Reviews

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

esmabry8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

3.0

rachelhelmer's review

adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

raegandchambers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.5

emilyreadstoomuch's review against another edition

i just can’t get into this

gracieoneill's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

review to come but one of my favorite reads of the year, hands down

chia_s's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

sverville's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

violetspiderwitch's review against another edition

5.0

4.8
This one hits hard. The prose is stunning, if a bit hard to parse, and the characters feel real despite the outlandish premise. I stayed up all night reading this, and many tears were shed throughout. This novella is genuinely one of the best I've ever read and will surely stand the test of time as a literary classic. Get this book, you won't be disappointed.

moshikami's review against another edition

3.0

I have some mixed feelings about this book. I can see the appeal of it and I did enjoy it, in theory. It's writing was some of the floweriest and most poetic I've ever experienced, a blessing and a curse. This lends itself well to a romance story, but I was left lost somewhere in the threads as I attempted to decipher what was even happening in the sci-fi plotline. It made more sense toward the end, kind of. The book wasn't what I was expecting at all, but it was unique. I felt like the beginning was a little too long and by the time the conflict hit, it was pretty much over, and was also just repetitive.
The romance is special, but at the same time it reached levels of EXTREME CRINGE. Blue-da-ba-dee? Really??? And that was repeated more than once...

tormentalidad's review against another edition

3.0

No esperaba una novela como esta. A través de cartas entre dos agentes de bandos opuestos en una guerra (en el espacio y en el tiempo) vemos cómo se construye la comunicación entre ellas y cómo evoluciona su relación. Hay reflexiones bellísimas sobre la existencia, el deseo, el amor y la libertad que han hecho que el libro merezca la pena. Sin embargo, el liricismo con el que está escrito desvirtúa mucho el contexto de guerra en el que se enmarcan estas cartas y se vuelve tan abstracto que hay que esforzarse por visualizar las escenas.
"Las palabras pueden herir, pero también son puentes. Pero ¿tal vez un puente puede ser también una herida? Parafraseando a un profeta: las cartas son estructuras, no acontecimientos. Las tuyas me proporcionan un lugar donde vivir."