Reviews with content warning for Death - This Is How You Lose the Time War

I will say I read the last 50 pages on the couch at midnight because I needed to know what happened and the ending was not satisfying. I usually don't mind an ambiguous ending but this did not work for me. They haven't even really met by the end of the book. If you're going to give me enemies to lovers, we're betraying our government and everything we've ever known for each other you need to show me the future they create together. This book is all about two organizations battling over the outcome of the future and obviously both are massively flawed. You can't write a book all about the future and then not show me the future. Show me them holed out in a little pocket of time of their own making, the Garden and the Agency still battling each other and still looking for Red and Blue, but it doesn't matter because they have each other. Show me them dismantling the Agency and the Garden and building a new better future that acknowledges the flaws and benefits of both societies because who better than their own agents to know their defects, who better to know how to win a time war than those who know how to lose a time war.

Obviously this is not to say that this isn't a good book or it's not worth reading. It's an amazing book. Very plentiful with topics for literary or academic discussion and just generally an insightful and well done book, the kind of book that makes me say "damn I'm never going to write something as good as this. How do you write like that?"

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kitkathw871's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is definitely a book I have to sit with since it's so far out of my wheelhouse, but I definitely think I had different expectations for the story. I wanted it to be grounded because that's my taste in books, but it's not necessarily a flaw in this story. I think the plot didn't take many risks and the story unfolded more or less as one would expect, it was just the setting that made it interesting. The ambiguity made it hard for me to really get into it since I prefer books that touch the reality of life more. I really did like the format of the letters and hopping back and forth in time, I think it's a love story worth reading.

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kayanoelle's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Very dramatic, very confusing, very poetic, very lovely, very gory, very funny. Quite a few revelations, the occasional 💡-moment. A single tear rolled down my cheek towards the end there. Maybe that’s because it’s 2 a.m. but hey, I stayed up this late to finish the book so it has to be good. It was good. The last 50 or so pages really tied everything together!
One of my favorite quotes: “Sometimes you have to hold a person, though they’ll mistake embrace for strangulation.”
As a non-native speaker, the language was pretty difficult for me in the beginning even though I read almost every book in English but you get used to it!

A few things I said out loud while reading this book:
1) “Wait, am I the seeker?” (I wasn’t)
2) “Wait, did they hide a message in this book somewhere?” (They did)
3) Omg no way, she gave Blue her antibodies?! But that means she isn’t dead! Ohh, but Red had to think she was dead in order to go to these length to even give her the antibodies in the first place. Time traveling confuses me.

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antijeffbozo_love2read's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I mostly wish it was longer!! But yeahh it wouldn't have really worked if it was. The world building is so intriguing I kinda wish we got to learn more as I was left with a few unanswered questions (major spoilers!!!!:)

(like why does Red from the future (the seeker) follow Red to places/times where letters weren't exchanged? Also how did Blue know Red's real name?

I was so invested and interested the whole time though it was a super fun read (although I definitely needed peace and quiet to be able to comprehend some of that language lol)

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

🎧
I heard good things on about this book on social media. For me, this book was alright. I spent the first part confused.

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austenite93's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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bootrat's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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avvamapia's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The language used in this book was beautiful, but I don't think I was fully invested. I love yearning but this book took it to the realm of toxicity which made it uncomfortable for me (I don't think that was intended)

Also?? Can we talk about the kiss. I get that it's poetic that way, but seriously. Kissing a five year old version of your lover on the mouth, couldn't red just do a blood pact? I don't think she was genuinely attracted to the five year old version but she was definitely thinking of blue during the kiss. Idk hella sus for me

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