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A review by saucy_bookdragon
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
"I dream of you. I keep more of you inside my mind, my physical, my personal, squishy mind, than I keep of any other world or time."
Okay now I get this.
I first read This Is How You Lose the Time War like exactly three years ago in 2020 (certainly one of the years ever) and I initially gave it three stars. I didn't quite get it and I didn't understand the plot. Honestly I still don't entirely understand the plot.
Time War was best recommended by Bigolas Dickolas; go in without knowing anything. Having completely forgotten everything from my first read besides time travel, confusion, and gay this read like an entirely new novel to me! Honestly, stop reading my review and just read the book free of any expectations.
You need to be free from expectations because the book is so unconventional. It's stream of conscious, poetic prose that mixes metaphor and what's literally happening in the story takes center stage. Due to the bizarre nature of the writing and story itself, it's a little tricky to understand. This works for the concept as a time travel novel about entities beyond human comprehension fighting a war across time and the multiverse and two agents that somehow fall in love.
Part of my issue I think last time was that I was expecting to understand the world building, but really it's not meant to be understood. This is a story that requires an extremely high suspension of disbelief to work, and if you find that suspension of disbelief it becomes immersive and psychedelic. It makes it feel truly like something out of this world.
It's also achingly romantic and yearnful. Blue and Red falling for each other through letters delivered in increasingly complex methods as they find a strange love with each other, an understanding deeper than anything they have with anyone on their sides of the war. It's not only queer in the sense that it's sapphic, it's also queer in that Red and Blue in a sense go beyond gender and are a couple completely outside of heteropatriarchal norms. It's not just queer, it's queer.
Incredibly glad I took another chance on this story. Though I was still quite confused, I found myself reveling in it this time around, enjoying the weirdness and beauty of the story and rereading sections to better understand the plot.
Okay now I get this.
I first read This Is How You Lose the Time War like exactly three years ago in 2020 (certainly one of the years ever) and I initially gave it three stars. I didn't quite get it and I didn't understand the plot. Honestly I still don't entirely understand the plot.
Time War was best recommended by Bigolas Dickolas; go in without knowing anything. Having completely forgotten everything from my first read besides time travel, confusion, and gay this read like an entirely new novel to me! Honestly, stop reading my review and just read the book free of any expectations.
You need to be free from expectations because the book is so unconventional. It's stream of conscious, poetic prose that mixes metaphor and what's literally happening in the story takes center stage. Due to the bizarre nature of the writing and story itself, it's a little tricky to understand. This works for the concept as a time travel novel about entities beyond human comprehension fighting a war across time and the multiverse and two agents that somehow fall in love.
Part of my issue I think last time was that I was expecting to understand the world building, but really it's not meant to be understood. This is a story that requires an extremely high suspension of disbelief to work, and if you find that suspension of disbelief it becomes immersive and psychedelic. It makes it feel truly like something out of this world.
It's also achingly romantic and yearnful. Blue and Red falling for each other through letters delivered in increasingly complex methods as they find a strange love with each other, an understanding deeper than anything they have with anyone on their sides of the war. It's not only queer in the sense that it's sapphic, it's also queer in that Red and Blue in a sense go beyond gender and are a couple completely outside of heteropatriarchal norms. It's not just queer, it's queer.
Incredibly glad I took another chance on this story. Though I was still quite confused, I found myself reveling in it this time around, enjoying the weirdness and beauty of the story and rereading sections to better understand the plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence, Animal cruelty, and Blood