is certain she has won. Hasn't she?"
And of course, many inanimate objects verbing. "Vines live [...] Rain clouds threaten. Lightening blooms, and the battlefield goes monochrome. Thunder rolls."
The metaphors are hilariously awful. "branches clatter like locust wings" and "a sun that is an eye with a great hourglass pupil like a goat's". Have they ever seen a goat? How is its eye in any way like an hourglass? "The ends don't always resemble our means." What's the logic here? "The seal breaks as easy as a spine" - Yeah we all know spines snap like twigs, right? *roll-eyes*
The letters start out extremely childish. "Postscripts sure are fun", one of the main characters writes in a PPPS. Yeah, I also thought they were fun, when I was ten. Then at some point it turns into love letters from a 14 year old Gothic girl, with silly things like "I want you to cut me" or "The pain truly is excruciating. It's wonderful, really" and the romanticising of suicide.
The only thing I can appreciate is there are two nice plot twists. Maybe it could have been a nice book if it had been written by someone more skilled. I'm stunned that this mess of a book was awarded both a Hugo and a Nebula award.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Violence and Murder
Minor: War
miss_sunshine's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Vomit, and War
Moderate: Murder, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Suicide
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Murder, Animal death, and Death
Moderate: Body horror and Blood
Minor: Confinement, Genocide, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Torture, and Suicide
babudarabu's review
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Blood and Murder
Minor: Body horror, War, Animal death, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicide
autumnk3lly's review against another edition
challenging
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? It's complicated
3.5
3.5/5 Stars
All in all, I enjoyed this. Which is unusual because I despise sci-fi with every inch of my being. The relation between Blue and Red and the tragedy it tells? Immaculate. If I wasn't at work when I finished reading it, I probably would have cried. Blue and Red are written so beautifully, reading their letters and seeing how they conveyed their love. The romance and enemies-to-lovers were well done. I only give it 3.5 though because of how confused I was for the first 70ish pages. I for the life of me could not figure out what the braids were, what Garden and Agency was. I didn't realize until about halfway through it was time travel. So I still don't like sci-fi, it's confusing. But if you look past the science-space mess, it's beautiful.
All in all, I enjoyed this. Which is unusual because I despise sci-fi with every inch of my being. The relation between Blue and Red and the tragedy it tells? Immaculate. If I wasn't at work when I finished reading it, I probably would have cried. Blue and Red are written so beautifully, reading their letters and seeing how they conveyed their love. The romance and enemies-to-lovers were well done. I only give it 3.5 though because of how confused I was for the first 70ish pages. I for the life of me could not figure out what the braids were, what Garden and Agency was. I didn't realize until about halfway through it was time travel. So I still don't like sci-fi, it's confusing. But if you look past the science-space mess, it's beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, and Suicide
Minor: Physical abuse
acopytopy's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
3.0
This is a weird one. Everything here is taken to the extreme. The writing style is so exaggerated and pretentious that it comes off as embarrassing. Despite the existence of time travel, most of the references the characters make revolve around the 1900s and recent human history. The main characters themselves are described in such a way that they feel more like concepts than actual people, down to their names of "Red" and "Blue".
Yet, I can't help but respect these authorial decisions even while I'm annoyed by them. They had a vision in mind, and they wrote it exactly as they wanted to without care for the reader's opinion. (Either that, or they genuinely thought this style of writing is enjoyable.) I don't love it, but I respect it.
Yet, I can't help but respect these authorial decisions even while I'm annoyed by them. They had a vision in mind, and they wrote it exactly as they wanted to without care for the reader's opinion. (Either that, or they genuinely thought this style of writing is enjoyable.) I don't love it, but I respect it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt
hannahcstocks's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-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
Extraordinary and unusual. Overall, it’s a inventive exploration of the connection between two beings through their musings and self-reflections. The concept of time makes the call of whether the characters show personal growth complicated, but it is certainly character-driven. The entirety of the book consists of small bits of narrative writing and letters between the two main characters. Not much of an exposition or background, so if you’re a reader who can’t jump into something without explanation as to the world you are in or to the major players of said world, this probably isn’t for you. You do learn some of that info throughout, but it is still mostly vague insofar as those elements are not wholly relevant to the point of the story. The book is a bit arduous at times (both in concept and the convoluted nature of some of the writing) but creative and worth the read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Grief, Stalking, Animal death, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
unsuccessfulbookclub's review
challenging
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
3.75
I am not smart enough for this book. And sometimes an author will give me enough to hang on to to make that okay, but I dunno… this was just too weird for me to truly love. I can respect the prose and the format enough to give it nearly 4 stars, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Death, War, and Violence
spookily's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Grief, War, and Suicide
Moderate: Animal death, Medical content, Confinement, Murder, Torture, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Gun violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Cursing, Abandonment, Gaslighting, and Child death