Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
This Is How You Lose the Time War
This Is How You Lose the Time War | Amal El-Mohtar
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
JuliaTheBookNerd
post image

#LongDistanceLove ❤️💌💙 #ItTakesAllKinds ☘️🌈🌷🌞

#BookNerd 🤓📚💙

Eggs Loved this book❣️ 1w
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks ❤️📚❤️ 1w
52 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Read-y_Picker
post image

When Red wins, she stands alone.

#FirstLineFriday
@ShyBookOwl

review
steph_phanie
post image
Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Slightly rounding up.

After a few pages, I made a note in the margin that said, "I don't like this so far." It was weird. So weird. And then, somewhere along the way, it became beautiful and brilliant and human. It had so many layers.

This book kind of reminds me of looking through a kaleidoscope - with every spin, the pieces are reorganized into a new design. And as the light pours through, their brilliance is brought to life.

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 3w
16 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
nikekay
Mehso-so

Finished 13 February 2024.

blurb
catsuit_mango
post image

Cracking up the first book offered by the only person daring to gift me books on my birthday ;)

TrishB Happy birthday 🎉🎉 1mo
Dilara Belated happy birthday! 1mo
13 likes2 stack adds3 comments
blurb
monalyisha
post image

I *just* finished reading about an epic battle between Red & Blue, and then immediately went into work to begin this task.

I‘m literally painting a red mailbox blue. This is unintentionally HILARIOUS. I‘m dy(e)ing. 😅

review
monalyisha
post image
Pickpick

This book‘s origin story is beyond cool.

It‘s about two warring factions, traveling through time and manipulating events (often in small ways but sometimes hugely & violently) to ensure that their side wins. The two protagonists are agents for each side: Red & Blue. They begin leaving one another letters, taunting at first, and they fall in love.

The book is co-written, one author responsible for each perspective/alternating chapter. 👇🏻

monalyisha 1/3: Red, written by Max Gladstone, represents technology. Blue, written by El-Mohtar, represents nature…but it‘s not clear which side, if either side, the reader should champion. Each side has its viciousness and its selfishness. 1mo
monalyisha 2/3: The two authors collaboratively penned an outline…but then they wrote in response to the letters they received (ostensibly from Red or Blue), the contents of which were a surprise. 1mo
monalyisha 3/3: I can‘t say that I always understood what was going on. I was, however, entirely transfixed. It was a wonder to learn how the letters would be coded and sent: in tea leaves, in the guts of a seal, in the flowing lava of a volcano‘s explosion. I also enjoyed the mindfuck of an ending, the message about binary extremes [and political factions], and the importance of keeping something for oneself (even if community is revered). 1mo
See All 7 Comments
KadaGul @monalyisha I have this Book 📖 for 2024 library challenge. Im looking👀 forward to reading it. #LibraryChallenges (edited) 1mo
Blackink_WhitePaper Sounds interesting. Stacked 1mo
monalyisha Another thought: it‘s hard to imagine a future in which interconnectedness is the norm…but I think the novel effectively shows how loneliness can reign even when you feel (suffocatingly) like you‘re never actually alone or unobserved. This is a more natural conclusion on Red‘s side. I tend to err on the side of looking to nature for lessons on how to be interconnected. I suppose you‘ve got to look at it as more of a predator/prey model, maybe? (edited) 1mo
Read-y_Picker This is super interesting! I'm so glad you shared :) I just picked this book up. I believe it had been featured on LeVar Burton Reads a few years ago and was just hanging out on my wish list. I now have something else to keep in mind when I finally get around to reading it (it IS on my February bingo board). 1mo
61 likes3 stack adds7 comments
blurb
livblack

First book of 2024!
A sapphic adventure starring two time traveling agents, opposite in motivation. A compelling SF journey. I feel something every time I open it up!

1 like1 stack add
review
DGRachel
post image
Pickpick

I picked this up for my local indie‘s January virtual book club/reading challenge. I went into it blind, and it‘s not at all what I expected based on the title. It‘s kind of an enemies to lovers romance with warring factions racing up and down various timelines. The audio was a little tough to follow despite separate narrators for the two POVs, but still well done.

