Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

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

149 reviews

maddiearthur's review

challenging emotional inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Violence, Death, Suicide attempt, and War

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

jen3699's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I loved it and I'm recommending it. It's short but a masterpiece. Every minute of this is used to create this beautiful love story. I love it.

The end is my favourite. It's crafted so beautifully and with such dedication. 

The idea of a love that you take into your being so literally, unconsciously and consciously. The type of love that consumes you and remakes you into something new for you and your partner. Beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Death, Gore, Violence, Genocide, and War

Minor: Grief, Miscarriage, Animal death, Infertility, and Abortion

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

book_benagachi's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

2.0

Smart, poetic and definitely a romance in that I don't feel like I have any real Idea of who each woman is or why they think they're in love with each other. Also, it doesn't actually show us how you lose the time was. Totally not for me. If you like smart references, poetic writing and zero character depth this is totally for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Murder, and War

kajoreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.5

It took me a while to get emotionally invested, which isn’t ideal when the book is only 200 pages long.

The last third was worth the wait though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Violence, and War

Moderate: Colonisation, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic

el_wheel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

The amount of tears the last 30 or so pages got from me bro 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Grief, Gore, and War

saskiahill's review

medium-paced

4.0

If you can, read in one or two sittings as the writing flows and it's not the easiest to keep track of. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Animal death

24carrotgay's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

i would give this book 10 stars if i could!! it is hands-down the most beautiful story i have ever heard. i am in awe of how the story was so beautifully woven (pun intended) together. the love between red and blue is palpable. it is so deep and so vast that my arms get goosebumps and my eyes threaten to cry. i am left speechless. this book is everything. it will forever be one of my favorites.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Animal death, Death, Gore, Murder, and War

Moderate: Body horror and Confinement

Minor: Torture

angelofthetardis's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

In an endless war to control time, what starts as a taunting exchange of letters between two rival warriors develops into a lasting bond between the pair. But battle still rages, and consorting with the enemy could have dire consequences if discovered. So what's more important; winning the war, or each other?

I have to say that this is a beautifully written piece; the imagery it invokes is wonderfully powerful, and the feelings of the characters as they develop soar from the page. You are immediately pulled into the story and kept there, and while you might try to anticipate the story as it progresses, the authors have done a fab job at keeping the reader guessing. For such a short book, it packs a powerful punch!

However, while this has lots of elements that should make it slot perfectly into my wheelhouse (time travel, enemies-to-lovers etc etc), I'm finding it very difficult to place, I think because the writing style is so very different to what I would usually enjoy. There is practically no context to the wider events, and little in the way of worldbuilding to allow you to understand the mechanics of the roles the characters are playing and the sides they are on. As a result, it reads more like a series of vignettes than a strong 'linear' narrative, with the authors describing how the characters receive each letter (in various weird and wonderful ways) before revealling the content. But it feels like there are just too many unknowns or unanswered questions about who they are, what they're doing and how they got there.

I will admit that a very small part of me sees the characters as The Doctor and The Master - hey, if you mention the Time War, my brain is on a one way trip to Doctor Who land! But in an odd way this helped me grasp the basis of Red and Blue's story better, I suppose because I could then contextualise the characters and their relationship. It's by no means a perfect fit, but enough seemed to resonate that it helped. Again, there are so many unknowns about the characters for me. 

I could see this making a beautiful one-off TV series, or even an anime series, as the visuals from the page scream to be brought to life. I definitely enjoyed reading it, but not quite as much as I'd hoped.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Suicide attempt, War, and Death

Minor: Animal death