I'm still a bit stunned.
It's such an amazing book and I'm well-entertained by the wit and the references (I think I'll reread and try to find more than just Bob Dylan, Eifel65 and Daft Punk) as well as deeply moved by the relationship the two protagonists are building. The world building and timey-whimey stuff is also nice, but the heart of the story are the two agents.
The Nebula (2019) and Hugo (2020), both for best novella, as well as the BSFA for best shorter fiction (2019) are well-deserved.
by TheHappyEater
33 Comments
Thanks. I’m on a sci-fi kick at the moment so I’ll check it out. I particularly love timey-whimey stuff.
I’ve only read about 20 pages of this book, does it keep the same format throughout the whole thing?
I loved it.
I have been wanting to pick this one up
Love this book so much, thoroughly recommend the audiobook for it, the two voice actors do an _incredible_ job
Just me who had no idea what was going on for a good chunk of the book? The world building wasn’t great. Liked the premise and how romantic it was though
I adored this honestly. I hate that I put off reading it for so long. The prose in particular had me hooked!
I loved it so much. Absolutely beautiful writing.
I’ve got about 20 pages left, but honestly I kinda hate this book. I’m hoping the ending gives me something of substance to tie everything together, but so far it’s just read to me as 200 pages of “Roses are red, Violets are blue” between two cringey 16 year olds wanting to sound deep and poetic, interspersed with half assed sci-fi.
I get why people like it and it’s highly rated, but I think it’s really not for me and I’m slightly annoyed this was sold to me as sci-fi lol
YES. So amazing!
I loved it too!! Read it a while ago, but I remember it being beautifully written, romance to perfectly put into words. Made me eager to know what the Red or Blue was going to call the other at the beginning of their next letter haha.
Sometimes there was a lot happening at times and it was kinda hard to fully grasp/visualize but maybe that’s me as I was reading it in a loud environment. Definitely will read again!
I read it recently and liked it well enough but found it an overall average read. The writing was too overdone to the point of losing substance and the voices of Red and Blue weren’t different enough imo. The book just has this clumsy feeling to it that frustrates me because I want to like it more than I do. (I did really like certain aspects of the ending so there’s that.)
The book gave me a new appreciation for romance novels, which i previously was not a big fan of.
Complete opposite for me. Felt like a mashup of reject Shakespeare and Calvino.
Ahh I couldn’t finish it. It was a trudge to get through 20/30 pages, without much promise of picking up. It was a bit of a disappointment as I’ve enjoyed El-Mohtar’s short stories.
I listened to the Audiobook, would recommend. The version I had was two different people doing the voices.
This work knocked me off my comfortable gaming chair. One of the few new-ish Sci-Fi novellas to do that.
But, I’m a sucker for a good epistolatory novel, and this one is dazzling.
I was so confused when I started reading this book but holy shit did it pay off in the end!
Oh another post for this book already?
After [this one](https://old.reddit.com/r/books/comments/1agn9k3/finished_this_is_how_you_lose_the_time_war_and/) a few days ago, I finally got around to reading this.. Can’t say I enjoyed it, but at least it was short.
It definitely made me change my mind on romance as a whole. Before, I thought romance wasn’t for me, but it turns out that I just don’t like straight romance.
Since Max Gladstone is mentioned I wanna shoutout his series The Craft Sequence. Probably my fave books of all time.
Yeah, it was fantastic. All the time war stuff reminds me of Faction Paradox.
I loved it too. But it was definitely Marmite – this is a book you will love if you love abstract poetry and purple prose, and can read for vibes without completely understanding what’s going on. If not… YMMV.
I read it in bits, a few letters at a time right before bed. Because of that, it wasn’t too much in any one dose, and being sleepy I was happy to vibe with it rather than thinking too hard. I’d say that’s possibly the best way to read it.
I’ve read two of Gladstone’s other books (as far as I know El-Mohtar hasn’t written much aside from Time War or I would have read more of hers as well). Empress of Forever has one of my favorite twists in all of fiction. “It never was your world. It has always been mine.” If you know you know.
Great, I am 386th in line on my Libby app
I was told this was a book about sci fi lesbians. Til the point I stopped reading, it wasn’t. Does it change? I would love to read about sci fi lesbians, but it seems like this ain’t it.
I read it, but it felt pretty precious, and I guessed the twist from about the second appearance of the hooded figure. Time travel twists are played out and this one was stale from go.The stakes felt nonexistent.
I just finished the book and I enjoyed it, especially the later half. At first I was like OK cool, Highlander 2.0 and just went for the ride. The romance parts really didn’t hit with me, it felt like desperate longing. However, I enjoyed how the book is written and presented with the creative letters. I also like how bad ass Red and Blue are and how nonchalant they are at being good fighters. The ending was rewarding too. 4/5 for me.
I just started this and I am curious about one thing.
Some short background: I love the idea of the book and letters but I am confused af with anything related to the situation where we find our protagonists. All the descriptions are esoteric and I find it hard to understand what’s happening most of the time until they find the letter.
Yes, I usually have a hard time imagining things in my head while reading but here is mostly confusion.
Was anyone else confused in the beginning about how the agents operate and their backgrounds/operations? Silly to ask here as I will keep reading anyway but.. just curious.
I don’t get the lavish praise for this book. Everybody talks about how beautiful the prose was. I found it sophomoric and cliched. I swear I rolled my eyes about ten times a chapter while reading it.
I put a hold on this book in April (Libby), got it yesterday, finished it today, and bought it at my local bookstore an hour later. I only buy my very favorite books, so apparently that’s what it is now. I’m still stunned.
Has it been disclosed anywhere which author wrote which color?
I listened to the audiobook and finished it in one sitting. Definitely worth not sleeping lol. I’m a romantic at heart, and the poetry of their letters really spoke to me. I love the combination of romanticism and science fiction. The contrasts make both shine bright, imo.
At a different point in my life I may have also thought the exchanges to be cringey, but in this moment I found them poignant. To me this reads as a Romeo and Juliet retelling, is that what anyone saw as well? Red and Blue might be “adults,” but when would they have had emotional development? This is the messy passion of teenage first love, and I think the authors did a beautiful job translating that into this world.