This is another book that got onto my Kindle years ago and I’ve only now finished reading it. This is How You Lose the Time War is a short sci-fi novel about two agents that time travel all over time and space to further the agenda of their warring factions.

“Red” represents the Agency, a techno-dystopia that echoes the Matrix film. “Blue” represents the Garden, an equally destructive faction that is represented more favourably not so much because of the moral or ethical viewpoint they foster, but more because of the biases the authors and the audience are likely to bring to the novel.

The agents start sending letters to each other, at first taunting ones, and then, when you start to get fed up with the pointless repetition of it all, they start developing a friendship which blossoms into a romantic relationship.

The contact between the agents is done entirely through letters, and there’s a lot of literary references and clever uses of narrative and allusion to various “Classics”.

I will not spoil the story, as it’s well worth reading, I will just note that I found it lyrical, moving and very cleverly constructed. It also managed to be readable despite the complex narrative and the sheer amount of worlds and world-building introduced in such a short span of time.

Highly recommended, although it’s not a light read.