Review: This is How You Lose the Time War

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a 2-star review which is an accurate representation of my experience with this work. I made it 60% through before giving it the purported Dorothy Parker treatment.

Heave, ho! - across the room.

There is nothing to spoil in this book. It is a romance novel wrapped in "science fictinite". "Science fictinite" is a bit like pyrite in that it looks like "science fictium" but is really closer to outright fantasy.

This novella won a Hugo award. Based on the context of other Hugo award-winning works, this one does not belong in that category.

It tells an intertwining story of two characters that putatively "work" for opposing sides. Each side has agents roaming up and down the threads of time weaving strands that work towards their favor.

And that is all you get about the mechanics and impact of time travel. Have a nice day.

The rest of the book is a series of letters. They begin with each side more or less taunting the other. The tone of the letters eventually mutates into affection and ultimately romance of a sort.

The letters imply extensive preparation. One is left in a weaving pattern created years earlier and handed down as craft to the person that unknowingly created the object read by the recipient. Another is a message hidden in some sort of lava (or other superheated material).

If you are looking for an unusual romance to read, then give this a try. If you are looking for some good science fiction, then pass this on by.

Much better time travel works include The Fires of Paratime by L.E. Modesitt Jr. (which ultimately became "The Time Lords") and Replay by Ken Grimwood. If you want some actual time travel, then please read those much better works.

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