BarbaraBB Where is it set? 2mo
DGRachel @BarbaraBB Kind of all over the place - there are brief references to a variety of historical events, different versions of London are mentioned with some frequency, and there was a reference to Soviet soldiers. 2mo
BarbaraBB Ah okay, I thought it was about a specific war! Thanks! 2mo
See All 7 Comments
TrishB Been on my tbr a while now! 2mo
DGRachel @TrishB It seems to be one that people either love or hate. I had it on my TBR, took it off because of negative reviews, and then listened to it thanks to my indie bookstore. I thought it was unique-focused far more on the characters than the world building, which is minimal. 2mo
Suet624 What are you making?
2mo
DGRachel @Suet624 Just a throw blanket. I wanted something to do with my hands while I watched TV or listened to an audiobook, and I didn‘t want to have to think about it, so I grabbed yarn I had sitting in my closet and just started crocheting using the moss stitch. There‘s no pattern or even a row count for stripe width - I just go until I get sick of the color. 😂 It‘ll probably be hideous when it‘s done. 2mo
63 likes7 comments
review
Lizwarnerpdx
Panpan

I hated this book. Too abstract and full of prose. I could barely follow it and skimmed lots of it. It came highly recommended but I only read it to be done with it.

review
kissmehardy
post image
Pickpick

First book of 2024! Gorgeously written - I sped through because I was so invested, but I already want to savor a reread. Love a time travel love story! #scifi

BookmarkTavern I love this one! ❤️ 3mo
kissmehardy @BookmarkTavern I get the hype! 3mo
17 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
BennettBookworm
post image

The results are in!! Honestly hard to decide between Sign Here and the Time War. They‘re so different, but what I loved about both of them is that they really blended genres in a way that felt fresh and compelling. In the end, Time War is the pick because it just filled me with so much love.
Happy almost New Year!! #ReadingBracket2023 #2023ReadingBracket

LiteraryinLawrence Ok, if it‘s your faaaaaavorite book of the year I should definitely give it a shot, I think! 2mo
43 likes2 comments
blurb
willaful
post image

An easy pick for April, my one 5 star read. Though honorable mention to Dear Prudence by Daniel Lavery.

review
tphil10283
post image
Pickpick

This was one of the best sci-fi books that I‘ve read. It‘s unique and thought provoking. I highly recommend it.

review
JLaurenceCohen
post image
Mehso-so

Every time travel story needs a time loop, and This Is How You Lose the Time War has a clever one. The world, however, remains terribly abstract. Even the co-protagonists, Red and Blue, are more concepts than people. I found this simultaneously fascinating and unsatisfying. It would actually make an excellent comic if the lyrical prose was accompanied by illustrations.

blurb
JLaurenceCohen
post image

This is a really interesting use of the epistolary form, as the novel is mainly comprised of letters between Red and Blue. The language is gorgeous, meditative, agonized, and potent, but it throws me off slightly that Red and Blue, who are agents of diametrically opposed and incompatible possible futures, sound so much alike. Their voices should more fully reflect how vastly different their societies are.

Vansa I found this book deeply pretentious!! And fully agree, they both sound exactly the same. Also, given the conceit...of people fixing anomalies in time and so on, absolutely no world building about the historical incidents they try to prevent/ sabotage to win the Time War. I couldn't read beyond 50 pages! 7mo
34 likes1 comment
blurb
JLaurenceCohen
post image

Like a sci-fi version of Killing Eve

34 likes1 stack add
review
BennettBookworm
post image
Pickpick

My heart!!!!
Pick is not a strong enough word!!! The sheer poetry, the originality, the absolute indescribable perfection.
These two authors put pure love on the page with unabashed surrender.
As someone never prone to hyperbole (jokes!), I think this is the best book I‘ve ever read.

