I have a lot of feelings about this book. I loved it, but that doesn't seem like an adequate descriptor. And I can see how people either LOVED it or not at all. It's not an easy book despite being relatively short, because it is DENSE. It's packed with description and detail. The writing is gorgeous, as one would expect from El-Mohtar & Gladstone but more than that it's *alive.*

Basically it's the story of two rival time-travelers, Red & Blue, who work for opposing factions of mysterious entities that control timestreams of a multitude of universes. They communicate through letters left at the sites of their "jobs." But that doesn't really summarize the plot anymore than it's perhaps possible to describe it, because it's really not about that.

It's clever and beautiful and romantic. The authors play with words brilliantly and sprinkle breadcrumbs throughout, but every time you think you know what's going on you're probably wrong. I find that invigorating; some readers might find it frustrating. It's hard science fiction, it's romance, it's post-human, it's very very human. I don't recommend this book to everyone but the people I do recommend it to are people who will love it.

Though the language was hard at times, I was delightfully surprised by how creative and charming this story was. I've been a fan of Amal El-Mohtar and was so excited to see her come out with a book.

I received an advance digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Sexual identity politics aside, this was an engaging, well written novella that is sure to be a hit. Written in a mix of prose and verse, the two characters engage in a forbidden exchange and fall in love. It felt as though it started in the middle and worked it's way out to the beginning and end.

Different in a good way from so much dystopian fiction.

3 out of 5 stars.

If Kage Baker’s Novels of the Company and Good Omens had a book baby, it would be This Is How You Lose the Time War. Including the implied queer romance between Aziraphale and Crowley being realized and not merely implied. Just completely gender-swapped. At least, in as much as Red and Blue have gender as we understand it.

Howsomever, while I loved Kage Baker’s series, especially the first dozen books or so – start with In the Garden of Iden and be prepared to disappear for a few weeks – and Good Omens the book was even better than the TV series, which was awesome in its own way, I’m not sure I actually liked This Is How You Lose the Time War.

It’s fascinating in some ways. And it’s a quick read. But “like” is much too pale and wishy-washy a word. I feel like I’m sitting on a fence with this book, in the sense that all that sitting on a fence usually gets you is splinters up your arse.

Let me attempt an explanation.

What Time War has in common with The Company is the concept of two factions seeding themselves through time, both attempting to control the outcome of history for their own ends. And both having agents in place – or rather in time – in various successful and unsuccessful efforts to change history.

And the concepts of “good” and “evil” in both series end up being far from clear cut. From our limited 21st century perspective it is impossible to know whether history would “better” – for very undefined meanings of “good”, “evil” and “better”, whether Red’s mecha-cyber future is superior to Blue’s “Garden”.

But, even though Time War eschews any concepts of absolute good or absolute evil, even in the watered down and corrupted versions of both that are exposed in Good Omens, what this book does borrow from Gaiman and Pratchett is, in part, the same thing that they borrowed from Cold War era spy fiction – that sometimes, in the midst of a long, long war, the agents from the opposing forces have more in common with each other than either does with their respective home teams.

They have both “been in the long grass and seen the elephant” in ways that no one can understand – unless they been in there with them in a way that only their opposite number has done.

At the same time, the friendly-but-opposing protagonists of This is How You Lose the Time War do come to the same conclusion that Aziraphale and Crowley do – that they are together on their own side, and if need be, alone against the cosmos.

Escape Rating B-: I am still not sure how I feel about this book. I’m baffled and a bit confused.

There’s a part that is fascinated by how the story is told. It doesn’t begin and the beginning, tell a story, and end at the end. Instead, the story is told through a series of letters written between Red and Blue. It’s not just the letter itself, but also the circumstances surrounding the discovery of each letter.

We get bits and pieces of who these two are, what they are, and the neverending war that they were born to fight. We’re also supposed to see them fall in love with each other through their correspondence, but I’m not sure I see how it happens. I mean, I see that it does, but without them ever meeting face to face, I’m not quite sure I buy the romance.

