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denloserno 's review for:
This Is How You Lose the Time War
by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
Maybe I wasn't in the mood for lyrical and expressive writing. And maybe I'm not in the mood for yearning even between queer people, which shows the state of romance I am in at the moment.
While this had technical merits to appreciate I can understand now why it can or won't work for some people, definitely one of those love it or "hate" it works. Like usual with these kind of media receptions, I fell on the middle. What truly worked for me is the major objective of This Is How You Lose a Time War, and that is the relationship. While I wasn't drawn to the type of chemistry being played out, I can tell immediately how much these two have fallen for each other. A great portrayal of love between tragedy and cconflicts. I found this displayed effectively through their letter exchanges rather than their objective chapter sections. At best, it was a decent structure to showcase dual prespective in an equilibrium way, if there's more or Red, there's more of Blue even not base on their chapter counts but their presence within the overall story. And additionally, some surprisingly creative world building throughout with fragments of violent description of gore and bodies, it works well as a fleshed out fiction within the genre that understands proper betrayals of violence, there's a war after all. And if there's a group of people who can provide well thought out effective violence, it would be lesbians who can execute it well.
However these factors weren't consistent throug my reading journey. Instead it was mostly the disconnect of emotions and stakes. Which are also major objectives of the story, without I lost touch intimate compassion with the plot and characters. This is mainly solicited by the writing style an descriptive language it provides. Almost every paragraph felt like a chore to get to which was an odd experience given that this is as short as a novella. The notable three page structure for each chapter was read tediously through me. I often found myself anticipating for the letters section of the story, and even then not every entry touched me.
There's talent and passion with this story. It was impressive to have it written between two people as well as it also provided cohesive and seamless narration. A worthy story to appreciate from lesbians and sci-fi. But I just broke up with my boyfriend and I can't deal with gay love stories at the moment.
While this had technical merits to appreciate I can understand now why it can or won't work for some people, definitely one of those love it or "hate" it works. Like usual with these kind of media receptions, I fell on the middle. What truly worked for me is the major objective of This Is How You Lose a Time War, and that is the relationship. While I wasn't drawn to the type of chemistry being played out, I can tell immediately how much these two have fallen for each other. A great portrayal of love between tragedy and cconflicts. I found this displayed effectively through their letter exchanges rather than their objective chapter sections. At best, it was a decent structure to showcase dual prespective in an equilibrium way, if there's more or Red, there's more of Blue even not base on their chapter counts but their presence within the overall story. And additionally, some surprisingly creative world building throughout with fragments of violent description of gore and bodies, it works well as a fleshed out fiction within the genre that understands proper betrayals of violence, there's a war after all. And if there's a group of people who can provide well thought out effective violence, it would be lesbians who can execute it well.
However these factors weren't consistent throug my reading journey. Instead it was mostly the disconnect of emotions and stakes. Which are also major objectives of the story, without I lost touch intimate compassion with the plot and characters. This is mainly solicited by the writing style an descriptive language it provides. Almost every paragraph felt like a chore to get to which was an odd experience given that this is as short as a novella. The notable three page structure for each chapter was read tediously through me. I often found myself anticipating for the letters section of the story, and even then not every entry touched me.
There's talent and passion with this story. It was impressive to have it written between two people as well as it also provided cohesive and seamless narration. A worthy story to appreciate from lesbians and sci-fi. But I just broke up with my boyfriend and I can't deal with gay love stories at the moment.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, War
Moderate: Death, Hate crime, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Classism