Book Review
Title: This Is How You Lose the Time War
Author: Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Genre: Historical/Fantasy/Romance
Rating: *****
Review: I didn’t really know much about This Is How You Lose the Time War, other than it features two time-travelling agents from opposing sides in a warring future that are travelling back through time and begin writing letters. However, a few things did intrigue me, for one this book is only just over 200 pages long so I should be able to fly through it and two, it is written by two authors so I am assuming it is dual perspective with each other writing a single perspective, meaning we are going to have two distinct voices and writing styles throughout while hopefully maintaining an unified feel to the novel. We are introduced to the first of the agents, Red, as she wins a battle in the past that will allow her to shape the future in her side’s favour in the war, however, at the end of the battle there is something that doesn’t belong there, a letter from her enemy. Blue in the letter explains how they are using Red’s actions to favour their own side in the war, and this sparks something between them. During Blue’s next mission she finds a coded letter from Red, explaining how she has thwarted this mission before Blue has even deciphered the note and we have correspondence between the two time agents. Both have distinct voices; Blue is calm and collected while Red is more outgoing and livelier, and I am intrigued to see where this goes.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we see blue and Red exchange more letters back and forth through time as they constantly prevent each other from completing their missions and just give each other headaches but also a great sense of amusement. It is clear from the writing that neither Red or Blue is completely human in a literally sense but they do start to form an uneasy friendship given their positions in the future war. I was also surprised by how easily Red begins to open up to Blue expecting the same in return without possibly realising that the “harmless” information she shared with her enemy might be a possible problem in the future. So far, the pace is quick, and the writing style is easy to read, the characters are fun to follow, my personal favourite being Blue. I prefer Blue over Red because she seems super calm and collected on the surface, but she also has this really sassy, witty side which comes across perfectly in her letters to read and I really cracked a smile at those moments.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the back and forth continues but there seems to be something more building in Red and Blue’s relationship. We see Blue and Red connecting on an intellectual level but also a fairly emotional one as well even if they don’t completely recognise it as emotional right now. We see the similarities between them but also their differences which makes them extremely unique characters to read from even if the plot isn’t driven forward by their actions, apart from the desire to receive and read another letter from the person that is supposed to be their enemy. However, Red unlike Blue feels she is being watched and assessed by her commanders making her more cautious, nervous, and even afraid despite the fact she knows she hasn’t done anything wrong. Yes, she might have not been perfect in her assignments, but it is within her allowance for “failure” given her track record. Blue doesn’t seem worried by those things, in fact, she actively seeks them out which might be one of the key differences not only between them as characters but both of their sides in this future war.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, I was surprised by how much I was enjoying this book been as it seems to be almost entirely character driven which isn’t normally something that I would enjoy. Red and Blue don’t get to interact as often here, as Blue is taken from travelling for a different assignment, but she still manages to send Red letters when she can. Red on the other hand, is working hard than every to try and shake the shadow following her but it seems to persist even when she is isn’t working on an assignment and enjoying her precious free time. We can see that Blue and Red’s friendship has become something more, not quite a relationship but something close to it. We understand this because in a strand Blue is in, the plan was to kill a younger version of Red but knowing her as she does Blue can’t do it and when Red realises this something in the dynamic changes, breaks and reforms all in an instant. Their letters also get more friendly and relaxed rather than the tense humour we had at the beginning of the book. I am interested to see what role both Red and Blue will play in the larger novel but also to find out the purpose of the shadow.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, things begin to move forward once more as Blue returns to her work as we see Red try and stop the shadow from following her but it seems to evade her at every turn but she turns to Blue in these moments. However, it soon comes to light that Blue might possibly be playing Red, although Red doesn’t believe it because she loves Blue and believes that Blue loves her in return. Her bosses believe that Blue has been playing Red in order to lead her into engaging and this engagement will be their downfall but now they know about it they want to use that engagement to turn the table on Blue and her side. This doesn’t sit well with Red since she has been assigned the mission because she loves Blue and wants to make it work with her no matter what but even as a reader I can’t decide if Blue’s intentions are true or not because the pair have never really met in person, only from a distance so it is hard to tell if one is being sincere or not.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Red is worrying about her new mission when a letter arrives from Blue and she accepts it despite the worries of her commanders about her being played. I turns out that both the Commandant and Garden knew of the plans the other side had from the beginning and now they are moving their pieces into position for the final battle. Red is ordered to write a letter to Blue containing the poison that will unmake her and give them the chance they need to win the war once and for all and Red does it. Despite Blue knowing it is a trap she also knows that if she doesn’t die then Red might be suspected on tipping her off and end up being killed so she consumes the poison. Somehow, Red knew all along that Blue would do this but arrives too late as Blue is already dead and has left her one last letter to read, but in the letter she leaves clues for Red about something that can be done that might allow them to be together but if she is discovered then it will be for them to die together and Red begins to put the plan into motion.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, we see Blue and Red’s plan come together even though neither was aware of what it meant in the beginning but it meant that both could be together in the way they imagined without having to worry about anything else. I loved This Is How You Lose the Time War because it wasn’t like anything I was expecting and at 200 pages it is such a quick read and the audiobook narration was divine. Highly recommended! I do have one final thing to say though, this book was The Name of the Book book club pick for September as Catherine House was the pick for the Literally Dead Book Club, while both of these novel are character driven and the “plot” takes a huge backseat to the characters, I ended up DNFing one and loving the other and this is because of the character work. In this book the character are interesting and complex despite having never meeting for the majority of the novel while Ines from Catherine House was just straight up boring. If you are looking for a good, character driven novel then definitely pick up This Is How You Lose the Time War.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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