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A review by donaldcapone
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
1.0
There was a Seinfeld episode when George broke up with a woman saying "It's not you, it's me." That's how I felt reading this novel. The time travel element drew me in, but it turned out to be something I don't read: romantic fantasy. Which I would have been OK with if I knew what was actually going on, and if there was more than just tangential time travel. I was ready to give up by page 10, but I stuck it out for two reasons: I paid $17 for the paperback, and the book is only 198 pages.
The writing was overly and unnecessarily flowery. Here's an example, from page 114:
In downthread server farms couched in remnant icebergs' hearts, she circles back upon her trail, glimpses the shadow, fires her fléchette pistol through rackspace gaps, birthing blue sparks.
To me, that's just a non-sensical word salad. But if that's your cup of tea, more power to you. This novel has high ratings and the people who love it LOVE it. So I'll just write this off as not being my genre, and I'm not the target audience.
So, it's not you, it's me.
The writing was overly and unnecessarily flowery. Here's an example, from page 114:
In downthread server farms couched in remnant icebergs' hearts, she circles back upon her trail, glimpses the shadow, fires her fléchette pistol through rackspace gaps, birthing blue sparks.
To me, that's just a non-sensical word salad. But if that's your cup of tea, more power to you. This novel has high ratings and the people who love it LOVE it. So I'll just write this off as not being my genre, and I'm not the target audience.
So, it's not you, it's me.