I’m equally fascinated by the way that the story ends, because it doesn’t. It comes full circle and then kind of fades to black. We’re left hoping that they found a way, but we don’t see it.

In the end, I found This is How You Lose the Time War to be more interesting than it was satisfying. A lot of people seem to have absolutely adored it. I think I wanted more plot to sink my teeth into.

Your mileage, as always, may vary.

I’m a jerk, I’m so sorry but I’m not. Look, like, 80% of the people who know me now know me from my time in fandom and that fandom happens to be Red vs Blue. I included screenshots from season 6 in my master’s thesis presentation. I’ve got the exclusive jogging pants and I’m not afraid to live in them. The only god that can judge me is me.

But the moment I saw the cover of THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, my very first thought was, “Wow, the new season of RvB looks great.”

Because that’s what you do when you see red and blue together. This is my life. These are my choices. I won’t repeat what I said about gods and judging because you already know what I’m about.

Know what else I’m about? This book.

So let’s talk about it.


THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR is the story of two women (Red and Blue) on opposing sides of a time travel-based war writing letters to each other and slowly falling in love with each other. Their interactions must be kept secret, of course, lest their respective commanders find out and punish them, which leads to things a like letter being labeled “burn before reading” and messages encoded in the bark of a growing tree.

This novella – because it is indeed a novella! – is so filling and rich that you walk away from just a chapter or two feeling full and warm. It’s the kind of prose that wraps itself around your heart, twines its fingers in your ribcage, takes up residence in your very being, just to be like, “Hey. It’s gonna be okay. It’s hard now, but it’s gonna be okay.”

Like, the tenderness! The longing! The comforting nature of one writing the other to say, “Please don’t read any more of my messages, we’ve been found out and they’re going to poison you.”

If you’re a queer person, this book rejuvenates you in the same way that the rest of the world exhausts you. It’s filled up my soul and made me ready to deal with every coworker who’s ever asked, “Why are you nonbinary?” Don’t get me wrong, this book isn’t enby rep – it doesn’t even claim that, so it’s not a failed promise or anything – but like, the absolute love and tenderness of this story has revitalized the part of me tired of snubs and misunderstanding. You read this book and feel the love that radiates out from it, and it makes you feel loved.

One thing that people seem to chafe against is the prose. Which I get – it’s a little dense every now and then, but you know what? We get 200 pages to see these ladies, and a bunch of stuff happens in those 200 pages. Density’s gonna be the name of the game. I can’t imagine this novella working any other way.

But I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I loved how deep everything was – this wasn’t a book to read in one sitting. (And having sat and read The Fireman by Joe Hill in one sitting, I can attest to what can be done in one sitting.) I loved the top-notch world-building (and if you’re mad that we only got bits and pieces, remember that it’s not the focus of the story.) .

But seriously. Do something nice for yourself and get your hands on this story.

–

Don't forget to check out the podcast episode THE NEW SEASON OF RED VS BLUE LOOKS GREAT out now on iTunes, Spotify, and Podbean!

Damn- this is quite the piece of writing. The book goes back and forth between the POV of Red, a time-traveling operative from a high tech universe, and Blue, an operative from a biogeneering one. These two are pitted against each other, each trying to make their own future come to pass. They've got all of time to play with, and the book begins as the two of them begin a game of spy-vs-spy across the backdrop of all of time.

Clearly, there's a lot to play with here, and the authors take full advantage of it. I'd guess that Gladstone wrote Red and El-Mohtar wrote Blue, since those respective characters contain bits of what the authors have in their background (Red visits Mongolia, Blue refers to honey). Each POV is first a description of missions, and then a letter written to the other operative. These aren't just any letters though. They are written in a pre-colonial South American net in a language of knots. They are written in the flight of a bee. They are written in bubbles of boiling water, written in the sound of wind howling through bone. Naturally, these two start to get more and more intimate, even as they are enemies. Someone who cares enough about you to write a letter to you in grooves in the rings of a tree clearly cares quite a lot, even if you are on opposite sides of a time war.

And damn! It's been a while since I've seen the sort of passionate writing that these two do as they explore their feelings for one another. I agree with Jo Walton's remark that the feelings between Red and Blue change perhaps a bit too quickly, but we're in a novella, after all.

