Tak prohraješ časovou válku

Originální sci-fi román v dopisech. Může korespondence mezi nepřáteli přerůst v něco hlubšího?

Agentura a Zahrada, dvě mocné říše, spolu celé věky vedou nelítostnou válku. Jejich agentky cestují časem a přetvářejí vlákna dějin. I ten nejnepatrnější zásah může změnit osud celých civilizací nebo vytvořit novou alternativní realitu.

Když uprostřed trosek skomírajícího světa najde agentka dopis od své protivnice se vzkazem „Před přečtením spal“, považuje ho za žert, nastraženou past. Navzdory všem pravidlům však odepíše.

Korespondence, která byla míněna jako výsměch sokyni, se postupně mění v něco jiného. …

Hardcover, 224 pages

Czech language

Published May 16, 2025 by Host.

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ISBN:
978-80-275-2424-2
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Reviews

Cute romance with a disappointing sci-fi setting.

Amal El-Mothar and Max Gladsonte's "This is How You Lose the Time War" follows two agents, Red and Blue, on opposite sides of a war that spans all of time and (some of?) space across multiple universes.

Each chapter starts with a snapshot of what each agent is doing to advance their side's cause, whether that's taking part in major historical events or planting the seeds for 'coincidences' in the future, and ends with the discovery of a letter from their counterpart. What begins as acknowledgements of respect, nods across the battlefield, gradually grow into something more.

Fans of science fiction may be disappointed by the lack of focus on the time-traveling, universe-hopping backdrop to this story of star-crossing lovers. Details are sparse, and little is disclosed about the factions or why they are at war other than hints and impressions throughout the book.

The gradual, tip-toeing …

a teapot in a tempest

"This is How You Lose the Time War" asks the reader to perch on the shoulders of two operatives on opposing sides of a time-traveling war.

Each chapter follows "Red" or "Blue" as they scurry up and down timelines and across dimensions. The book is both sweepingly broad and extremely contained and personal.

The settings flit by, dizzying: a temple for mechanized humans, an ancient holy cave, the assassination of Caesar - each sketched with broad, emotional strokes to give the setting an aesthetic. One gets the sense that a great web of cause and effect is being constantly constructed, altered, and destroyed, without ever seeing the full picture.

Against these backdrops, the characters "Red" and "Blue" write to each other - as nemeses, then as friends, ever deeper entangled even as they demolish each other's plans and forces. The letters make up an enormous part of …

Weird and beautiful but not always up to its own ambition

The letters that make up about half of this book are gorgeously written, and I love the story they tell. The basic idea of the time war is clever, and the descriptions of placetimes the characters find themselves in evocative, sometimes reminiscent of Calvino's Invisible Cities. I devoured this book in a few days.

And yet... something about it felt a little thin or hollow behind its fireworks. I think it was a good artistic choice to leave all technical details out, but I couldn't help but get hung up on the time paradoxes. Not that it's the authors' responsibility to necessarily avoid or solve them, but for me personally they intruded on the suspension of disbelief.

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