LiteraryinLawrence Whoa! A new favorite for you! 7mo
Zoes_Human I am typically very romance-averse, but I loved this! 7mo
63 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
slategreyskies
post image
Pickpick

Just finished this one. For me, it was only a soft pick. I think the reason I didn‘t enjoy it more is because it was so abbreviated. I‘d have preferred more detail, but I suppose the plot was pared down to the most important details, which was okay, I guess. Again, not my preference. My first book down for #rushathon ! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

blurb
slategreyskies
post image
review
Jen2
post image
Pickpick

Enjoyed it.

blurb
RebelReader
post image

I‘m struggling with this book so I thought I‘d hit the porch at CoffeeSmith and see if some treats and a beautiful morning could help me enjoy this book.

blurb
willaful
post image

#MidYearBookFreakOut I love this hashtag!

1. This is How You Lose the Time War. For book published in 2023, We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian,

2. ok, this is embarrassing but... The Heir Apparent's Rejected Mate by Cate C. Wells. 😊

3. Happy Place by Emily Henry. I started it on audio but even though I usually love that narrator, didn't get into it.

4. Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon. Loved the Ex Talk and Weather girl.

cont.

willaful 5. The Way Home by Peter Beagle. I hated the second story with the fire of a thousand suns. It inspired a new tag: “Wish I had never read this.“

6. Yellowface. I didn't expect it to be such a page turner.

7. T. Kingfisher

8. Andy from We Could Be So Good. He's such an adorable mess. 😁

9. Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes

10. We Could Be So Good. I bet it made me cry, too, I just didn't tag it.

cont.
9mo
willaful 11. I almost never buy print and it's hard to gauge the beauty of ebooks. But my daughter gave me The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, and it's quite pretty.

12. I do very little obligatory reading these days, so don't have an answer, except that I would like to finish up the prompts for @faranae 's challenges. Also I have a long list of KU books to read while it's free. 😁
9mo
Faranae I want more of Ursula Vernon's White Rat world books. And I didn't mind the het romances in them! 9mo
willaful @faranae praise indeed! 9mo
16 likes4 comments
review
MsRadioSilence
post image
Pickpick

Continuing with my theme of reading only LGBTQ+ books this month, I finished this one and its heartbreaking. I loved the gradual build of Red and Blue‘s relationship as much as I loved the ease of the sci-fi and the beauty of the writing.

#lgbtq+ #lgbtqia2s+ #wlw #june #pride #pridemonth

review
BookmarkTavern
post image
Pickpick

Blue. Red. Two opposing operatives. A war across time itself. Is anything more important than winning?

I adored everything about this. The writing was lyrical and poetic. This was the first time I felt the enemies to lovers trope actually worked for me. An unexpected ending. The evolution of the salutations!

This whole thing felt like a dream. I desperately want to listen to the audiobook now. & I have to look up more of El-Mohtar. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

TheBookgeekFrau Love your glass, right up my alley!! 😍 9mo
rabbitprincess Yaaaay I‘m so glad you liked this! It was amazing ❤️💙 9mo
Kenyazero I liked this weird book when I read it, and agree that enemies to lovers actually really worked here! Definitely give the audio a listen, it flows really well. 9mo
96 likes4 stack adds4 comments
blurb
BookmarkTavern
post image

I did all the adult things that needed to be done yesterday and it‘s currently raining. I‘m going to curl up with a stack of books and not do ANYTHING today. 💙

AmyG 👊🏻 9mo
Chrissyreadit Is that a cup or a drink? i feel like i need it either way….. 9mo
BookmarkTavern @Chrissyreadit It‘s a cup I found on Etsy! 😂 9mo
See All 6 Comments
Chrissyreadit i Fucking love it so much!!!! 9mo
dabbe @Chrissyreadit 🤣🤣🤣 #ditto! 9mo
91 likes1 stack add6 comments
blurb
Chiperskee
post image

Time to see what all the chatter is about

review
Shievad
Panpan

Nice prose but lacking on story. It seemed like such an interesting world the author created, too bad they didn‘t really explain any of it to us.

review
behudd
post image
Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️This book was unlike anything I‘ve ever read & probably anything I‘ll ever read again. Gorgeous & weird. I don‘t know how to talk about it, but all I want to do is talk about it.
The fact that it was co-written by two authors is striking because it feels so distinct. And the fact that it‘s a novella is ridiculous because it feels so full.
It‘s not an easy read, but if you‘re up for it, I highly, highly recommend.

