Red and Blue strike up a tentative, inventive correspondence, hiding their letters in water and songs and the dregs of tea leaves. Against her better judgment, Red responds. Perhaps she writes to gloat, or perhaps the letter is a trap. Blue reaches out, leaving a letter for Red on the battlefield. The reader is introduced to a weary Red, tired in the aftermath of a crucial battle which she has shaped, as she has so many others before. Garden and Agency determine their objectives and their methods the organic, deadly approach of Garden is as equally perilous as the technological hierarchy of Agency. Their mission is to change those histories in ways that favor their respective sides of the war–Garden for Blue and Agency for Red. Two agents, Red and Blue, work on opposite sides of the titular war to influence the countless, splintering histories of this world and many others. The plot of THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR is simple, or at least it appears to be. And THEN you tell me it’s epistolary? With time travel? And a queer love story? Sign me up. We’ve enjoyed both El Mohtar’s ( EBR Search) and Gladstone’s ( EBR Archive) work previously, and I’ve developed a real love of the novella (as witnessed here or here). I think if you looked at the Venn Diagram of books that we here at Elitist Reviews are likely to enjoy, THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR falls smack dab in the “Very Likely” section.
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