This Is How You Lose the Time War

Books | Fiction / Science Fiction / Time Travel

3.8

(9.5K)

Amal El-Mohtar

Max Gladstone

* HUGO AWARD WINNER: BEST NOVELLA * NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARDS WINNER: BEST NOVELLA * “[An] exquisitely crafted tale...Part epistolary romance, part mind-blowing science fiction adventure, this dazzling story unfolds bit by bit, revealing layers of meaning as it plays with cause and effect, wildly imaginative technologies, and increasingly intricate wordplay...This short novel warrants multiple readings to fully unlock its complexities.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) From award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone comes an enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and space about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future. Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future. Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right? Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.

Romance

Science Fiction

Fantasy

Lgbtq+

Time Travel

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More Details:

Author

Amal El-Mohtar

Pages

208

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

2019-07-16

ISBN

1534431012 9781534431010

Ratings

Google: 4.5

Community ReviewsSee all

"3.5⭐ A very nice, short book! It's a bit emotional and kind of confusing at times, but it's worth it in the end!"

Madison C

"It was emotional and confusing at times, but overall it felt like a Futuristic Shakespeare play. "

Sandy Lopez

"A fast-paced, disorienting chaotic novella that makes a bit more sense if you make it to the end. "

Tiffany Wysbeek

"I couldn't get past the first chapter."

Jennifer

"This is going to be a very unpopular opinion- but this book was SO pretentious. I'm not a huge science fiction reader, but the premise really hooked me- I wish I got out of it what everyone else seems to. The event that was supposed to be an emotional gut punch, was honestly lost on me. By that point I was ready to stop reading. "

Alexia Hollis

"A very pretty, if not occasionally overly indulgent, Romeo and Juliet poem if one of them was a space druid and the other a murderbot."

Ross Sauby

"This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone 3/5 :sparkles: This was weird but interesting in a way a subject that makes no sense yet seems plausible is. I knew nothing about what was going on the whole time but slowly it seemed to come into focus. Two time soldiers on opposite sides finding respect for each other, camaraderie, love, betrayal and possibly a home. That said most of this book was nonsense, but nonsense can be part of the plot too apparently."

Sarah

"Beautifully confusing. Ultimately romantic"

Nicky 🏳️‍🌈📚

"September 13"

Melissa Hudson

"Sci-Fi, Romance, sapphic Romeo and Juliet retelling. This book. I love this book so much. I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone though. It is hard to get through despite being so short. It’s about two lesbians on opposite sides of “the time war” at the end of the world. They travel through time to bend it in their favour, they run into each other a few times and start exchanging letters. At first the letters are threatening, they morph into teasing then eventually they are just flirting with each other. You will cry if you read this book. If you read this book you will never be the same. Trigger Warnings. Death, War, body horror, torture, blood. Difficulty level 5/5 because of the language and metaphors and science and history and ****. I had a harder time reading this book then Shakespeare. It’s not for the faint of heart. 5⭐️"