39 likes1 stack add
blurb
willaful
post image

Wow.

Wow.

There are enemies-to-lovers romances and then there is... this.

Wow.

review
CBee
post image
Pickpick

I admit the beginning was confusing, but once I got a bit further in, I was hooked! My favorite parts are the letters from Red to Blue and vice versa - the enemies to lovers trope in a whole different and unique way. I strive to have someone write to me the way they write to each other (swoon). My only small complaint - I would‘ve liked a little more backstory on how the war started, more origin story. The beautiful writing is just 🔥

CBee @Sapphire thank you 😊 @monalyisha thank you for #ALSpine!! 14mo
CBee I‘m going to use this for #booked2023 #twiststretchbalance and I‘m basing it on how the threads of time are twisted, stretched, balanced to change outcomes and such. @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @alisiakae 14mo
Read-y_Picker LeVar Burton read a selection from this book on his podcast a few years ago and it's been on my TBR ever since. Have to get to it! 14mo
See All 16 Comments
Deblovestoread I tried to read this one awhile ago. Your review makes me think I might have bailed too early…back on the TBR it goes! 14mo
TrishB I‘ve had this on the tbr a while! You may have pushed it up the pile. 14mo
CBee @Deblovestoread I can understand why you couldn‘t get into it - it is a bit confusing. I tried to focus on the gorgeous writing and the letters between Red and Blue are mostly what kept me reading. It‘s also quite short! 14mo
CBee @Read-y_Picker love LeVar! I need to check out his podcast. 14mo
CBee @TrishB 😊😊 14mo
willaful I'm going to give this a try in print, because I was so confused when I tried the ebook and I'm hoping that will help. 14mo
CBee @willaful was it audio? Because yeah, that would‘ve totally lost me too 😳😂 14mo
Read-y_Picker @CBee omg you should! He reads selected short stories. All genres but honestly he favours sff. He is so talented, the stories he curated, the production and delivery *chef‘s kiss* 14mo
CBee @Read-y_Picker sounds amazing!! 14mo
GondorGirl This is one of my very favorite books! It's one of the only times where I finished a book and immediately started it over again. 🥰 13mo
CBee @GondorGirl oh wow!! I definitely think I would catch some things I missed the first time. And the ending was 🔥♥️ 13mo
Cinfhen I‘ve heard wonderful things about this book but I couldn‘t get into it - I must try again😅 13mo
CBee @Cinfhen it definitely takes a bit to get into! 13mo
62 likes3 stack adds16 comments
blurb
CBee
post image

Is this a perfect match or is this a perfect match? Currently reading and enjoying this one, should finish today! #pantone2023 #ALSpine @Sapphire @monalyisha @Clwojick

Ruthiella That is a truly perfect match! 👍 14mo
Soubhiville Perfect! 14mo
AmyG Great color match. 14mo
See All 7 Comments
CBee @Ruthiella right? I got super lucky with this one 😊😊 @Soubhiville @AmyG 14mo
Clwojick Fantastic match! Good find! 14mo
WJCintron One of my favorites if not my favorite!!! 13mo
CBee @WJCintron awesome 😊😊😊 13mo
60 likes1 stack add7 comments
review
DMC_run8
post image
Pickpick

Two agents fighting a war through time and space begin exchanging letters and fall in love. 4⭐️

9 likes2 stack adds
review
DebinHawaii
post image
Pickpick

Finished up this epistolary novella about time-traveling female spies/assassins on different sides who fall in love during a war. I saw it on someone‘s best of 2023 on TikTok & was intrigued & my library had the e-book available last week. Beautiful writing & imagery & apparently much smarter than me as I am not sure I understood everything that happened in their somewhat cat-and-mouse relationship 🤷🏻‍♀️ but the evocative writing engaged me.

blurb
Gnora
post image

November was by and far my slowest month of the year. I was in a major reading slump.

