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A review by loveforwords
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I am still too confused about this book to rate it at the moment (and the fact that I read it in two times so far apart doesn't help) so maybe I'll come back to it.
I will say one thing: I was left with a tight feeling in my chest.
Writing
This is going to be a recurrent theme in this review, but I feel too peasant to understand and appreciate this books' prose. In my opinion, it was too heavy; I was constantly getting lost.
Plot, Mood, and Pacing
Look, maybe I'm just too dumb. I found it so hard to follow the plot up until like 80%, but I'm not sure if it's because nothing was happening plot-wise or if I just lack the brain cells.
Consequently (fancy word), the middle of the novella was a bit off-putting. And I felt like the pace went medium-slow-fast, which isn't exactly my favorite type.
But it got really good in the last 20%, so yeah.
Worldbuilding
Ehh, I-
I started to assimilate the various key concepts in the last quarter of the book. The time-travelling was very abstract, the letter writing confusing (I don't remember the word steganography introduced before the far end, and so I could not wrap my head around the letters), the systems confusing until very late in the novella.
I enjoy being disoriented by a story, but when confusion comes from so many aspects at once, I'm just too lost to enjoy everything properly.
Characters
If there's one thing I could fully appreciate in this book it's the characters and their love for each other. It got really intense in the last bit and I- ajslfhsdkfh
I am in love and will now proceed to only read adventurous sapphic books. Next!
I will say one thing: I was left with a tight feeling in my chest.
Writing
This is going to be a recurrent theme in this review, but I feel too peasant to understand and appreciate this books' prose. In my opinion, it was too heavy; I was constantly getting lost.
Plot, Mood, and Pacing
Look, maybe I'm just too dumb. I found it so hard to follow the plot up until like 80%, but I'm not sure if it's because nothing was happening plot-wise or if I just lack the brain cells.
Consequently (fancy word), the middle of the novella was a bit off-putting. And I felt like the pace went medium-slow-fast, which isn't exactly my favorite type.
But it got really good in the last 20%, so yeah.
Worldbuilding
Ehh, I-
I started to assimilate the various key concepts in the last quarter of the book. The time-travelling was very abstract, the letter writing confusing (I don't remember the word steganography introduced before the far end, and so I could not wrap my head around the letters), the systems confusing until very late in the novella.
I enjoy being disoriented by a story, but when confusion comes from so many aspects at once, I'm just too lost to enjoy everything properly.
Characters
If there's one thing I could fully appreciate in this book it's the characters and their love for each other. It got really intense in the last bit and I- ajslfhsdkfh
I am in love and will now proceed to only read adventurous sapphic books. Next!