What's up? Recently, I read This Is How You Lose the Time War, an epistolary novella by Amal el-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. I loved it, so, so much. There's something about letters (and other unconventional storytelling forms) that I adore so intensely. And sci-fi! romance!! I read it in two days (evening + morning) and then felt distinctly like I had been smashed on the head with the solid representation of feelings.

The thing about letters, you see, is that I love them. The thing about letters is that it feels so raw and honest and aughhhhh. Because a letter is for communication; you have to say what you mean (with exceptions), because the words are all you get (again, with exceptions—how you write it, the paper & ink & seal too). The letters between Red and Blue from Time War told me so much about them, and their pasts, and their feelings. It felt so vulnerable and a little bit intrusive and as someone who once also asked my friend/complicated if I talked (texted, really) too much, I really related to Red. That one postscript killed me on the spot:

PS. I hesitate to write this, but I've noticed my letters run long. If you'd rather I grow more concise, I can. I don't want to presume.

One hit K.O. Like— yeah, that's— I have done that. It's the insecurity and also the offer that you know you can't keep: I can be more concise, really; I can stop my heart spilling onto this page. I feel like that hit directly at my heart. And Blue's response! The very first line of her next letter: Don't shorten your letters. Peak romance to me. She wants to hear what Red has to say! I'll admit I cried at that.

To less personal response, I also love the bits of prose between letters. The settings in this book, WOW. I am so enthralled by the descriptions of the Agency and Garden, and the whole time travel thing—upbraid, downbraid, the whole metaphor of time as a braid of hair, weaving Strands of different universes into it to control the future. I like the speculative effects of small changes to the past, and all the rippling effects a single change might have—I think they described it, once, as nudging the future into a different Strand—years down the line.

Also, the variety of references in their correspondence, from Ozymandias to Mario, of all things, are so interesting (and a fun extra challenge to spot them). They hooked me from the start! Particularly the echoed reply to the former, which made me go they really are meant for each other. (Basically I take quoting poetry as flirting, even if it isn't a romantic one—look, Ozymandias is a sonnet, isn't it?).

In conclusion, this book was amazing. If you're looking for a quick read that will probably emotionally devastate you, read This Is How You Lose the Time War. It's on Libby!

Regards,
— PX.