This Is How You Lose the Time Battle

Fantastical sci-fi book with a compelling romance to top it off
I actually bought this book a few months ago on the recommendation of a reading list, but I never got around to seriously digging into the book. But after getting through another few stories, and after reading about a certain Twitter user whose endorsement went viral, I was intrigued. So I picked it up and almost immediately, I was enthralled.I will say, for a relatively short 200 page novella, this book is remarkably dense and intense. It is a back-and-forth between two warriors of warring factions in a time war. The time war itself is both rather obvious in nature (they travel to different times and places and influence events) and incredibly dense, with interweaving timelines that form and melt based on the actions of the protagonists. I would say that if you are looking for a book that deep dives into finer details of the worldbuilding and time travel system, this isn’t the kind of book for you.Instead, the worldbuilding serves as a fascinating tapestry upon which the narrative unfolds. The authors, in my opinion, leave wide room for interpretation, and I found that to be so refreshing for a sci-fi book. I suppose that was a necessity, based on the length of the novella, but it was an excellent one, because it allows so much of the story to revolve around the romance between the characters.And the romance! I can’t overstate how great it feels. It’s playful, it’s teasing, it’s as rich as a triple chocolate cookie, and it’s thrilling. It felt so lively, I could have seriously guessed that the authors were dating each other (which was not the case, as the afterword mentions, both are married to other people). And the fact that it was a Sapphic romance was perhaps the most delightful part. I’m so used to Sapphic romance being rather plain, or falling into several tropes, but the setting really forced the authors to expand beyond those tropes. And what a delight that was! I would not only recommend this book to lovers of LGBT romances, but to anyone who loves a great romantic tale. It’s too good to pass up!

Contemporary Sci-Fi and Cosmic Romance
This isn’t a typical work of science fiction. Noe is it a typical romance novel containing steamy love making scenes. But the world in which our two main characters draw nearer in is crafted deftly. The language used is carefully chosen so as to give the reader a general image of the setting, allowing the reader to fill the gaps. This works well as this novel is also part epistolary. In letters you focus more on the emotions and events than with describing everything in hyper detail. Yet, even so, letters are a craft, as this novel shows. The incredibly unique way these letters are written and read creates something beyond basic communication. So while not written in length, the words used contain the exact details needed for the reader to understand the world of Red and Blue.As for the events themselves and how the plot unfolds, this does lean more towards traditional epistolary. We, the reader, grow increasingly more excited for each letter. The in between moments give us brief insight into the reactions of Red and Blue. In the beginning we see them at odds, a potential victory foiled and then followed by a letter. But what starts off as two enemies enjoying the game of war becomes something more than either of them could possibly have anticipated.I highly recommend this novel to those who love shorter novels that pack a punch (and especially for those who are not as interested in the endless contemporary novels of today that have mulled over the same themes without much deviation) as well as to those who used to read longer novels and miss the fantastical escapism of those worlds. I think you’ll find this novel satiates the desire for a story to explore the nature of relationships with a focus on the various forms of communication as the guiding tool splashed against a sci-fi/fantastical backdrop that is decidedly captivating.

I’m not even sure where to start other than I am floored by the beauty of this novel. I wasn’t sure at first but once I figured out the plot more the more beautiful it became. I cried a lot of tears and in the end I am left with hope. It shows that in the end there really is no winner in war.

“read this. DO NOT look up anything about it. just read it.”