This Is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

This Is How You Lose the Time War

By Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

  • Release Date: 2019-07-16
  • Genre: Fiction & Literature
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 826 Ratings
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Description

* HUGO AWARD WINNER: BEST NOVELLA * NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARDS WINNER: BEST NOVELLA *

“[An] exquisitely crafted tale...Part epistolary romance, part mind-blowing science fiction adventure, this dazzling story unfolds bit by bit, revealing layers of meaning as it plays with cause and effect, wildly imaginative technologies, and increasingly intricate wordplay...This short novel warrants multiple readings to fully unlock its complexities.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone comes an enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and space about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future.

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.

Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.

Reviews

  • Gayest book I’ve ever read

    5
    By stressedasfucck
    I wish there was some way to delete memories so I could read this for the first time again and again and again. 15000 out of 10

  • Couldn’t put it down.

    5
    By Tprice2010
    Unlike anything I’ve read. I loved every minute of it.

  • Perfect

    5
    By Sock6551
    It’s absolutely perfect. No notes.

  • Not for me, but an interesting read.

    2
    By Steven’s Bikeride
    Not for me, but I can empathize with those that love it. More feeling and poetry rather than plot and prose.

  • Don’t give up halfway through!

    5
    By ellenaut98
    This book definitely started out pretty confusing for me, but I kept reading. Not like I didn’t enjoy it until the end, there were just some mysteries that hadn’t been revealed yet. The prose itself is gorgeously written, and the love that blooms from writing letters to each other is so beautiful. The characters are strong and frightening at times in such a cool way too. The reveal towards the end makes everything click together and it makes me want to reread the whole book now that I have this new understanding.

  • everything, everything

    5
    By TePrometo
    I’ll read this a thousand times, at least. I’ll whisper pieces of it into my own wrists to steady me while I embody bravery. This story belongs in me. Mayhap it belong in you too.

  • The perfect cure for an aching heart.

    5
    By bleedredstars
    The perfect cure for an aching heart. If the purple prose intimidates you at first, know it has meaning behind it that will eventually be revealed. I had to put it down myself a few days and come back fresh eyed until it clicked. Beautiful.

  • Heart aching and Beautiful.

    5
    By munchnikin
    I would give this book more stars, if only possible. The concept of loving another through time and space has always broken my heart. But, when those two are enemies on opposing teams in a time war; it's brilliant! I would recommend this book to my dying breath, and I recommend anyone who reads my review to open up this poetic and new story to anyone who needs something fresh.

  • Amazing

    5
    By not ryan leary1
    Beautiful

  • Full Circle

    3
    By Richard Bakare
    The real beauty of this book rests with its broad and engaging lyrical descriptiveness. Our authors bring a depth of perspectives that really put you into the seat of our time traveling protagonists. The spaces and times we travers through given just enough description to give the narrative a three dimensional texture. While minimal in breath the story is expansive in scope, philosophical perspectives, and all the imagery that fills the space of the things left unsaid. El-Mohtar and Gladstone are elusive and work hard to keep us from relying on a single anchoring point in time or event. This approach makes us all the more invested in the fates of our dueling protagonist. For all the conflict, it was refreshing to navigate through this intentionally stilted and imaginative love story along the way. The story resembled a time traveling Romeo and Juliet retelling. It was refreshing story telling that made you rethink spy craft. The only knock on this read is that it could have had better exposition.

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