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A review by jayisreading
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
3.0
Novellas are tricky, considering their constraints and the author(s) having to do just the right amount of worldbuilding, character development, pacing, and the rest. I often find that many novellas don't quite work for me because I always felt something was missing/lacking. Unfortunately, this was the case for This Is How You Lose the Time War.
The novella heavily relies on the characters to carry the story, which I don't think is entirely an issue. I thought the epistolary approach was a really unique way to reveal the relationship between Red and Blue, as well as to help push the story along. However, I wasn't entirely taken to this romance. I had too many questions that might have been addressed if there was more worldbuilding. I think if the authors fleshed out their dystopian world some more so the reader could follow what was happening and why, the novella would have been far more compelling. It also would have greatly developed Red and Blue as characters because their motives would have been clearer.
Something else that stood out to me about this novella was the prose. It's very purple-y prose, which will work for some, while others will hate it. It was clear that a lot of thought went into each sentence, especially in the letters. Admittedly, I did find the flowery language to be a bit much at times, but it wasn't a negative for me in general.
TIHYLTTW clearly worked for many people, though, with many fans expressing their love for the slow burn sapphic romance. So, there's also the fact that I'm not much of a romance person (as I've probably made clear in many reflections/ramblings), and maybe I just wasn't the target audience.
Overall, I wasn't particularly frustrated with this novella, but I'm not fully understanding the adoration for it either.
The novella heavily relies on the characters to carry the story, which I don't think is entirely an issue. I thought the epistolary approach was a really unique way to reveal the relationship between Red and Blue, as well as to help push the story along. However, I wasn't entirely taken to this romance. I had too many questions that might have been addressed if there was more worldbuilding. I think if the authors fleshed out their dystopian world some more so the reader could follow what was happening and why, the novella would have been far more compelling. It also would have greatly developed Red and Blue as characters because their motives would have been clearer.
Something else that stood out to me about this novella was the prose. It's very purple-y prose, which will work for some, while others will hate it. It was clear that a lot of thought went into each sentence, especially in the letters. Admittedly, I did find the flowery language to be a bit much at times, but it wasn't a negative for me in general.
TIHYLTTW clearly worked for many people, though, with many fans expressing their love for the slow burn sapphic romance. So, there's also the fact that I'm not much of a romance person (as I've probably made clear in many reflections/ramblings), and maybe I just wasn't the target audience.
Overall, I wasn't particularly frustrated with this novella, but I'm not fully understanding the adoration for it either.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, War, Body horror, and Violence
Minor: Torture