The world building was quite imaginative. We are flung back and forth from pre-history to the future temple of the goddess Hack, from a biogeneered world to Merrye Olde London. It was a ton of fun being along for the ride.

There are allusions piled one on top of the other in this book. There are references to Ozymandias, Tam Lin, Winston Smith, Shakespeare (of course), and many many more that I either don't recall right now or didn't catch. I haven't read many books that make so much effort to be erudite lately, and I really enjoyed being challenged in this way. This would be a fun book to reread for the references alone, much less the actual story, which bears a re-read to see exactly how it twists upon itself.

Many of the allusions are grim, and it wasn't lost on me that while the characters think they could win, the book's title doesn't reflect that. This is a love story for the ages, and aren't the greatest love stories tragedies? The book itself doesn't show the end for these lovers, but signs point to loss.

A wild ride of a book. Time travel agents working for competing factions interfere with each other's missions while exchanging a secret correspondence throughout the ages. This one surprised me and kept me guessing from start to finish. I certainly didn't go into this one expecting one of the bizarrest enemies to levers(ish) stories I've ever read, but I'm certainly not complaining. The book's lyrical prose verging on poetry and a vague distance and all-around weirdness (that often leaves you just barely grasping at the edges of the truth of the story) reminiscent of Jeff Vandermeer might be offputting for some, but I just let myself go along for the ride. And I think if you can do the same, you'll find yourself falling in love with this science fiction novel. There's nothing else quite like it.

Wow, gorgeously written, on top of a fantastic premise and interesting world-building. And really, it's a quick read, so you should definitely check this out. It's well worth the time.

The imagination that it takes to come up with a story like this one. Wow. I love the whole concept and the book even more! It was well written, inventive, and romantic (of course). I love the birds on the cover. I absolutely recommend this book!
Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 Stars

Do you ever read a book that just rocks your world and you want to get everyone you know and love to read it? That's how I feel about This is How You Lose the Time War. This book, guys! This book! It was creative and compelling as well as full of beautiful, poetic writing. It was absolutely fantastic!

I just have no clue how to review it. I've been trying to write one for this book for over two months and I just keep sitting on it. I loved the book and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it. But I still can't think of any way to review it that's non-spoilery. All I can think to tell you over and over again is that it's amazing and full of time traveling romance things.

I'm floored by how much was packed into so small of a book while still being refreshingly simple. There's so many things I loved about this story that if I even start talking about one I'll spoil the whole thing. Seriously. Just go read it. Blue and Red's story is something else. If this novella gets nominated for the Hugo next year, it's the one I'll vote for because it's really that good.

This review in no way does this book justice. Just trust me and go read it. You want regret picking it up.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

Rival time travel agents falling in love? Hell yes. Also the writing is just gorgeous in this. I want more.

Although I can certainly see how many readers would appreciate the poetic writing, almost mirroring the language of 18th century love letters, I admit I was disappointed by it. While beautiful to read, unfortunately the focus on crafting lyrical lines shifted a lot of attention away from details I really would have liked to know about the world (worlds?) and time (times?) inhabited by the two main characters. It was also difficult for me to think of them as two separate characters, since their voices were so similar. Perhaps related to the problem of prioritizing beauty and style over meaning and plot, the descriptions of how Blue and Red transmitted letters to each other were lovely but made absolutely no sense to me. I enjoyed the story behind the words, but I'm really not a poetry person and I felt a bit like I was tricked into reading a book of it.

I’ve been sitting on this review because I was hoping time would help clarify my feelings about This is How You Lose the Time War. Since it hasn’t, I’m just going to list what I liked/didn’t like about the book!

Liked/Loved:
-The f/f romance (neither is exactly human but they both identify as female)
-The concept - the time war, the competing factions, the epic life or deaths stakes
-The main characters - both of them really grew throughout the course of the novel and I found them both to be really interesting

What didn’t work for me:
-The writing style- I think this is really what’s going to divide people on this book. It’s beautiful and lyrical, almost like poetry. The style worked really well to tell the story but it just didn’t quite work for me (perhaps because of the point below)
-The world-building. This is likely due to the writing style but, at best, I had an amorphous grasp of the world, the two factions, and how things worked.

