This Is How You Lose the Time War Audiobook By Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone cover art

This Is How You Lose the Time War

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This Is How You Lose the Time War

By: Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell, Emily Woo Zeller
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About this listen

HUGO AWARD WINNER: BEST NOVELLA
WINNER OF THE NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARDS: BEST NOVELLA

“[An] exquisitely crafted tale...Part epistolary romance, part mind-blowing science fiction adventure, this dazzling story unfolds bit by bit, revealing layers of meaning as it plays with cause and effect, wildly imaginative technologies, and increasingly intricate wordplay...This short novel warrants multiple readings to fully unlock its complexities.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

From award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone comes an enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and space about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future.

Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.

Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.

©2019 Amal El-Mohtar (P)2019 Simon & Schuster Audio
Romance Romance Essentials Science Fiction Time Travel Fiction Heartfelt Feel-Good War
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Critic reviews

"Emily Woo Zeller and Cynthia Farrell's dual narrations emphasize the divergent personalities of two time-traveling protagonists.... Listen, then listen again to unravel this intricate story, beautifully narrated." (AudioFile Magazine)

Featured Article: The Audible Essentials—The Top 100 Romance Listens of All Time


With thousands of romance titles releasing every year across a huge swath of subgenres, it’s a tall order to choose the best among the bunch. So our romance editors listened, debated, and listened some more to bring you this list of the 100 must-hear romances on Audible. From Regency to contemporary, love at first sight to second-chance romance and every trope in between, there’s a story here for every romance fan.

What listeners say about This Is How You Lose the Time War

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Beautiful writing, but lacking a good story

This is very poetic beautiful writing, but pretentious and treacly at times. It barely does any character or world development. It’s hard to care about the outcome when all the descriptions of action sequences are in convoluted metaphors. It was mildly interesting to listen to, but wouldn’t recommend to anyone looking for an actual story.

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24 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Stop reading reviews and listen to this book

If I could I would give this book ten stars out of five. Stop reading this review and go listen to it right now.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, ok narration

I loved the story format, having a unique voice and style for red and blue was nice. Very beautiful prose. My only issue is with one of the narrators, it sounded like a computer voice from the 90s trying to read a book, very mechanical and almost autotuned too somehow. The other narrator was great.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

new favorite book

the whole thing is written like poetry both of the authors are so talented, it's beautiful

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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So Much Yearning

I have a backlog of audio books I have compiled and this was my first listen after a long while of not consuming books. I have to say that through an audio medium that the formatting of the story may be slightly jarring while I'm sure looking at the pages makes it less confusing. But after a few chapters it starts to make sense. If you are someone who fantasizes about falling in love despite your flaws, despite everything. And said love being so visceral it's almost unexpected. seriously take a listen. I found myself physically swooning and hiding my face over how beautifully written and metaphorical this was. So much care in the interactions, the yearning that the two main characters have seeped into me. the narration was also phenomenal and many lumps in my throat over how some of the lines were spoken. 10/10

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Crazy nonsensical scifi love story

A time traveling secret agent cyborgs/plant people love ballad/tragedy. Kind of like Romeo & Juliet I suppose.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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wow

Holy shit wow I literally don’t have words this story has ruined me forever wow

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Story Concentrate

This book is wildly deep for how short it is. The author’s prose condensed an immense amount of world building into a spy thriller love story between two opponents in a war that spans all of time. The stakes of the war give a beautiful backdrop to the essence of the characters and the contrast of their relationship. The prose is built like the Screwtape Letters but uses such grand poetic imagery that I often had to pause and just take in the scene and imagine it play out. Brilliant storytelling and my only complaint is that I wanted more.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Make this your next book!

Holy crap, this book is outstanding. You NEED to make this your next read, it hits like a truck, leaves you joyous and elated, wracked with apprehension and sadness, thoroughly delighted, and just all around this book is INCREDIBLE. Don't skip it, trust me.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Short but worth the listen.

Beautiful prose. Think a long, short story, in style. A unique take on a love affair.

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