Book Review: 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

Hardcover, 201 pages

Published July 2019 by Gallery / Saga Press

Sometimes when I review a book I have to give a hyperbole warning. I try to point out warts on near-perfect just to show I am still thinking critically, I mean some I am reviewing books by authors I know and like as people. I don't know either author of this outside enjoying some of their social media presence. I can certainly see reasons why someone would not enjoy this book but hot damn if I don't think this is one of the best books of the year genre or otherwise.

I mean this is a genre book. It is finely written enough to be enjoyed and loved beyond the genre ghetto as say China Mieville or Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow was. Not just as Science Fiction but as literature that said the concept is such that the genre bonfides are undeniable. That concept, by the way, is just the tip of the iceberg of cool gee-whiz ideas. Hemmingway's Iceberg theory of writing is put to amazing use here.

This is How You Lose The Time War is a novel about two post-human women who are agents on the competing sides of a war being fought across space and time. Red fights for a technotopia and Blue fights for Garden a purely organic nature-based force. Each side is fighting for their way of life and doing so across multi-verses.

The concept is cool but it is narrative structure and style that really makes this book incredible. How two authors pulled this off working together seems like a magic trick to me. The story is told mostly in letters between the two spies who grow to fall in love with each other. As they cross space and time who else could understand what they are going through?

Twists and turns remain but this book is equally romantic and beautiful as it is thought-provoking and jaw-dropping. The prose is lyrical and it often feels like you are getting to read love letters. While never losing the concept these beautiful letters are peppered with high concept and world-building nuggets. They are pretty but they drive the narrative every time. Give them all the awards. It is not my favorite book of the year but it is probably the BEST book I read this year.