This Is How You Lose the Time War

a friend recommended it to me and if it is as good as they say i can’t wait to read it ♥️♥️

You like sci-fi right? If you also like overly flamboyant gushing love letters between two strangers you're never given any reason to care for, then have at it. Otherwise win the time war for yourself by doing something else. Written as an exchange between two time-traveling agents, Red and Blue, on two opposing sides of a war that spans eternity, in prose that is fittingly Purple. Highly abstract and open ended, this will be an enjoyable diversion for people with the time to dedicate to less conventional science fiction.

Op tijd geleverd en in goede staat, dankjewel.

Like many people, I first heard about this book when legitimate and professional news readers had to repeatedly say the username "Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood" on TV and over radio. I remember finding the whole thing utterly hilarious back then, and mentally added the book to my 'to read' list. It was actually much later that a close friend mentioned the book again as something she thought I would like that I actually went out and bought a copy to read. I wish I hadn't waited so long honestly, because I think this might now be one of my absolute favourite books. The story is a scifi, written in the epistolary style between two agents of rival factions in a time war. It starts with them taunting one another, then the language begins to soften, and it's done so artfully that sometimes you don't notice and have to go back a letter and read it again to see the subtle changes in language. It's so poetically written as well, truly lyrical by the end, and the idea and themes are so clever and well executed throughout, I feel like I'm going to re-read this book hundreds of times and still fall in love with it all over again. I've got to admit, usually when I write book reviews I tend not to worry too much about spoilers, simply because I tend to read books that have been out for a few years already. This time I'm being deliberately vague though, because I really think this book is better if you go into it with no expectations. It takes so many twists and turns in the narrative and the ending honestly broke me - I genuinely sobbed all through the last forty pages, I'm not kidding. It's a true enemies to lovers sapphic romance, written in the most dazzling way, with so much poignant yearning dripping from the pages that it destroyed me and healed me over and over again as I read it. It's not a big book, by the way. I think it took me four or so hours to read? I would recommend this book to anyone really, but especially people who enjoy clever narration and beautiful wordplay. I'm excited to read it again!

This book is absolutely beautifully written, for starters. It’s also often indescribably weird… but not in a bad way. Not at all. This book basically follows two agents from rival sides in a war across time as they communicate with each other, becoming closer with each letter. Most of the letters are very uniquely presented, whether in tea leaves, or lava from an erupting volcano about to engulf Atlantis, and so on and so forth. They are in different periods of time, or places on Earth, some of which only happened in some times, and some of which did actually occur in our own timeline, and Red, an agent of The Agency, and Blue, an agent of Garden, always just miss each other, or are observed from afar by the other. Red and Blue are both strange and interesting people. They are human, or, at least humanoid (most of the time. At least one of them is a shapeshifter, you see). Both female, and both either genetically modified and grown, decanted, and heavily modified with cybernetic implants. So, it is obviously super unique, and it was, in fact, unlike anything I’ve ever read in my life. Seeing these two women get closer and closer, and their letters get more and more intimate as the book goes on was really, really enthralling. The letters were absolutely stunningly written (but then, so were the parts between them), and I was clamoring for the next one and the next one as the book went on. There were times that I would have literally no idea what was going on, but, and this is going to sound odd, but stay with me here… it was all part of the experience. Example: “What is the value of pi to sixty-two decimals?” “‘The sedge is withered from the lake, / And no birds sing.'” A fistful of snow skitters across Siri’s face. “If train A leaves Toronto at six p.m. travelling east at one hundred kilometers an hour, and train B leaves Ottawa at seven p.m. travelling west at one hundred twenty kilometers per hour, when will they cross?” “‘Lo! the spell now works around thee, / And the clankless chain hath bound thee; / O’er thy heart and brain together / Hath the word been pass’d—now wither!'” This is only part of the scene, but what is basically happening here, is that Blue is responding to mathematical problems by quoting famous poems (Keats and Lord Byron in this case). But I have no idea why! There is no explanation to why poetry is the solution to math problems in these riddles, only that they are, and that’s just how it is. And at first, I will admit that I stumbled on it, haaard. “What the fffuu-” said I, at first. But I shrugged it off as a weird book being weird and continued on reading. When I finished, and started writing this review, I looked up that quote on my kindle again and was like ‘Heh… awesome.” like it wasn’t the most random event ever. It was just… part of the whole. So this book isn’t going to be for everyone, but it was certainly for me, in the end, even if I had to take a bit of time in the beginning to really get my bearings on what exactly was happening. I really enjoyed this book, but like I have no idea why poetry solves math, I have no idea what it was about it (other than the beautiful writing, good gods) that captured me and wouldn’t let me go. But that’s what happened. Thanks to the authors, as well as Saga Press via NetGalley for the review copy.

As all State: beautiful prose, a terrific story, romance and love. But that’s not it. I read it in one go; easy, as it’s not a big book. But I’m unsure if I got it, first time round. Most of it, sure. But there’s a feeling of ... nah. Not 100%. Good reading, you will start to live red en blue, no doubt. Why do I have the feeling this is about just one person?

Came great. No stains, the print is clear and readable, and it doesn't have any weird smells.