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

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

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

214 reviews

twittysuch's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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

The story starts a bit confusing, but such is the way when you're working with time travel. Each page is more poetic than the last and it picks up about halfway in. There were moments of incredible suspense and heartbreak, but I finished the last page with my arms covered in goosebumps and my cheeks streaked with tears. As my copy was a library book, I knew I had to get my own copy to read again and again (with lots of notes in the margins).

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daniellekat's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

The first half was a bit confusing, but by the end I immediately wanted to jump back and reread the early letters. The writing was beautiful and I especially loved the letters written by Red. I actually liked that I didn't understand every aspect of the world building. It kept me feeling off balance and inline with the time travelling plot. I can't exactly pinpoint why this wasn't a five star read, but there was just a little something missing for me.

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97reads's review

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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? It's complicated

5.0

I'm coming back tomorrow to write a proper review but this is one of the best books I've read in my entire life.

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patti_cake08's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective 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

Christ this book was magnificent. The narration was brilliant, lyricsl but smooth and yarring. The use if letters for the secind half of each chapter held the reader's and the characters understanding of each other. Not to mention their evolution in how they feel for each other. You are with them as they read these letters through ash and blood and tree. You see them fall in love with each other's fatality and person.
It was brilliant and had me nearly in tears.

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deckled_edges's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

I took a few days to think about this review and my rating for it. I ADORE this book. I love it so so much and I love the characters and I'm so glad I own it, I know I will be rereading it. Blue and Red had me hooked almost instantly.

The only reason it didn't get a full 5 stars is because there were times the prose really kind of struggled under the weight of its own pretenses. It was trying too hard. Not often, but there were definitely a few times where a sentence was gorgeously structured if you weren't trying to glean any immediate meaning from it. There were many instances I had to reread something to figure out what it was trying to say and more times than I would've liked I just opted to give up and keep going because I wanted to know what happened next. Which is a shame because there are so many lines that when they hit, they hit.

Finally, very very ending spoilers

I wanted to see them together. I'm not saying sipping tea in their little house with a dog, I know they've got a loooong road ahead of them before they get anywhere near that. But man, after everything they'd been through I really wanted to see them at least run off together. I AM glad that it has a happy ending though. I got really worried for a while towards the end lol .

Still, I loved watching these two fall for each other and fall hard. All the different kinds of letters they sent, and the ways they allowed more and more of themselves to show. We get just enough worldbuilding to understand the environments & situations they're in, no more, and honestly I think it works!

One of my favorite lines that had me fanning myself:

I like you to know, with my words in your mouth, the places and ways in which I think of you.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely ✅

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kananineko's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

I loved this!!! I really loved the format and the characters and their relationship!! World-ending love for the win! And the writing was beautiful. But I took off one star because for a lot of the book I literally had no idea what was going on and it took longer to read than I normally would take on a 200 page book. But in the end it didn't really matter bc the characters and their relationship <3<3<3

lowkey thought this was gonna be one of my favorite books ever tho and it sadly didn't make that bc of how confusing it was... still loved it a lot tho and the writers are very talented!! I know that makes it sound like a 3 star but the characters' relationship dynamic was so amazing that it adds a star

*spoiler* I do wish we got a little more with the ending tho, like maybe one more chapter where we could see them together

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ond's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Rich in language but also slightly tends to be over the top bloomy or special (I found it hard and utterly abstract, especially as non-native speaker). The letters are often crafted beautifully but the depicted relationship stays without real substance most of the time. It just “sounded” wondrous, splendid and deep. Same for the many places and times visited. This is unfortunately a missed opportunity to bring the richness in language to a richness in plot, mood and environment. I didn’t expect the many fantastic elements and I am not sure if I liked them. Often I wasn’t sure about what or if some is meant to be symbolic. The style of Sci-Fi showed similarities somehow to Aeon Flux (both: the original and the cinematic movie version). For me much was appealing and off-putting in swift changes. I hoped for a little more climax in the ending. Most parts of the story line stayed abstract and almost conceptual, which made it harder for me to follow. For the characters and their relationships I felt almost the same. By closing the book I couldn’t help but wanting “more”, but somehow I still liked the ride (it was quite a ride, tough, right?)

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rickireadss's review against another edition

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4.0

this was a mind trip for sure. in some ways, i feel like i actually kinda understood what was happening, but in other ways, i feel like i was much too stupid for this book haha. i enjoyed listening to this on audio. the gasp i gusped at that ending-- WTF. overall, i had a good time, but i'm still not sure i understood 100% of what happened/was happening/where that ending took us.

representation: Sapphic FMCs

content warnings: death, violence, war, blood, murder, body horror, gore, injury/injury detail, grief, torture, suicide attempt, genocide, self harm, confinement, stalking, abandonment

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lindsaylhunter's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense 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

3.5

Every evening I see a red sky bleed over blue water and think of us. Have you ever watched this kind of sunset? The colours don't blend: the redder the sky the bluer the water, as we tilt away from the sun.

I'll not lie - the first half of this book had me wondering what the hell all the fuss was about. It felt almost impossible to sink my teeth into the novel because of the prose and the apparent lack of world-building. Then the second half hit. The prose started making more sense and the characters' plight felt real. Beautiful, convoluted and twisting, I'd take this kind of romance over anything by Ali Hazelwood any day of the week.

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fragrant_stars's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

I started it today and I couldn't put it down!! I finished it this evening.

This book was more challenging than I expected because of how poetic the writing style was-- but I really enjoyed it nonetheless, especially the second half of the book. It's a masterpiece, one that I feel like I'm definitely going to want to re-read again sometime.

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