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

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-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

4.75

I think the book is really well written, and technically it's a fantastic work. I enjoyed it enough to finish it, and am glad I did, but probably will not read it again.

I started the book listening to an audiobook version, and that way did not work for me. Because of the nature of the work, there are enough times where I did not have context to help me understand something that was said that I was left confused, frustrated, and feeling disconnected from the story. I think this is largely because in audiobook format, it's not easy to pause and review those parts and then resume. I wasn't able to reconnect well after those moments in the audiobook. 

Reading it in print made it far easier for me to move at the pace I needed to move to really stay connected with the story, and I went from being frustated with my own indifference to the book to really enjoying it.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings