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A review by willowbiblio
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
“I keep turning away from speaking of your letter. I feel – to speak of it would be to contain what it did to me, to make it small. I don’t want to do that.”
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I loved how inventive Red and Blue (and thus the authors) were in how they communicated with one another. I thought the letter in the rings of the tree was one of the most profound expressions of love I’ve ever read. I also loved how they played with the epistolary form, really pushing the bounds of what could constitute a love letter.
The immediate mystery of the seeker added a layer of interest and intrigue to the spy love affair. Up to the plant on the mountain, Red and Blue were playing a game of subverting each other’s intentions. The inevitable betrayal of each of their causes begins a kind of doom spiral for them and the reader.
I also enjoyed realizing this was much more like the movie Tenet in how it played with time and our perception of a linear plot progression. I did really appreciate how this was almost a kind of short story series, not a traditional long form book.
I think I struggled a bit to actually connect with the characters until about halfway through. They each felt a bit too distant from the reader emotionally until then. This was quite an esoteric/unformed world, so at times it didn’t feel grounded in anything. I don’t mean that I needed more worldbuilding, more that even the scenes we found ourselves in felt slightly unfinished, especially the Garden.
Overall, a really enjoyable quick read!
——————————-
I loved how inventive Red and Blue (and thus the authors) were in how they communicated with one another. I thought the letter in the rings of the tree was one of the most profound expressions of love I’ve ever read. I also loved how they played with the epistolary form, really pushing the bounds of what could constitute a love letter.
The immediate mystery of the seeker added a layer of interest and intrigue to the spy love affair. Up to the plant on the mountain, Red and Blue were playing a game of subverting each other’s intentions. The inevitable betrayal of each of their causes begins a kind of doom spiral for them and the reader.
I also enjoyed realizing this was much more like the movie Tenet in how it played with time and our perception of a linear plot progression. I did really appreciate how this was almost a kind of short story series, not a traditional long form book.
I think I struggled a bit to actually connect with the characters until about halfway through. They each felt a bit too distant from the reader emotionally until then. This was quite an esoteric/unformed world, so at times it didn’t feel grounded in anything. I don’t mean that I needed more worldbuilding, more that even the scenes we found ourselves in felt slightly unfinished, especially the Garden.
Overall, a really enjoyable quick read!