This Is How You Lose the Time War
Ratings1,135
Average rating3.9
A story about a never ending time war told through a series of love letters exchanged between enemy combatants??? Against all odds this book takes that insane premise and delivers one of the most gorgeous and rereadable books I've ever crackled open.
What a weird and wild ride this was. The plot of this little book unravels like a mystery in the margins of pages of poetry. Which would be weird if this wasn't framed as correspondence, “...Instead I wick the longing into thread, pass it through your needle eye, and sew it into hiding somewhere beneath my skin, embroider my next letter to you one stitch at a time.” Are you kidding me!!? I love that shit, and it works great in this format (for the most part) but fully understand that, that kind of thing isn't for everyone. My best advice for enjoying this book is knowing what you're getting into. It's people over plot, and while interesting the time war is mostly a backdrop. Come for the characters and the prose and you won't be disappointed. 4.5 stars!
4.5 - The writing style of this novel is so up my street. I've never finished a book and had the desire to immediately start reading it again. What a wonderful story, full of poetic descriptions and love letters. I expected a bit more from the ending, but that's the only reason this has slightly fallen short of 5 stars. I suspect this will make my top 10 of the year!
this is what i mean when I say I am a romantic... my new favorite book by a mile, my new unsurmountable standard for love.
it is deceptively hard to read in a short time by it's format, which is the very reason that it works so well and hits so hard, but despite my focus challenges (thanks adhd), I thoroughly enjoyed every moment even before it hooked me like a harpoon on a speedboat.
There aren't many books that you want to re-read immediately after finishing. This is one. It was a real struggle to get a grip on who was who and what the heck was going on. Like greater than 50% of the book. But it is worth it in the end (is there an end...?).
This was a beautifully written book, I simply wasn't the target audience. I found myself both missing detail and feeling like there wasn't enough. This is a short book, and I wonder if that was a flaw in that there couldn't be as much world building, mythos, etc as I usually prefer in my books. If you like your books snappy, with fairly quick emotions and very quick plot, this is likely more for you.
I didn't get it but I think that's normal? Probably needs a re-read to fully understand it but I don't really feel like it right now.
When did it happen? Or has it always happened? Like your victory, love spreads back through time. It claims our earliest association, our battles and losses. Assassinations become assignations. There was, I am sure, a time I did not know you. Or did I dream that me, as I've often dreamed of you?
Yet further proof that time travel is a curse that does not serve anything at all. This is How You Lose the Time War is a great book that promises much and delivers nothing at all. I can only echo other reviewers by saying that I have no idea what was the point of good 90% of the book.
Two time travelers who exchange letters in the most non-sensical way while on opposing sides of a war. It's a premise that should be fantastic and with unlimited potential but it is not utilized well at all.
Time travel is stupid and here it's even Jupiter because it go so much stupider. They travel not just through time but also into alternate realities. That's the worst part of time travel. The only way to actually do time travel is like ‘Doctor Who' and just say that time fixes itself when something is altered or changed.
The plot itself makes no sense and what the two agents do is of little consequence. I wanted to just skip whole sections of the book because of this.
Still it delivered a nice love story of Red & Blue. Next time, I'd appreciate characters having names, not colors.
1.00/5.00
If I was much more intelligent, patient and well-read person, I might be able to appreciate this book. Unfortunately, this book is beyond me. I found the prose hard to follow and absurdity of the fantasy element quite undigestable. I can tell that its a beautifully written book, but it made no sense most of the time. I would read a sentence two times over to realize that it is a complicated metaphor. No book has ever made me feel as stupid as this one.
Wouldn't this be more enjoyable if it was more approachable ? Ultimately, this book feels more like PhD thesis project, written for writers, and not for normal people.
The plot was good, I saw the twist coming, but didn't the final twist coming.
I might leave a more "proper" review after a reread or two, but suffice it to say that I've rarely been so drawn in by a love story as by this novella, nor have I ever read a science fiction story that so adamantly ignores the details of an epoch-spanning time travel war in favor of using it as a vehicle for some of the most swoon-worthy epistolary passages I have ever read in fiction. This is a modern masterpiece.
This was a book where I had very little idea of what was happening for the first 75% and then loved the book after reaching the end and seeing how all the pieces come together. Even when you're not sure what's going on, the writing is so beautiful and visually stimulating that you're happy to stick around for the ride.
“I love you. I love you. I'll write it in waves. In skies. In my heart. You'll never see, but you will know. I'll be all the poets, I'll kill them all and take each one's place in turn and every time love's written in all the strands it will be you.”“Hunger - Red - to sate a hunger or to stoke it, to feel hunger as a furnace, to trace it's edges like teeth - is this a thing you, singly, know? Have you ever had a hunger that whetted itself on what you fed it, sharpened so keen and bright that it might split you open, break a new thing out?”
