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

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

“Red may be mad, but to die for madness is to die for something.”

I’ve always been a wholehearted romantic—I live to love. And nothing braids and tangles my heart more than a compelling love story. This Is How You Lose the Time War is dense like honey and thought-provoking like a trip on THC.

This novella deserves to be savored. Imagine saving your last morsel of fudge for a rainy day—teetering on the edge of indecent, placed delicately on your tongue. You resist the urge to rush, careful not to crush the tenderness of the experience or bite down too quickly, expediting the food-induced euphoria. That’s what reading this felt like: indulgent, decadent, unforgettable.

The letters are my favorite part—each one stitched carefully into a tapestry between Red and Blue. They capture yearning on a level I’ve only ever found in Taylor Swift’s music (“guilty as sin”). I was gobsmacked at how quickly I fell for Ruby and Sapphire. The tension dripping from their words could be bottled. The way their relationship evolves—rivalry to curiosity to desire to forbidden love—feels seamless. It’s a masterclass in writing a novella. By the climax, I wasn’t just emotional—I was sobbing, gripped so tightly I found myself begging for more.

My only struggle was personal: at times, the sci-fi imagery was hard for me to visualize. I had to reread certain passages to fully process the worldbuilding. But once I did, the story unfurled gorgeously.

Thank you to Amal and Max for such an invigorating read—one I sipped slowly over weeks, deliberately biding my time before the end. I cannot wait to return, to dissect every line again, to fall back in love with Pomegranate and Blueberry.

And yes, this story is worth every word of rhapsodic praise I’ve spilled. Read it like it’s your final meal: savor every bite, let it ferment in your heart, and taste the ache of love stitched across time.