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

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

3.25

Very hard to talk about this book as it's essentially just two characters sending letters back and forth with deeply confusing but extremely poignant and beautiful poetic prose. Every sentence drips with yearning and drama . This is the sort of book you save lines from to read again and again. There's very few characters but our main couple have different flavors to them in their individual sections. You absolutely do feel how much they care for one another despite their antagonistic beginning. 

In all honesty I am not a huge poetry person and personally prefer more clear story elements, but I still enjoyed parts of this book. I don't believe I'd read it again, but I'd still reccomend it if you want a book that's just 100% desperate savage emotional vibes. The main characters are just 5th dimensional monster women full of violent yearning and that's pretty neat. 
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