Reviews with content warning for Medical content - This Is How You Lose the Time War

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

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

33 reviews

harperhoney's review

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adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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

4.5

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wardenred's review

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Tell me something true, or tell me nothing at all.

This is one of those books that everyone had read long before I finally bought it. (Do you sometimes feel bad that you're physically unable to stay on top of all the awesome bookish releases, to always manage to read the next big hotness right as it's becoming hot? Or is it just me?). I heard it was great. I had a basic idea of the plot. I expected this to be a pretty fast and enjoyable read. I expected the time-traveling aspect to boggle my mind the way it always does.

I was right on most accounts, and wrong on some. This wasn't a fast read for me at all, even though this is quite a short book, being a novella. Oh, it did pull me in from the first few pages and kept me completely engrossed throughout. But it was the kind of story I wanted to savour rather than devour. A big part of it was the writing: incredibly lyrical and poetical, at times carefully crossing the line into purple prose for a few lines before dancing away from it. An even bigger part was the setting and the plot—I confess I still have so little idea what was going on, beyond the general "two grand mysterious powers are locked in an endless battle for control over time and space, sending agents to create butterfly effects throughout history, splitting time into strands and weaving them into braids." What are these powers? How have they come to be? What are their end goals, and how are they in conflict? For each of these questions, I have such a vague notion instead of an answer, and it's all right, because this isn't really the story of those two powers. It's the story of two rival agents, the snapshots of their various engagements, and the endless coded correspondence between them that grows into something bigger than life.

When I look back at this book, I know that most of all I'm going to recall it as a beautiful enemies-to-lovers story—perhaps one of the best renditions of the trope I've ever encountered. It has it all: the thrill of having a worthy foe of the beginning, the quiet progression into mutual understanding, the dawning realization that this is something you want to meet in every place you ever loved, the painful (really painful) separation in the face of adversary, the hope. But also, I will recall those snapshots of moments across history, lonely and filled with people—the longer, more detailed ones in the beginning, and the smaller ones later on, and the one visible only through emotional blueprints in the letters between Red and Blue. I will recall the wonderful prose—I've written down so many quotes. I will recall all the paradoxes and moebius strips this story is composed of, and they will keep boggling my mind.

I loved this. May I have some more?

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greenteadragon's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.75

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