HomeScience FictionThis is How You Lose the Time War

Cover of This is How You Lose the Time War

Science Fiction · 2019 · PG-13

This is How You Lose the Time War

by Amal El-Mohtar

Two enemies who reshape history exchange secret letters across centuries—and fall into something they can't undo.

For14+GenreScience FictionLength208 pagesRead time~5.5 hours

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What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.

Violence

Some

Violence in the time-war context; characters kill across the strands of history

Language

Barely any

Mild language

Sexual Content

Barely any

Romantic longing; the relationship is central but not explicit

Substance Use

None

No substance use

Emotional Intensity

Some

A forbidden relationship across enemy lines; the danger and impossibility of their situation

What this book is about

Red, an agent of the Agency, and Blue, an agent of Garden, are enemies fighting across the strands of history to ensure their respective futures prevail. When they begin leaving each other taunting letters in hidden places across time, their rivalry transforms into something far more dangerous. El-Mohtar and Gladstone's Hugo-winning novella is a gorgeous, lyrical love story wrapped in science fiction, written in the most inventive and beautiful prose of recent science fiction.

Notes for sensitive readers

Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.

Violence in a time-war context

A forbidden relationship across enemy lines with potentially fatal consequences

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