This Is How You Lose the Time War was such a unique and fascinating story. Plus it’s a novella so you can just cruise through!

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is a novel which tells the story of two rival agents who fight to secure different futures.

Two rivaling time travelling spies, Red and Blue, correspondence through space and time, taunting each other until they fall in love. The two are battling for a future which their respective organizations want to have.

Since the two organization are in a time war, each agent’s correspondence means that they are putting their life on the line. The agents, however, are not alone and each has someone who follows them.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is very difficult to describe, it has sci-fi elements, an espionage adventure story and time travel to boot. None of these elements, however, take the stage as much as the literary narrative.
For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is a novel which tells the story of two rival agents who fight to secure different futures.

Two rivaling time travelling spies, Red and Blue, correspondence through space and time, taunting each other until they fall in love. The two are battling for a future which their respective organizations want to have.

Since the two organization are in a time war, each agent’s correspondence means that they are putting their life on the line. The agents, however, are not alone and each has someone who follows them.

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is very difficult to describe, it has sci-fi elements, an espionage adventure story and time travel to boot. None of these elements, however, take the stage as much as the literary narrative.

The time-travel / spy vs. spy is a way to tell a love story in prose, of two lovers engaging in a sophisticated and dangerous dance. I have no idea how the authors manage to pull this book off, but they did a wonderful job.

Even though this book has many elements which would make one think that it is a fast paced romp (I did), it is the opposite. Reading this book takes patience and has to be done slowly and carefully.

While I did enjoy much of the narrative, some of it seemed to be so much over the top. The sentences were so full of metaphors upon metaphors, analogies upon analogies that in some parts I simply lost interest.

Even though the reading wasn’t as smooth in some places, it wasn’t often nor was it too distracting from the excellent prose. The glimpses of history which the authors provide are rich and make one think. Sometimes the spies are in big events, but sometimes they are simply giving a nudge to a metaphorical pebble, which later on (sometimes centuries) will cause a wave, that will be the start of a significant historical event.
This aspect of the book is something I tremendously enjoyed.

At the end, I couldn’t decide if this was an adventure book, a romance, or a tragedy. I would like to say that it was all and more.
The time-travel / spy vs. spy is a way to tell a love story in prose, of two lovers engaging in a sophisticated and dangerous dance. I have no idea how the authors manage to pull this book off, but they did a wonderful job.

Even though this book has many elements which would make one think that it is a fast paced romp (I did), it is the opposite. Reading this book takes patience and has to be done slowly and carefully.

While I did enjoy much of the narrative, some of it seemed to be so much over the top. The sentences were so full of metaphors upon metaphors, analogies upon analogies that in some parts I simply lost interest.

Even though the reading wasn’t as smooth in some places, it wasn’t often nor was it too distracting from the excellent prose. The glimpses of history which the authors provide are rich and make one think. Sometimes the spies are in big events, but sometimes they are simply giving a nudge to a metaphorical pebble, which later on (sometimes centuries) will cause a wave, that will be the start of a significant historical event.
This aspect of the book is something I tremendously enjoyed.

At the end, I couldn’t decide if this was an adventure book, a romance, or a tragedy. I would like to say that it was all and more.

You know how you can read a book, and then you read it again, and then you realize it doesn’t matter how many times you read it you can’t just write a decent review because nothing you say can even touch how wonderful it is?

Yeah, this is one of those books.

It’s short. Too short. It’s the perfect length. I want it to go on forever. No one should touch it, leave it as it is.

Red and Blue are two time traveling agents/spies who travel through time. They are pulling at threads here and there in the past in order to manipulate the future. Teach one woman how to weave thread in a new way, and in 100 years that leads to a new type of sail that allows for ocean travel. That kind of thing. One agent comes from a more tech driven society, and the other from an ecological society and they are at war with each other. But all this flashing around from century to century can get a bit old after a while right? Why not have a bit of fun messing with the other side when you get a chance. The two start a correspondence, that turns to a love affair.

