This Is How You Lose the Time War

This is a love story with a sci-fi twist.
In this world, two opposing forces, Garden and Agency, move forward and backward in time (upthread and downthread) to affect events to ensure the survivability of their peoples. Red (Agency) and Blue (Garden) are rivals who at first taunt and compete with each other, then - through secret letters and notes they leave one another - fall in love. They never meet - both wear different faces and take on different identities at each mission - at least not in flesh, but get to know each other intimately through words. We follow their clandestine relationship, as they attempt desperately to evade the detection of their oppressive leaders, and of the mysterious Seeker.
The writing is lush and poetic, even as it narrates death and violence (which, as human history will attest - and both of them do traverse history, mentioning along the way Khan and Caesar, among others - is full of blood and cruelty), destruction and desolation. It gives us a tantalising glimpse of what can be done and undone should we have the power to travel through time.
But this novella by American writer Max Gladstone and Canadian author and poet Amal el-Mohtar is not about human history. It is about love's power and how it spans space and time, and overcomes all odds to survive.
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