Reviews with content warning for Body horror - This Is How You Lose the Time War

It took a bit to get adjusted to the style, but by the end I thought it was beautifully done.

It’s poetic and I don’t think I was supposed to understand everything at first. It brings a blossoming understanding as you read and learn with the characters.

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melshoo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Short (not even 200 pages?!) but packs a punch. I probably highlighted something from every chapter. Really lovely. I’m sure I’ll reread this at some point.

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woolgatherer's review against another edition

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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.

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theirgracegrace's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective fast-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? Yes

4.5

In the endless battle between the dystopian Agency and the utopian Garden, agents battle across time. Travelling up and down the threads of time, Red and Blue come across one another by pure chance...or is it? Red belongs to the Agency and Blue is part of the Garden, but through a series of letters, their relationship turns from rivals, to friends, to something more. I adored the settings of their letters and the ending completely blew me away. I will definitely recommend it to my friends!

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morningsunwildflower's review against another edition

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challenging tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I think I expected romance but not poetry. I did enjoy some of the writing but did not feel the love grow between the two MCs. Also, my visual brain was having a hard time visualizing everything. There is so much, and also so little context and explanation.
I even confused one MC for the other for 30% of the middle of the book somehow. Not the worse read, but not a very enjoyable one either.

I do think I was not in the best of place to read it. Commuting in the morning does not produce the clearest mind.

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julieyael's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have been nicely surprised by this short book.
Written in an exchange of letters, with a background of time travel and wars, it’s an ode to hope.

I sometimes found the text confusing or a bit difficult to read, very poetic, with peculiar words (I am not an english native-speaker), but I liked the lyrism.

It’s a recommended read, with an interesting world building (we learn the specificities in the course of the story).
Strangely, even if it’s science fiction and peculiar characters, the message of the book feels universal.

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peachypy's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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abmochapman's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was confused but also enchanted.

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