mars2k 's review for:

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

2.5

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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If you like this book (and I know a lot of people really do), don’t take my disappointment as an indication that you’re wrong to feel the way you do. I’m glad you enjoyed it, but I just didn’t.

Red and Blue make purple, and this prose sure is purple. Every. Single. Sentence. Is trying so hard to be poetic and deep. Metaphors are great and all but this is just too saturated with them to make any real sense. The characters and their relationship didn't feel especially substantive to me. I like the combination of spirituality and science fiction and there’s some neat imagery here and there, but for the most part I found This Is How You Lose the Time War to be a confusing mess and nothing more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail