This Is How You Lose the Time War

The writing, the story, the characters, the mechanics of everything from basic letter-writing to the fundamentals of the multiverse, are all deliberately opaque, obtuse and often difficult to parse and follow. Which, in some ways is as much a positive as it is a negative, but it does make it a challenging read.

But, look beyond the sci-fi window dressings - with it's Douglas Adams heavy inspirations - and this is as classic a love story as it gets. Romeo and Juliet across all of time and space.

The story unfolds primarily through letters written by the two protagonists at the leading edge - and on either side - of a Time War that, even to them, seems to have no real meaning or intended end beyond war itself. Steadily the two develop an unrequited love from their existing rivalry and mutual respect. As they do, the story quickly develops from being one that's almost entirely exclusionary to the reader - filled with concepts, names and forms that are referenced but never explained - to one almost everyone can relate to in some fashion.

Once the story has its hooks in you, it's impossible to put down, though it does take a while to get there. But, the non-linear, timey-wimey nature of the story's core also encourages repeat reading, and I think it honestly would be even better as whole the second or even third time through.