I love reading on vacation. And I’m not a big e-reader so that means packing books. I went to the library’s used book sale and picked this up before my vacation earlier this month. I’d seen it around the blog world and I saw a review on the back from V.E. Schwab so I thought it was worth a try. I’m sorry to say this was just not for me. I can see how others enjoyed it, but I seriously struggled the whole way through.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Summary from Amazon:
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?
This was not the book I needed for my vacation. I started it while answering numerous questions from my kid while on the plane and it failed to grab my interest from there. Moving forward, I was reading on the beach and the start/stop pace kept me from being engrossed and instead taking frequent trips to the bar or dips into the water. I was constantly forgetting if Red or Blue was from Garden and failed to grasp the means of communication they were using. It went over my head and wasn’t the relaxing read I wanted or needed while half checked out on the beach.
A major issue I had was that Red and Blue didn’t seem unique. I would often forget who was talking or the backgrounds that came with either character and they seemed to melt into one being. I think that was part of the point- that they weren’t very different when you really looked at them. However, it made for a frustrating read and had me constantly checking the back cover to remember who was part plant and who was a robot (or at least, that’s how I thought of them).
I couldn’t tell you who I liked more because the two seem inseparable. There weren’t really other characters in the story, either. Each visits with their leader once, but that interaction seems like talking to a shadow or ghost more than a commander. Both operatives are very solitary people, as is appropriate with their jobs. There are scant mentions of other operatives but since they’re often in the field, they don’t interact much. The book really relied on the two soldiers so without distinctive personalities, there wasn’t a lot to latch onto.
The characters failed to evoke any empathy from me. Their futuristic work and missions were so far removed from anything I could imagine that I found myself struggling to picture the locations and logistics of their lives. This took away from me being able to think of them as empathetic beings in any way. I’m still confused what they were doing or how they expected their sides to ultimately ‘win’ the war they were fighting in. I imagine that they came from futures in alternate timelines and were fighting to make the past work in a way that only their future existed, but I had to seriously think about that after I finished the book. Maybe managing a needy child at the beginning of reading this was more of a detriment than I thought.
I liked the resolution to the novel, which means I’m about to spoil it in the rest of this paragraph so please skip down if you want to avoid that. As much as the book obviously had to do with time travel, it felt very linear for Red and Blue. I’d wondered how they perceived time and the chronology of their conversations because of their jobs. So when they finally used the technology to their advantage at the end, I appreciated the full-circle moment.
I was so lost at the beginning of this book. I’m not advocating for an info-dump, but the way the book started without any explanation of who Red and Blue were was a bit much for me. If I’d read the blurb on the back, that would have helped. I never do that, though, so I was confused. I think a book should be able to stand on its own without needing the reader to have a preconceived notion of what the book is about before page one.
I liked the underlying message of this book- only a faceless enemy is truly evil. Once Red and Blue got to know each other, once they asked questions and shared thoughts, they realized how alike they were and found common ground they could stand on. Only when groups are ‘othered’ do we see things as black and white as good/evil. Once there is a face to the other side with a name and its own being, it becomes much harder to dislike them in their entirety. I think this is very true in the current US political climate where there is strong polarization separating folks. Maybe we all need to find a new pen pal.
Writer’s Takeaway: In a book with two narrators written by two writers, I was shocked at how similar the voices were. I really wished for a stronger sense of self in the two characters which would have helped me differentiate between them, remember details about each, and stop referencing the back cover to remember who was who. I don’t know if this was a result of editing or co-writing, but it was a challenge to read the book as two separate parts since they blended together so much.
It may be a case of ‘wrong place, wrong time,’ but this book wasn’t for me. Two out of Five Stars.
This book fulfills the ‘Future’ time period for the 2026 When Are You Reading? Challenge.
Until next time, write on.
You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at [email protected]. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!
Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Related Posts:
‘This Is How You Lose the Time War’ by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Review) | I Would Rather Be Reading
Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone: This Is How You Lose the Time War (Saga, 2020) [IBR2020] | A Just Recompense
Book Review – ‘This Is How You Lose The Time War’ by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone | Casey Carlisle
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone | A Cup of Cyanide
Book Review: This Is How You Lose The Time War | Off The TBR
Taking On a World of Words 