Spoiler: I think This is How We Lose the Time War is a masterpiece

 I don't know if This is How We Lose the Time War is my favorite book that I read in 2025 but it may be the best written one. And I did enjoy reading it a lot.

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

Spoilers

This is How We Lost the Time War is about how two agents on the opposite sides of a great time war fall in love. One friend of mine described it as Spy Versus Spy as a love story. Which isn't entirely wrong but doesn't come close to doing the book justice.

So many elements of the book are so well done. The actual scope of the time war is an incredible work of world building. There are layers upon layers of details and the authors do an amazing job of showing, not telling. We aren't lectured on how the world works but shown how Red and Blue interact with their world. And what is left unsaid helps make us suspend our disbelief, the details we don't need to be told.

The actual plot is dynamic and engaging. I've spent most of my life watching Doctor Who so I wasn't particularly surprised by any plot choices. However, I can appreciate how well they were done.

And the character development is the glue that holds everything together. Over the course of the story, Red and Blue change and their relationship changes as well. We get to know who they are and understand them, which is impressive all by itself since the book goes into serious transhuman territory. Truth to tell, we can question if they count as human at all. However, the book makes us invested in them.

Both Red and Blue, the protagonists who fall in love, are identified as female. Since they change shape through out the book, down to the genetic level, I wasn't sure if they had a meaningful gender identity. However, we the readers do so I decided that it did have meaning.

The format of the book is also fascinating. Most of the chapters, which go back and forth between Blue and Red's viewpoints, are divided between the active characters up to some high concept time shenanigans and a letter from the other. (The physical nature of each letter gets increasingly bizarre) This gives us multiple layers to understand both characters.

This is How We Lose the Time War is a short work, which made it easy to fit into a busy schedule. However, I was rewarded by finding out that it is brilliant.