Title: This Is How You Lose the Time War
Author: Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone

This is How You Lose the Time War is poetry. The prose and writing is beautiful and flows like a river.

But with the beauty of the prose, we have a sacrifice of sense and story.

A story of love and war throughout time and universes, this has so much potential but is sadly let down with its often abstract plot that takes you out of what could be a perfectly woven love story.

I did not hate it, but I was often thrust out of the beauty that had been created by what seemed too much effort to try and be ‘edgy’.

I know this is loved by many, but I’ve also seen quite a lot of people struggle to vibe with it. And I get it. From both sides.

The format and short-chapters were great. The writing was sublime. But the plot and intangible story were so jarring that I struggled to see this as anything more than an attempt to ‘shock’ or do something different without much substance.

2.8/5.0