This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Overall Review: This is How You Lose the Time War is a heartwarming and intriguing book that uses the setting of a time-travel war as the backdrop for a love story. The book is well-written, smart, and a joy to read.
Synopsis: Two secret agents fighting on opposite sides of a time war fall in love with each other. On each side of the war is an advanced civilization far in the future working to modify past events in order to bring about their society while simultaneously preventing the opposing society from doing the same. After encountering each other in a battle, the agents exchange notes via convoluted sci-fi means and through this develop feelings for one another.
When you first pick up This is How You Lose the Time War, you quickly get the sense that it’s a sophisticated book. While the language the characters use amongst themselves is casual and intimate, it’s also complex and befitting two ultra-advanced secret agents. I found myself looking up a lot of words in the dictionary to keep up.
The setting is also quite complex and intriguing. I loved the book’s erratic setting throughout different periods of time. Since the two main characters are hyper-advanced secret agents traveling forward and backward through time, the settings feel antiquated but also tainted with technical sophistication from the invasion of the time travelers. Whether it’s a Victorian tea shop, a far-future techno cult lair, or Genghis Khan’s army headquarters, the settings are diverse while also being there mostly as a backdrop for the love story of the two characters. The fact that El-Mohtar and Gladstone focus very little time on world-building intensifies the core of what the book is really about - the relationship between the characters Red and Blue.
Speaking of their relationship, one thing I thought was odd was just how quickly Red and Blue fell in love. To me, it came about a bit too suddenly and without much justification. Part of me felt like the characters fell in love for the sake of progressing the story, rather than because of evidence we were shown on the page. The one rationale I can think of is that maybe Red and Blue are so starved for interpersonal contact on their missions that any sort of affection is immediately reciprocated. Even with this explanation though, there’s a certain amount of suspension of disbelief that’s necessary to believe that these enemies can develop such strong feelings for each other so quickly.
The other thing that jarred me about This is How You Lose the Time War is its at-times overly sophisticated language. It’s one thing to write a smart book, but it occasionally felt like the authors were using complicated words unnecessarily just because they thought it would sound smarter. To me, doing so feels a bit self-congratulatory and makes the book less approachable. (Ironically, I find myself falling into the same trap in my writing, but then again I’m a hobbyist and not a professional writer).
Overall, I would highly recommend This is How You Lose the Time War to anyone. It helps that the book is a short read, and the heartwarming plot combined with a smart setting makes for a very enjoyable story. I liked the conclusion of the book, and the characters’ sacrifices for one another are a great example of a classic feel-good story that is likely to leave you emotional when finished.