Haven’t done this type of post in a while. Unpopular Book Opinions is a discussion where I talk about a book that seems to be loved by everyone but me. Today I’m going to discuss my thoughts on a book that I’ve seen talked about everywhere online and recommended a lot: This Is How You Lose the Time War. Before I go into the reasons why this was an extremely disappointing read for me, I want to make it known that I tried to give it a fair chance, I read this book 4 times and I struggled through each of those. It just wasn’t the right fit for me at all.
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.
Let’s start with the basics. I’ve seen a lot of people praise this book and recommend it everywhere. It won quite a few awards, such as the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award and the Locus Award for Best Novella. This book definitely stands out from the rest, it’s an interesting and original premise that’s written in an unique style that feels very poetic and charming. That said, it was precisely the writing style that killed it for me. I, personally, found it to be too poetic, too over the top, loaded with metaphors and decorative adjectives that pushed the writing to a very dramatic style and made the characters feel a bit childish to me, especially considering the resposability they are supposed to have given their roles in this so-called Time War.
Another thing that really disappointed me about this book was the heavy focus on the romance and absolute disregard for details about the context. For a book with such a big title, I expected at least a basic level of immersion in this world and the “Time War” conflict, but instead, all I got was a story about two characters that shouldn’t be together, falling in love with each other. While this does indeed align with the title, I don’t really get any insight into why these characters are fighting on opposite sides, what the stakes are or even what’s really happening. In order to like and enjoy this book, I would have to enjoy reading just about two people falling in love with each other and this makes it more a romance book than a science fiction book, which is what I was expecting. The setting is definitely worthy of the science fiction label, but since we don’t really get a deeper look into this setting, the novel ends up being just romance and romance is not a genre that I enjoy reading. That aside, I do think the characters are complex and portrayed in a way that leaves you guessing. Since we don’t really know their motivations or any real backstory, there’s a mysterious quality to them that I really enjoyed and appreciated.
Now again, I must talk about the writing style. I find it very hard to believe that anyone would communicate with anyone else using this type of saturated and overdone poetic writing. I hear the term is purple prose. Well, this is a very particularly dark shade of purple. Just like Ready Player One overdid its references, this book just overdid its poetry and, in some instances, it took away from what would have been otherwise great characters by just making them sound fake.
As stated in the beginning of this post, I really tried to give this book a chance, but it just didn’t work for me at all. Despite a great starting point, the way in which the premise was executed just didn’t work for me at all. The problem I think lies in tagging this as science fiction when that is just a background element that’s used to give the story a frame, but not explored at all. If this was labeled as just romance, then perhaps I would have had different expectations and I would have enjoyed it more.
What are your thoughts? Did you read this book? Did you enjoy it? If so, do you think I missed something about it? I’d love to hear your opinions on it.
The Melody In Words 