This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is written with some of the most beautiful prose for love and longing that I have ever read. I came for the promise of high-concept sci-fi battles through time between two unfathomably futuristic but diametrically opposed societies, but I stayed for what is at its core a very simple tale as old as time between two people from opposite sides of a pointless war. Red and Blue's relationship as it develops from taunting rivals to two women hopelessly enamored with one another feels both familiar and relatable (did anyone else have their first queer relationship in middle school, behind closed doors and years before coming out?), while also being tragic in how alien their circumstances are. It's so engaging to read about the way they insert themselves into each other's lives in bold and secretive ways, in order to deepen their connection to each other without tipping off the greater powers behind their war.
This is also one of the best depictions of time travel that I've seen in any media, written or otherwise. I loved reading about the different time periods the characters explore, even as they exist as a backdrop to set up the next letter to be read. I think time travel was used fantastically in this story, and I appreciate that the book never stopped itself to over-explain its very high-concept science fiction ideas. This book has a lot of hard sci-fi, but it trusts the reader to pick it up and figure out how the world works as the story trucks forward. As someone who reads a lot of sci-fi, I love it when a book trusts me to understand it without stopping to hold my hand. And for people who don't really care about sci-fi, I'm sure that it is easier to focus on the tragedy and romance at the core of the story, since the Time War really does just act as a backdrop for this timeless "Romeo and Juliet between two soldiers" story.
And to add to all of that, this book is a very fast read, sitting at just under 200 pages. Please read it, please read it, please read it.
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