THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR: BOOK REVIEW
Most people don’t expect to find poetry in their science fiction stories, but Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone have decided to dismiss expectations entirely in their epistolary novel, This is How You Lose the Time War. The book was initially pitched to me by a friend as “enemies-to-lovers time-traveling lesbian super spies” — a premise that instantly had me hooked — but to only describe it that way does a disservice to everything else it contains.
The story consists of letter exchanges between two time-travelling secret agents on opposite sides of an interdimensional — and utterly unwinnable — conflict to guarantee each agency’s desired future. There’s Red, an agent from a technologically-advanced cybernetic dystopia, and Blue, Red’s rival from a nature-based future described by Red as a “viny-hivey elfworld” filled with wildflowers and honey. Red and Blue are stuck in an epic game of cat-and-mouse through histories familiar and foreign to readers, though each takes their turn as both the cat and the mouse. Teasing and banter ensues between them until the two start to fall for each other and begin to see the futures they’re fighting for in a different light.
This is How You Lose the Time War is a rare kind of novel for a number of reasons. The format is, of course, unique — not necessarily because it’s an epistolary, but because the letters span across all time, space, and even myth. One pens a letter from within the early Mongol Empire, and the other responds from a slowly collapsing Atlantis.
The novel is also arguably more poetry than prose — Red and Blue write their letters with an unmistakable lyricism, and the language they use is visceral, sensory, and exaggerated in a way that makes it mirror poetry more than a traditional novel. It’s beautiful, and while it’s a risk for a science fiction novel, it absolutely works.
Even with the lure of the melodic and floral language, the highlight of the entire story remains the characters, of which there are only two: Red and Blue. They are two sides of the same coin, stuck in different versions of the future, and it makes their burgeoning relationship incredibly compelling. Red and Blue may not be entirely human, but their letters are achingly so, full of discussions about their favorite meals, the way they see colors, and of course, the many ways they leave messages for each other across all of time and space.
It’s intimate bordering on intrusive — the closer Red and Blue become, the more personal the letters grow, reaching a point where both Red and Blue are baring their souls to each other. Yet they are still agents in a high-stakes war, and a sense of danger is always present. Readers are constantly reminded that Red and Blue’s relationship is forbidden, and it makes us glance over our shoulders as we read each secret exchange, constantly worried that the two will get caught at their most vulnerable.
Overall, the story reels you in, grabs your attention with its rich language and intricate descriptions, but keeps you guessing at the same time. There’s so much about Red and Blue’s world (or, more aptly, worlds) that readers never get to understand, because it’s not a story about setting. In fact, setting is almost completely irrelevant — with the ability to travel forward and backward through all time, where Red and Blue end up hardly matters. Despite the intensely vivid and fascinating world, the story is completely character-driven. It has to be, as a series of private letters.
Don’t go into the story expecting anything concrete. In a world of endless time strands that can be changed so easily by any one agent’s action, few things can be concrete or explainable. The only solid thing is Red and Blue’s relationship, so waiting for a lore dump about the world is futile, and frankly, missing the point of the novel. It’s a tricky play to pull off — to narrate mostly in the abstract, to tell readers to put aside the innate craving to know and just enjoy the letters as they come — but El-Mohtar and Gladstone pull it off masterfully.
At its core, This is How You Lose the Time War is a story entirely about two people and their relationship, as it shifts and changes while Red and Blue learn to dodge and tease and trust and love each other. Their relationship is poetic and poignant, rivaling the greatest love stories — how could it not? In a world with stakes this high and forces this strong, it makes sense that the love story at its core would be equally as dramatic, and equally as beautiful.