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

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Hunger is discussed so often in this book, mostly as a metaphor for wanting. In sticking with this theme, I’d describe the first 100 pages or so of this book to be like a charcuterie board- decadent, but disjointed. The language is beautiful and it allows for development of both he world and the relationship between our characters. However, I found myself wondering if it was only going to be a catalogue of one thwarting the other and leaving a letter in their wake. I knew the plot had to progress but I wasn’t sure how.

Then, the last half of the book would be either a wine or a stew. I’ll say wine, since stew doesn’t really go with charcuterie. Its fast and its ripe with plot, and we finally get both to the height of the plot and the culmination of our characters relationship. It’s still decadent, with the poetic nature of the book shining through, but this is where everything happens. I can’t say I understand it, which I suppose is why I describe it as wine. There’s still a wealth of flavours, of themes and storylines, yet I can’t fully untangle them from one another to figure what’s going on. Still, I get a pretty good idea of the whole picture.
It’s worth adding that I hate wine, I’ve always found it too sour, and I worried the ending would fund itself the same way, especially given the title and the references to Romeo and Juliet. To be honest, I would’ve accepted an ending as such, but I’m glad things turned around.


Overall, I really enjoyed and only docked half a point for the slow start. It makes sense and it worked out in the end, I’m just a bit impatient :) 
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