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

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This one is really a testament to the power of science fiction. How science fiction can rearrange classic stories and themes and repurpose them into a compact, yet far-reaching epic.

Spoiler:
The teacher in me thrilled at the ways this text could be taught as companion to or replacement for a tired rehashing of Romeo & Juliet.


I don't have much to say because I devoured this as a palette cleanser after a poor grad school reading experience, but I would love to revisit this one in the context of teaching or study. My one qualm was that I wish there was a little more emotional weight to add heft to the ending.

Quotes:
Some days Blue wonder why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere. (p. 39)
Sometimes it seems strands bud Atlantises just to thwart her. (p. 47)
I can hide in words so long as I scatter them through my body; to read your letters is to gather flowers from within myself, pluck a blossom here, a fern there, arrange and rearrange then in ways to suit a sunny room. (p. 90)
Funny how we always think of knights as fighting dragons, when in fact they work for them. (p. 97)
Brava, my pomegranate. Well done. Nine out of ten.
(I reserve a point, always, to encourage reach exceeding grasp.) (p. 171)
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