Books

This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar/Max Gladstone: A Book Review

A book review assesses Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s novel, This Is How You Lose the Time War. The evaluation praises the imaginative premise of rival time-traveling agents exchanging intimate letters, but finds that the overall execution hinders reader engagement.

Dense, overly ornate prose and abstract metaphors obscure the plot and character emotions. Fragmented timeline mechanics create confusion rather than intrigue. Ultimately, the review concludes that stylistic choices overwhelm the story, earning the novel a 2.5 out of 5 rating.

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

There are books that challenge readers with unconventional storytelling, and then there are books that seem so committed to their own style that they forget to tell a coherent story. Unfortunately, This Is How You Lose the Time War fell into the latter category for me.

This Is How You Lose the Time War
Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
S&S/Saga Press
Amazon
Goodreads

Written by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, the novel has earned a dedicated fanbase thanks to its lyrical prose and unique premise: two rival agents, Red and Blue, wage war across time and reality while secretly exchanging letters that slowly evolve into something deeper. On paper, it sounds like exactly the kind of ambitious science fiction story I would enjoy.

In practice, however, I found the reading experience frustrating.

The biggest hurdle was the prose itself. Nearly every page is filled with dense, elaborate descriptions that often felt more concerned with sounding beautiful than communicating ideas clearly. While there were moments where the language genuinely impressed me, too often I found myself rereading passages trying to decipher what was actually happening. Rather than immersing me in the story, the writing created distance between me and the characters.

The letters exchanged between Red and Blue are undoubtedly the strongest part of the novel. They are clever, intimate, and often beautifully written. Yet even these sections occasionally suffered from the same problem as the surrounding narrative. The authors lean heavily into metaphor and abstraction, sometimes making the correspondence feel intentionally obscure. Instead of deepening my connection to the characters, many of the letters left me feeling confused about the emotions or events being described.

That confusion extended to the larger story as well. The mechanics of the time war, the competing factions, and the shifting timelines are presented in fragments that never fully came together for me. I don’t mind a novel that asks readers to piece things together, but I do expect some payoff for the effort. Here, I often felt lost rather than intrigued.

I can certainly understand why many readers adore This Is How You Lose the Time War. If you’re someone who values poetic language above all else, you’ll likely find a great deal to admire. The book is undeniably imaginative, and there are passages that read like prose poetry. But for me, style consistently overwhelmed substance.

Final Rating: 2.5/5

I wanted to love this book’s concept, and I appreciated the central relationship between Red and Blue. Unfortunately, the overly ornate prose and frequently confusing storytelling kept me from fully engaging with either the characters or the plot. While the letters offered flashes of brilliance, they weren’t enough to overcome a reading experience that often felt more perplexing than rewarding.