Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

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

28 reviews

mikathereviewer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This was one of my most anticipated books for this month and I am so disappointed. 

The following will only be a rant about the book. Nothing good I found except that we got an explanation that "Steganography is hidden writing." and that the ending was interesting.
As always; I respect opinions from others and therefore expect the same to be done to me. If you liked the book, so be it. I don't have anything against your opinion or rating to this book.

First of all the letter beginnings are so weird and cringe sometimes. Especially these references. When I understood it right the 'Dearest Blue-da-ba-dee,' is a reference of this one annoying frog song and we also get other cringe-worthy references like 'Dearest 0000FF' (colour hexcode, you all can't legit call this cute or romantic) and of course our so 'cool' flex with languages 'My dear Miskowaanzhe' which is Anishinaabemowin 'cause of course the author totally speaks that language and didn't translate this on full purpose to sound so 'cool'. 

The whole writing was always the same, no matter which character wrote the letter and therefore it was sometimes hard to distinguish the two. Both therefore seemed also flat and we only get trauma dumping in the most inappropriate ways. They both also wrote almost since the beginning like they knew eachother since ages and not like strangers that form a bond over time, which made it unrealistic for me to belive that they later on fell in love. 

The writing style was also unbearable to me. It was often poetically written but in either cringe or way to melodramatic ways. 
Examples
1. ‘Have you ever had a hunger that whetted itself on what you fed it, sharpened so keen and bright that it might split you open, break a new thing out?
Sometimes I think that’s what I have instead of friends.’
2. ‘I have been birds and branches. I have been bees and wolves. I have been ether flooding the void between stars, tangling their breath into networks of song. I have been fish and plankton and humus, and all these have been me.’
3. ‘I want to be a body for you.
I want to chase you, find you, I want to be eluded and teased and adored; I want to be defeated and victorious—I want you to cut me, sharpen me.’

I also never understood or rather we never got told what kind of creatures they both are. Even though it's science fiction, we barely get any of it. And we get almost no other explanations like how certain things worked like the ways with the MRI machine and stuff as that was their way of sending letter without being caught. 

If the writing style would have been different and we would have got more explanations of things I might would have enjoyed the book more. But the whole book felt like a sketch that wasn't supposed to be published yet. 

Wasn't for me, but perhaps someone else would like this story and its characters.

July 17, 2024

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Medical content, and Abandonment

hazeleyeddreamer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

I will say I read the last 50 pages on the couch at midnight because I needed to know what happened and the ending was not satisfying. I usually don't mind an ambiguous ending but this did not work for me. They haven't even really met by the end of the book. If you're going to give me enemies to lovers, we're betraying our government and everything we've ever known for each other you need to show me the future they create together. This book is all about two organizations battling over the outcome of the future and obviously both are massively flawed. You can't write a book all about the future and then not show me the future. Show me them holed out in a little pocket of time of their own making, the Garden and the Agency still battling each other and still looking for Red and Blue, but it doesn't matter because they have each other. Show me them dismantling the Agency and the Garden and building a new better future that acknowledges the flaws and benefits of both societies because who better than their own agents to know their defects, who better to know how to win a time war than those who know how to lose a time war.

Obviously this is not to say that this isn't a good book or it's not worth reading. It's an amazing book. Very plentiful with topics for literary or academic discussion and just generally an insightful and well done book, the kind of book that makes me say "damn I'm never going to write something as good as this. How do you write like that?"

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Abandonment

sydneykaye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Stalking, Murder, and War

For body horror, I think that description is a little harsh for what is in the book,

there are parts where the "follower" or whatever they're called will like stick splinters in their hand, or when Red (I think it was her) modified her mechanical body (?).

It has been a little bit since I read this so idk. Nothing in the book is overly graphic.

monstrouscosmos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional fast-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

Characters: 10/10
Relationships: 10/10
Atmosphere/Setting: 9.5/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Plot/Intrigue: 9.5/10
Internal Logic: 10/10
Entertainment: 10/10
Overall: 68/70, 5*

I love epistolary novels, quantum time travel plots, and messy star crossed sapphic romances, so I figured from the get that I'd be really into this. and I was! I especially loved the ways the characters spoke with one another across timelines, and gave context for themselves as individuals, within their respective collective experiences, and within their shared relationship over time(s). the writing about writing was also really fun! there are definitely moments that delve into disturbing themes and events, but for the most part I found the tone stayed hopeful in belief for better circumstances. 

it's definitely something I need to relisten to (I feel like I missed a lot in my first run thru due to the narrative bouncing around quite a lot), but I'm so excited to revisit it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

Graphic: spiders

tlindhorst's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

This book will reward re-reading, mulling over & reading outside reviews. It is complex, romantic, full of hope & despair all at the same time. Is the conclusion that

we must break away from more collective identities correct

?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Minor: Confinement, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

augustar14's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, and War

Minor: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

rickireadss's review against another edition

4.0

this was a mind trip for sure. in some ways, i feel like i actually kinda understood what was happening, but in other ways, i feel like i was much too stupid for this book haha. i enjoyed listening to this on audio. the gasp i gusped at that ending-- WTF. overall, i had a good time, but i'm still not sure i understood 100% of what happened/was happening/where that ending took us.

representation: Sapphic FMCs

content warnings:

death, violence, war, blood, murder, body horror, gore, injury/injury detail, grief, torture, suicide attempt, genocide, self harm, confinement, stalking, abandonment

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Self harm, Torture, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

fragrant_stars's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

I started it today and I couldn't put it down!! I finished it this evening.

This book was more challenging than I expected because of how poetic the writing style was-- but I really enjoyed it nonetheless, especially the second half of the book. It's a masterpiece, one that I feel like I'm definitely going to want to re-read again sometime.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Torture, Abortion, and Pregnancy

dannothedino's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Vomit, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Cannibalism and Abandonment