Thrown in a background of time and space travel is the unique novel "This is How You Lose the Time War”. The story stretches out across time, universes, and dimensions to ultimately weave together a love story between the two main characters, Red and Blue. Co-written by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, each writing one of the two protagonists, the novel is about two agents working for their respective rival societies in a war that rages across multiverses trying to destroy the other. The love story begins with a provocation in the form of a letter among the ashes of a dying world circling some distant star—“Burn before reading”.
Bloody and standing among a field of corpses, Red—an agent of the technological utopia known as the Agency—finds a letter from Blue, an agent of the organic, hive-minded, hippie-esque society called Garden. The two are sworn enemies, the finest soldiers of their kind, but despite the obvious danger, Red reads the forbidden letter, sparking a correspondence that transforms both their lives.
What starts as taunts and challenges exchanged as letters in strange and magical ways—etched in lava, grown into tree rings, or hidden in the corpse of a bird—soon deepens into something more. It begins as a simple relationship of equal but opposite opponents, the hunted and hunter, the perfect predator and prey in their alternate ways. Shortly, the letters become each woman's (though gender is very roughly defined here) lifelines in an unforgiving world, a way for the two time-traveling rivals to connect and share their exhaustion, fears, and dreams. As they perform their chase through time and across alternate realities, their rivalry turns into a complex and forbidden love.
The narrative is fragmented, with each chapter glimpsing into different times, places, and realities—Atlantis, a steampunk London, and Genghis Khan with his army, to name a few. In each new chapter, Red and Blue take on various confusing forms as well. However, rather than focusing on the mechanics of time travel or the specifics of the war, the novel immerses the reader in the emotional journey of Red and Blue. The time war, though an integral part of the plot, leans intentionally into the vague and abstract non-linear narrative, leaving the reader to focus instead on the letters exchanged and the relationship that blossoms within them. El-Mohtar and Gladstone masterfully sidestep the danger of disconnecting meaningful effect from cause often associated with messing up timelines and realities by utilizing it to their advantage. Thus, the confusing entangled structure reflects both the ever-shifting nature of the war, and most importantly emphasizes the endurance of human connection over the vastness of the universe.
On the other hand, the language can sometimes be so laden with metaphors and analogies that it takes considerable energy from the audience to discern and interpret the prose. It certainly demands the reader’s full attention, making them carefully garner tidbits of meaning to construct a coherent plot, a feature that is both gripping and occasionally exhausting.
El-Mohtar and Gladstone’s writing is as inventive as the story itself, with each author giving voice to their respective character. Red and Blue’s dynamic contrast reflects their contrasting worlds. Additionally, the shifting point of view between each letter adds depth and complexity to the narrative. The letters themselves are often poetic, and there is constant underlying tension and betrayal between the two as they begin to fall in love knowing that their relationship is both forbidden and dangerous. If their commanders discover the correspondence, it would lead to betrayal, capture, and sure death.
The novel is a beautifully crafted blend of science fiction, romance, and epistolary storytelling, with the letters acting as both a plot device and a symbol of the risks and rewards of love. In its deliberate fractured prose, it captures the futility of war and the fleeting yet eternal nature of human connection.