Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

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

22 reviews

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

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

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

clovetra's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

never have i had so many yet so little thoughts on a book.
the writing at times was incredible - the style had almost a lyrical and floaty feeling, which perfectly suited the setting(s) and the story of this book. however, sometimes it felt overly wordy for the sake of being wordy. the unnecessary use of overly complicated words to achieve this was frustrating at times, and i felt like i was straining to read this. i did at times enjoy the layers on layers of descriptions of something as simple as a seed, but other times i was exhausted
i will say i also don't.... buy the relationship between red & blue? like i feel like it came out of nowhere and it didn't get proper set up. like at one moment they're just chatting about annihilating each other and then like 30 pages later they're madly in love.
i also did not get the ending and many other thing! like i get what happened in an abstract sense, but if you asked me to give you a play-by-play of what happened in this book i don't think i could. sure i have grasped the general ideas but my god so much jargon was going on, most of the actual plot was lost on me.
i understand why this book is adored and twitter user bigdickolas, but for me.... idk it was good! i can admit that; im not blind. it was a beautiful book. it just felt like it was trying too hard to be artsy for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, and Death

Minor: Colonisation and Fire/Fire injury

riverestyx's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

I devoured this book! In fact, I spent the last 20 pages pacing my kitchen! I don't know when I last did that! I also spent more time at the laundromat than I needed to because I was pulled so deep into this story. I went into reading this knowing only 'time traveling lesbians' and I'm so glad I went in knowing so little. I was hooked the entire time.

I can see why folks would struggle with this book because it's more prose than you'd expect from a novel and often sparse on details and world building. You have to just go with the details of the world as they come. If you're okay with those then i highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, War, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury 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

arlaubscher's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

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

emohell's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

it was okay

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Death, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Cursing, Vomit, Torture, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death

drtx_bwt's review

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Suicide