This is How You Lose the Time War
by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone · first published 2019
80% recommend15% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Short epistolary sci-fi about rival time-war agents who trade letters, prized for lyrical, poetic prose, humor, and an emotional pull that makes it hard to put down; suits readers wanting something unusual over hard SF.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Two time-traveling agents from warring futures, working their way through the past, begin to exchange letters—and fall in love in this thrilling and romantic book from award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. In the ashes of a dying world, Red finds a letter marked “Burn before reading. Signed, Blue.” So begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents in a war that stretches through the vast reaches of time and space. Red belongs to the Agency, a post-singularity technotopia. Blue belongs to Garden, a single vast consciousness embedded in all organic matter.
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The one really first rate recent SF novel I can recall is: "This is how you lose the time war" [0] by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It's far from being Hard SF if you like that (I do) but the humour and poetry of it won me over very fast. I bought it purely on the basis of the delicious title!…
on “Ask HN: Modern Sci-Fi Book Recommendations?” ↗"This is how you lose the time war". A science fiction short book where rival agents send each other letters and attempt to thwart each other. It is also has some of the most beautiful prose/poetry I've ever seen that made me re-read…
on “Ask HN: What book(s) had the most impact for you in 2019?” ↗…part of the first book is very well written), but if you like all of Seveneves then it might suit you. My personal favourites that might not already be on everyone else's lists: Fiasco - Stanisław Lem This is how you lose the time war - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone Feersum Endjinn - Iain Banks The Dark Side of the Sun - Terry Pratchett (yes, that one) Blindsight - Peter Watts Bloom - Wil McCarthy Good luck!
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗…Mess With Your Heart - The Broken Earth (series) https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/n-k-jemisin/the-fif... - Station Eleven https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/239452/station-elev... - This Is How You Lose the Time War https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/This-Is-How-You-Lose-... - The Poppy War Trilogy https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-poppy-war-r-f-kua... - The Masquerade (series) https://us.macmillan.com/series/themasquerade…
on “The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Past Decade” ↗Of recent laureates I really loved This Is How you Lose The Time War as well as Binti (this is a trilogy, but combined form something novel-length). Becky Chambers's recent novella To Be Taught, if Fortunate was a major step up imo, and the more utopian view of space exploration…
…tend to gravitate toward SF. Over the last few years we've read some amazing stuff. Here are some recommendations from my list of favorites, and which I continue to ponder many months after reading: "This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Without a doubt one of the most amazing and beautifully-written books I've ever read (and I read a lot). Astonishing. "Children of Time" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. If…
on “Ask HN: Best Contemporary SF Books” ↗I've really loved seeing this today: 1) In 2019, author Amal El-Mohtar wrote a terrific book with Max Gladstone, called “This is How You Lose the Time War”. Amongst other things, it won the Nebula Award for Best Novella of 2019, and the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2020: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_How_You_Lose_the_Time_War (And, presumably,…
on “Random enthusiastic tweet turns scifi book into bestseller” ↗Easily these (so far): This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (actually now one of my all-time favorites, without regard to genre. Just amazing) Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky The Book of Strange New Things - Michael Faber…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite sci-fi books?” ↗- This is how you lose the time war - El-Mohtar, Amal - Lord of light - Zelazny, Roger - The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
on “Ask HN: Science Fiction Starter List” ↗…science fiction I've read over the past few years. These are the ones that stick in my brain and continue to generate thought, even though I read them months (or even years) ago: "Chocky" by John Wyndham "This is How You Lose the Time War" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (a new all-time fave for me) "The Book of Strange new Things: A Novel" by Michel Faber "The City and the City" by China Miéville "The Fifth Science" by Exurb1a…
on “Ask HN: What are some underrated sci-fi books?” ↗…you get closer and realize it’s all your brain filling in the blanks. From a literary angle - two books I’ve read that are absolute master classes in this are Italio Calvino’s “Invisible Cities” and “This Is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone - both do an incredible job of putting you in a series of vivid, fantastical places within a paragraph or two of exposition.
on “108B Pixel Scan of Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring” ↗…protected by complex mathematics. Theatre of the Gods and Hunters and Collectors by Matt Suddain. Both defy a one line plot description, look them up. Theatre was one of the best books I have ever read. This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal el Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Two opposing generals mess with time to gain a personal meeting. Sea of Rust - C. Robert Cargill: the story of a scavenger robot
on “My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before” ↗I think there are many definitions of High Art here. This Is How You Lose The Time War is something I'd recommend also, to compare and contrast what is considered emotionally vivid, beautiful prose, and challenging literature in science fiction now compared to Gene Wolfe. It's super fascinating…
on “Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)” ↗Thank you for this! Based on your recommendation of Lem's "Fiasco" I have purchased "This is How You Lose the Time War". I had not heard of this one and it sounds excellent!
on “Ask HN: Modern Sci-Fi Book Recommendations?” ↗This is how you lose the time war is unlike any other book I've read! I thought it was super disorienting – and I loved that.
on “Ask HN: Modern Sci-Fi Book Recommendations?” ↗