#roundup #bookreport #nov2022 #2022 #audio #manga #romance #scifi #memoir #queer #libby #librarybooks #library

quote
galueth28
post image

"I love you. I love you. I love you. I'll write it in waves. In skies. In my heart. You'll never see, but you will know. I'll be all the poets, I'll kill them all and take each one's place in turn, and every time love's written in all the strands it will be to you."

(If you're interested in sapphic, spy enemies to lovers, epistolary romance, with a dash of time travel, this is the book for you.)

12 likes2 stack adds
review
KarenUK
post image
Pickpick

Beautifully lyrical, romantic and intricate. This epistolary love story, tells of two female time-traveling spies, communicating through letters as the ongoing war ravages their opposing sides. As I often do with this genre( very outside my comfort-zone) I find the world-building sci-fi bits more distracting than anything else. But the human connection shines here. The writing is really gorgeous, and in such a brief novella, so much is said.

Librariana I think this is now the second time I see 'hopepunk' as a subgenre and I love the way it sounds (just looked up its definition and like it even more!) I love hearing about lyrical, beautifully-written prose so thank you for sharing this fabulous review 😊 1y
squirrelbrain Wonderful review! I‘m just about to start a book that also covers both of these prompts, otherwise I may have decided to read this, based on your review. 1y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Lovely review!! 1y
59 likes3 stack adds4 comments
review
vlwelser
post image
Pickpick

This #audiobook is delightful. And it's epistolary. ❤

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 1y
33 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
PuddleJumper
post image
Panpan

I hated the writing for this. It was purple prose to the extreme and unnecessarily confusing. It was hard to be enthusiastic about this book when from page one I was rolling my eyes

Sharv_Sona I think the authors were trying to express how these people would talk in the future, to add a dramatic effect, however, I can see why you think so! 😊 2y
shanaqui I remember that being my impression, too! I definitely didn't “get“ it. 2y
Kenyazero I listened to this one and definitely would have struggled with it in print. The overly embellished language does a good job of characterizing Red and Blue as over the top and ridiculous, but it makes it really hard to get through. 2y
26 likes3 comments
review
Sharv_Sona
post image
Pickpick

I don‘t have enough words to actually describe what I‘m feeling right now after finishing this book. It was that bloody brilliant. I am literally at a loss of words. My face may look unaffected but there is a war raging inside of me. This book, the author, I‘m in love. This book is a gem. I recommend it to EVERYONE!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

12 likes1 stack add
quote
Sharv_Sona

Love is what we have, against time and death, against all the powers ranged to crush us down.

quote
Sharv_Sona

Tell me something true, or tell me nothing at all.

quote
Sharv_Sona

I love you and I love you and I love you, on battlefields, in shadows, in fading ink, on cold ice splashed with the blood of seals. In the rings of trees. In the wreckage of a planet crumbling to space. In bubbling water. In bee stings and dragonfly wings, in stars. In the deapths of lonely woods where I wandered in my youth, staring up - and even then you watched me. You slid back through my life, and I have known you since before I knew you.

quote
Sharv_Sona

But when I think of you, I want to be alone together. I want to strive against and for. I want to live in contact. I want to be a context for you, and you for me.

I love you, and I love you, and I want to find out what that means together.

quote
Sharv_Sona

I want to meet you in every place I have loved.

quote
Sharv_Sona

Flowers grow far away on a planet they‘ll call Cephalus, and these flowers bloom once a century, when the living star and its black-hole binary enter conjunction.I want to fix you a bouquet of them, gathered across eight hundred thousand years, so you can draw our whole engagement in a single breath, all the ages we‘ve shaped together.

quote
Sharv_Sona

I want to be a body for you. I want to chase you, find you, I want to be eluded and teased and adored; I want to be defeated and victorious—I want you to cut me, sharpen me. I want to drink tea beside you in ten years or a thousand.

quote
Sharv_Sona

I love you. I love you. I love you. I'll write it in waves. In skies. In my heart. You'll never see, but you will know. I'll be all the poets, I'll kill them all and take each one's place in turn, and every time love's written in all the strands it will be to you.

quote
Sharv_Sona

Books are letters in bottles, cast into the waves of time, from one person trying to save the world to another.

quote
Sharv_Sona

Some days blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.