What emerges from this story line is not just a fun time-travel novella. It is astonishingly clever, romantic, poetic and thought provoking and LGBTQ inclusive. It’s also so stinking funny …

“How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol horde got bored?”

or Blue’s many riffs on Red’s name when writing letters.

“Dear Sailor’s Delight” “Dear Sugar Maple” “My dear Miskozi”

Like I said, I’m not doing it justice. Ugh, I want to eat this little book up it’s so delicious.

You really must read it.

Song for this book: It’s Only Time – The Magnetic Fields

The nitty-gritty: Decadent writing and lush imagery make this a feast for the senses, but as a story it didn't quite work for me, I'm sad to say.

I’m afraid this book and I got off on the wrong foot. Otherwise how do you explain the fact that every review I’ve seen has been a gushing, five star review? This is How You Lose the Time War is exquisitely written, a poetic masterpiece created by two highly talented and seasoned writers. On one hand, I loved the interplay between not only the characters on the page, but the voices of Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar as they seamlessly weave together the story of Blue and Red. But honestly folks, this book was such a struggle for me to get into and I almost didn’t finish it. What should have easily been read in a day or two stretched into a week or more, because I kept putting it down to read something else. Simply put, you might need to be in the right frame of mind to read this.

But what I did learn, the more I got into the story, is that this novella isn’t about plot so much as emotions and atmosphere. The plot, in fact, is very basic, and I can tell it to you without giving anything away.

Red and Blue are two agents fighting on opposite sides of a time war. Red works for the Agency and Blue works for Garden, and throughout the years, bloody battles are fought with wins and losses on both sides. After one battle, Red finds a note that says “burn before reading,” a taunting challenge from Blue that Red gleefully accepts. And so the two begin a correspondence of the oddest kind, unique letters sent back and forth over the years and distance of the war, disguised so they won’t be detected. Because it turns out someone is shadowing their every move and knows about the forbidden letters. After all, two agents on opposite sides shouldn’t be writing letters to each other, should they?

The letters, which start out mocking, soon become confessional, emotion-filled notes, as Red and Blue begin to respect and eventually, fall in love with each other. But can their doomed relationship last? The Agency and Garden will not tolerate disobedience, let alone deception.

This novella is a treat for readers who love language, who want to roll it around on their tongues and savor the various meanings hidden in the sentences. If you love poetry, this can almost be read as one long poem, although that’s not the format it’s written in. As a work of art, it succeeds brilliantly. Without a doubt, This is How You Lose the Time War will be up for numerous genre awards next year, just wait and see.

But does it succeed as a piece of fiction, that is the question I’ve been asking myself. And I still haven’t decided. Clearly it has for lots of other readers, but I found it difficult to peel away the many layers of beautiful writing, clever sentences and stunning imagery to find the story underneath. I kept looking for hidden meanings but never found them. For example, what is the significance of "the Agency" and "Garden?" Were they meant to be metaphors for something I just couldn't grasp? Other reviewers have said things like "just go with it" and "don't worry about the plot," but I find that very hard to do. And the length was either too long or too short. I almost think it might have worked better as a short story, that a tighter, leaner narrative without all the dramatic and violent posturing of its main characters would force the writers to get to the point faster.

My favorite point in the story was the moment when a terrible decision must be made by one of the characters. It was a brilliant idea and beautifully written. It is at this point that the story becomes a love story. And I actually loved the ending. It was weird and complex and fit with the idea of two people moving up and down the strands of time.

But did I fall in love with it like so many other readers? I have to admit it was a unique reading experience, but unfortunately it won’t end up on my “best of the year” list in December. I envy all those readers who did fall in love with this story, but I’m just not feeling the emotions I was hoping to feel at the end. Ultimately, this is a book you’ll have to read for yourself and form your own opinion, and chances are, you’ll enjoy it more than I did.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

What a wonderful sapphic and sci-fi romance. I will say I have not read anything like this before, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the characters of Red and Blue and their adventures through time and space. My favorite moments were reading their notes to each other and the variety of nicknames/synonyms they used to address the other. There were a few moments where I lost a sense of where or what was happening, but I think those moments were written on purpose. There is always a learning curve with time travel stories, but the chemistry between Red and Blue truly cemented the story together.