Very pretty little book, super nice to read especially towards the end. I wish the authors were a little more heavy on how much time had passed for the characters because that was pretty powerful and it wasn't shown much
Hertan scifikirjojen valikoima jatkaa ilahduttamista. Tällä tavalla hävitään aikasota on paljon ylistetty scifitarina, joka on rohmunnut pitkän listan palkintoja: se on muun muassa napannut arvostettujen scifipalkintojen kolmen suoran eli parhaan pienoisromaanin Hugon, Nebulan ja Locuksen ja lukuisia muita palkintoja ja ehdokkuuksia. Amal El-Mohtarin ja Max Gladstonen kirjoittama pienoisromaani kuvaa kirjeenvaihtoa kahden aikasotaa käyvän agentin välillä. Viraston puolesta taisteleva Punainen löytää taistelukentän tuhkista kirjeen. Hän oli jo taistelun aikana huomannut, että jokin oli pielessä; muutama yksityiskohta taistelussa ei mennyt niinkuin piti, Punainen aisti varmoja merkkejä vihollisen toiminnasta. Taistelukentällä ei pitäisi olla – mutta siellä on – kirjettä, kermanvalkeaa paperiarkkia, jossa lukee yksi ainoa rivi: “Poltettava ennen lukemista”. Tällainen kirje on tietysti hirvittävän vaarallinen. Sen lukeminen itsessään voidaan katsoa jo petokseksi Virastoa kohtaan. Se voi myös olla ansa. Parasta olisi vain lähteä ja jättää kirje. Punainen ei kuitenkaan voi vastustaa haastetta. Hän polttaa kirjeen ja näkee, kuinka palavaan kirjeeseen muodostuu kirjaimia. Kirjeen on lähettänyt Sininen, joka taistelee aikasodassa Puutarhan puolella. Kohtaamme Sinisen puolestaan 2000-luvun sairaalassa, joka on evakuoitu. Sinisen piti varmistaa tartunta, saada eräs lääkäri kiinnostumaan tietystä bakteerikannasta, vaikuttaa maailman asenteisiin biologista sodankäyntiä kohtaan. Tehtävä kuitenkin epäonnistui, ja Sininen löytää vain tyhjän sairaalan ja sieltä vesipurkin, jossa on merkintä “Luetaan kiehauttamalla”. Kiehuvan veden lämpötilojen yksityiskohdista löytyy vastauskirje Punaiselta. Näin Sininen ja Punainen antautuvat vaaralliseen kirjeenvaihtoon. Kirjeitä toimitetaan mitä mielikuvituksellisemmin tavoin ja pikkuhiljaa kirjeenvaihdon sävy muuttuu. Vastakkaisilla puolilla sotivien agenttien kerskailusta tulee jotain syvällisempää. Kenties jopa rakkautta? Mutta Viraston ja Puutarhan agenttien välillä ei missään nimessä saisi olla tällaista yhteyttä, kun käynnissä on kuitenkin aikasota, joka toisen osapuolen vain on voitettava. Tarina on kahden kirjoittajan työtä. Max Gladstone on yhdysvaltalainen scifikirjailija ja Amar El-Mohtar kanadalainen kirjailija ja runoilija. Vaikka teos onkin kirjemuodossa kerrottu, Clarkesworldissa julkaistun haastattelun mukaan kirjailijat kirjoittivat sen toistensa seurassa. Gladstone kirjoitti Punaisen osuudet, El-Mohtar Sinisen. Toinen kirjoitti kirjeen, toinen sitten olosuhteet, joissa kirje vastaanotettiin. Tämä onkin oivallinen tapa sovittaa yhteen kahden erilaisen kirjoittajan tyylit. Mitään häiritsevää eriparisuutta ei lopputuloksesta huomaa. Suomentaja Kaisa Rannalla on ollut jokunen kiperä paikka suomennoksessa, mutta niistä on selvitty kunnialla. Eräskin hylkeisiin liittyvä sanaleikki ei toimi suomeksi aivan yhtä notkeasti kuin alkuperäisessä, mutta kunnialla Ranta on siitäkin selvinnyt. Tällä tavalla hävitään aikasota on palkintonsa ansainnut. Se on aivan ihastuttava rakkaustarina eriskummallisen aikojen halki käytävän sodan keskellä. Kirja on tiivis ja tunnelma tiivistyy tarinan edetessä hienosti. Tämä on hyvin rakennettu teos, todellista herkkua sekä kirjeromaanien, rakkaustarinoiden että aikamatkustusscifin ystäville.
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The review praises “How to Lose a Time War” as a highly acclaimed science fiction story that has garnered numerous prestigious awards like the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. Written collaboratively by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, the novella revolves around correspondence between agents from opposing sides of a time war.
The narrative unfolds through letters discovered amidst battlefields, revealing a forbidden connection between Red and Blue agents. Despite the rules against such interaction, they engage in a perilous exchange that evolves from rivalry to something deeper, possibly even love, amidst the backdrop of a war that demands their opposition.
The collaborative writing process seamlessly blends the styles of both authors, maintaining a cohesive narrative. While the translation by Kaisa Ranta encounters some challenges, overall, it captures the essence of the story well. The review concludes by describing the novella as a delightful love story set within the complexities of time travel and war, catering to enthusiasts of epistolary novels, romance, and time-travel science fiction.
So. Good. The best writing I have ever read, probably more stuff highlighted than not, and the quotes were gorgeous.
This was confusing, and beautiful, and heartbreaking, and absolutely inspirational.
Glad that I read it as an ebook so that I could learn about 20 new words.
I can't wait to read it again.
If I ever received a letter that used the phrase "apophenic as a haruspex" I would call the cops.
Gorgeous, lyrical, expansive. How can a novella of 200 pages contain so much complexity and depth??!!
An astonishing achievement, it's definitely bucked the bounds of sc-fi with its poeticism and the ostensible paradox of its simultaneous intimacy and cosmic scope. Ursula Le Guin would be proud.
There are so many layers here. A joy of a creation.
I imagine Shu Qi and Lupita Nyong'o in the title roles of an epic adaptation.
Overall a lovely quick read but I wish there was more exposition: I wanted to get to know Red and Blue as individuals before diving straight into the romance.