This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

I needed a short book to finish up my monthly allotment of audiobook hours and came across This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It turns out, several people I know have read and loved this book - and it comes in at just over four hours - so it seemed like a great choice. What I didn't know was that this novella won the 2020 Hugo Award and 2020 Locus Award for Best Novella as well as the 2019 Nebula Award for Best Novella. It is also an Amazon Editor's Pick for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy. It deals with animal death, grief, murder and death, and war.

The best way for me to sum up the plot of this book is in a quote from the book itself. "Viney, ivy elf world versus techy mechy dystopia." Two sides fight over the control of time: The Garden is the elf world, an organic, hive-mind society, while the Agency is the dystopia and a highly advanced technologically. Two soldiers on their respective sides, Red works for the Agency while Blue is from the Garden, run into different plots and traps laid by the other and they are constantly foiling the other's plans. They begin to have a mutual admiration for their opponent's work. What begins as a taunt between enemies turns into something altogether different and changes both Red and Blue in ways that they never imagined. It could change the future. And, since this is the Time War we are talking about, the past too.

Where do I begin? I think that you really need to be in the right mindset for this story. I listened to it, which I think may have been the wrong medium for a first read through. When I first began, I don't think I paid enough attention and got a little lost. Then I over compensated and swung too hard into paying TOO much attention. Partly epistolary, Blue and Red send messages to one another and large swathes of time can pass between one chapter and the next. Meanwhile, they're traveling back and forth in time so one chapter can take place in the early 20th century while in the next, they're talking to a young Genghis Khan. But what you really need to focus on is the story between the two characters, not what is going on around them. I would like to read it again, in print this time, knowing that ahead of time. That being said, I did like it, once I got past the realization that I was not meant to understand the mechanics of their worlds. I enjoyed seeing all the little snippets of time that Blue and Red try to manipulate in their factions best interest. I loved hearing all the nicknames they gave each other and puzzling out the connection. I really liked the ending when everything comes back together. And the writing was incredible.

I'm giving This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone 4.25 stars out of 5. But I would recommend reading it instead of listening to it, if this is the first read through.

For more from the authors check out the following:

Amal El-Mohtar at https://amalelmohtar.com/ and

Max Gladstone at https://www.maxgladstone.com/

Pairs well with rosehip jam on warm bread.

My favorite quotes:

"And our glorious crystal future shines so bright I gotta wear shades, as the prophets say."

"...but when I think of you, I want to be alone together."