There are books that can be thrown to the side after reading, never to be thought of again. There are books that stay with you for a few hours, lingering in your thoughts until the next shiny thing comes along. Rarely, there are books that overwhelm you, leaving you trapped in their world, enamored of their characters and the deeply wrought words that remain a marvel long after you read them. This is How You Lose the Time War is that rare book, the kind that inspires you to see the world in a different light, to feel things deeper for a little while. 

A love story, a time travel adventure, an endless war for the future - the book is all of these things and more. These are characters for whom time and daily life are all but meaningless. They’ve lived countless lives, endured endless conflicts, successes, and failures. They’ve torn through the fabric of reality to discover endless possibilities. That experience makes their love story all the more powerful. Red and Blue have felt and seen everything and this love lingered where nothing else had. By weaving that grand setting amidst an extremely personal love story, the author’s have created a bond more powerful than I could have imagined.

The novel’s primary strength lies in the beauty of its prose. There is no stumbling around in the dark as the story tries to find its footing. We’re immediately transported into this strange reality set within endless realities, forced to forget what little we know about life. There’s beauty and terror to be found equally within this concept of time. The tiniest action or change can send ripples that break through multiple realties, changing the course of these futures immeasurably. This isn’t just a science fiction novel set in some distant world - where this future starts is never fully known. Instead, we travel to the gatherers roaming an iced-over world. We watch as a volcano destroys a version of Atlantis. We walk through the streets of any number of cities, some filled with steampunk wonders, others too close to our own time to notice the differences. We stroll through fields and watch the worlds grow. Through all of these times and circumstances, it’s Red and Blue’s love story that creates its own thread, twisting into a conclusion better than I could have imagined.

The epistolary aspect was dreamlike in its originality. What begins as simple letter writing morphs into an experience that transcends mere written words. The letters become a part of Red and Blue, entering their minds, their mouths, their bodies. Their inventiveness continues to grow until they become different beings entirely. It’s beautiful to imagine, taking the concept of a love letter to an entirely new level.

Overall, This is How You Lose the Time War is unlike anything else I’ve read this year. It’s thrilling to read something so profoundly crafted and I thank the authors for their diligence in molding this story into its best possible form.

I figured out nonrepresentational art in the spring of 2009 at the Tate Modern. I was there with my mother and a close friend, and the friend asked my mother–

(Bear with me; I will get to Time War in a minute.)

–what a particular piece of art meant. My mother said, “You don’t have to worry about that. You just have to look at what the artist made, and see if it resonates anything in you. And if not, maybe you weren’t the audience for it.” This advice was not directed at me, a person too proud to admit it if I didn’t know what Jackson Pollock was on about (which I didn’t then and still don’t), but it has proved to be valuable advice all the same. There’s a particularity to artistic stylization — in modern art, in poetry, in your swooshier prose writing — that requires a resonance between creator and consumer, and if it doesn’t happen, you’re nowhere.

If you’re thinking I have used up a lot of words in a row as a preface to admitting that I didn’t love This Is How You Lose the Time War, you are perfectly correct. But I didn’t love it in a way I find interesting and want to think more about. All signs pointed to me and this book being a perfect match. It’s a semi-epistolary time travel romance about a woman called Red from a sciencey time army and a woman called Blue from a magicky time army, and they do time battles and thwart each other’s plans and fall in love. On paper this should have been great for me. I love it when a murderbird character finds herself in disconcerting possession of an emotion, and this book had two murderbirds.

On the other hand, this book isn’t so much a time travel story or a romance story (although it is both of those things) as it is a vehicle for swooshy prose. Here is what the prose is like:

She stops when she finds the letter.

Kneels.

The others gather round: What has disturbed her so? An omen? A curse? Some flaw in their lumberjackery?

