Book Review: This is How You Lose the Time War

I’ve heard a few people rave about This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone so I picked up the short novel a while ago when I was at the bookstore and just read it last week.

The novel is a time traveling sci-fi love story following Blue and Red, two agents for rival agencies. They both travel through time to make changes or influence events to try to sway the future for their side. They plant ideas, assassinate key people, and more to help their side. But somewhere along the way they started a correspondence and left letters to each other in different times and eventually fall in love. Will they be able to keep up their secret letters without their agencies finding out? And what will they have to change in the past to be able to be together in the future?

This novel was really beautifully written and I loved watching their love unfold through their letters. It was a little confusing at first because you’re just dropped right into the story so there’s no setup or introduction into this sci-fi world. But once I got a feel for what was going on I was able to enjoy this love story for the ages.

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