Reviews tagging 'War'

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

418 reviews

mbelle97's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

could not get into this book at all. it was very beautifully written, but it wasn't really about anything. i couldn't get invested in the romance because I couldn't tell who the characters were or what they cared about. This book also didn't go into much of the actual world-building or technology, so I was left very confused and skeptical about the ways that Blue and Red were able to communicate in the first place. the book was pretty short, and I would have loved if it was a bit longer if the added length explained the world, the characters, the Agency, and Garden in more depth. the world seemed super interesting and I loooove time-travel and sci-fi, so I wish i was able to learn more about the characters' motivations and the world they lived in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War

kayanoelle's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Very dramatic, very confusing, very poetic, very lovely, very gory, very funny. Quite a few revelations, the occasional 💡-moment. A single tear rolled down my cheek towards the end there. Maybe that’s because it’s 2 a.m. but hey, I stayed up this late to finish the book so it has to be good. It was good. The last 50 or so pages really tied everything together!
One of my favorite quotes: “Sometimes you have to hold a person, though they’ll mistake embrace for strangulation.”
As a non-native speaker, the language was pretty difficult for me in the beginning even though I read almost every book in English but you get used to it!

A few things I said out loud while reading this book:
1) “Wait, am I the seeker?” (I wasn’t)
2) “Wait, did they hide a message in this book somewhere?” (They did)
3) Omg no way, she gave Blue her antibodies?! But that means she isn’t dead! Ohh, but Red had to think she was dead in order to go to these length to even give her the antibodies in the first place. Time traveling confuses me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Death, and War

abby_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.0

🎧
I heard good things on about this book on social media. For me, this book was alright. I spent the first part confused. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Torture, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Confinement, Murder, and Animal death

austenite93's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Violence, and Death

chemeducator's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

bootrat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Death

bethantg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Gore

17michaelasully's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: War

soggycedar's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

It’s like reading a 200 page poem. Entirely abstract. More of something to study than to enjoy. The lack of characters and world building isn’t for me.

I had to listen to the audiobook and read at the same time to get through it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Minor: Murder

sydneykaye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Stalking, Murder, and War

For body horror, I think that description is a little harsh for what is in the book,

there are parts where the "follower" or whatever they're called will like stick splinters in their hand, or when Red (I think it was her) modified her mechanical body (?).

It has been a little bit since I read this so idk. Nothing in the book is overly graphic.