The letter begins in the tree’s heart. Rings, thicker here and thinner there, form symbols in an alphabet no one present knows but Red. The words are small, sometimes smudged, but still: ten years per line of text, and many lines. Mapping roots, depositing or draining nutrients year by year, the message must have taken a century to craft. Perhaps local legends tell of some fairy or frozen goddess in these woods, seen for an instant, then gone. Red wonders what expression she wore as she placed the needle.

She memorizes the message. She feels it ridge by ridge, line by line, and performs a slow arithmetic of years.

I am on record as being generally more interested in story-forward books than prose-forward ones, and you may accept that as a statement of my own starting point. But regardless of your feelings about books that have “prose delivery vehicle” as a prominent goal (they are frequently not my cup of tea, Marilynne Robinson), they play a high-risk game in the same way that nonrepresentational art or poetry do. I can appreciate the hard work that went into Jackson Pollock’s paintings all day, but they will never stop me in my tracks the way Cy Twombly’s The Four Seasons did at the Tate Modern. I was rocked back on my heels by those paintings. Poetry functions the same way: Whether you understand the sense of it on a vocab-and-syntax level is often irrelevant to how emotionally impactful you find it.

We spoke on podcast recently about how utterly subjective hope is, in books — how the same book can make one person feel exhausted and miserable, and another person rejuvenated and hopeful. I believe that any piece of art that has as a main goal the evocation of emotion and mood narrows its audience, purely because it is functioning on a different level of engagement that slightly bypasses the “interpret the words and their meanings” level and gets into something far harder to articulate.

When a book or a poem or a piece of art works like this for you, it really really works. It feels like something beyond the intellectual experience of reading, or even the typical emotional experience of reading. It’s more visceral, like the book has gone fishing for exactly you and lodged its hooks in your soft tender heart and now you are just being dragged along, willy-nilly, wherever it wants to take you. It’s intense. Maybe you think about it for years and years afterward, like I do about this passage from White Is for Witching:

In Narnia a girl might ring a bell in a deserted temple and feel the chime in her eyes, pure as the freeze that forces tears. Then when the sound dies out, the White Witch wakes. It was like, I want to touch you, and I can touch you, now what next, a dagger?

The very-very-personal-ness of this kind of writing and how it hits you and how it’s meant to hit you does truly mean that it’s Not for Everyone in a way that can be quite hard to predict. You can appreciate the above passage on a sentence level and a meaning level, you can get it without that passage slamming into you like a freight train, the way it does to me. As I’ve said, This Is How You Lose the Time War described in bullet points is such a me book that it’s almost comical; but you can’t bullet point how noticeable prose will make you feel. I’m not even convinced you can bullet point how it’s meant to make you feel. Leah Bobet1 said something so sensible about this recently:

Relatedly, I’ve realized after years what it is I *like* about poetry.

There’s a lot of good in a form where our interior lives exist without pressure for explanation or translation.

— I came in like a breaking ball (@leahbobet) July 15, 2019

How can cover copy tell you whether a prose-forward story will speak to your interior life, or a collection of poetry? It’s impossible, even impossibler than marketing materials typically are in predicting what you’re going to like. Self-serving as it may seem to say this in a post about a book I didn’t like that litrally everybody else in the world seems to adore, it also isn’t a case of anybody having messed up. The authors didn’t make a misstep. I didn’t not get it. It’s just that the match between them and me didn’t occur. Their elegant, complicated, weird swooshy writing didn’t resonate anything in me.

Sometimes that’s just how the fuck it goes.

Note: I received an ARC of this ebook from the publisher for review consideration. This hasn’t impacted the contents of my review.

Many time travel books are non-linear to some degree. But this book charts a whole new path when it comes to non-linearity. To be fair, the specifics of where are when are somewhat beside the point, but the places and times the characters go to have very few recognizable features, which leaves the reading without a hook on which to make sense of the narrative (if it can be called that). It's kind of like reading abstract art. Like abstract art, a very few things come into focus by the end if you stare at them long enough, but it requires way too much effort. If you like that kind of thing, carry on, but it's really not for me. And yes, I already know I'm a philistine when it comes to art.