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This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone book cover
Reader guide
First-hand reader guide · Full read-through · Mood, heat & trope verified

This Is How You Lose the Time War

by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone · 209 pages · Published July 2019
Spoiler-light guide Similar books included
3.92 / 5 across 100K ratings
Spice: ❄️ (0/5)

A beautiful, lyrical Adult science fiction built around enemies to lovers, time travel, letters. 209 pages and a satisfying conclusion.

Best for readers who want…

Beautiful. Lyrical. Devastating.

Beautiful Lyrical Devastating

Mood Match

Beautiful Lyrical Devastating
Sort By Cravings match based on mood, pacing, romance weight, and trope density.

Skip this book if…

  • You need romance or spice to stay engaged
  • You want a light, comforting read
  • You want a long series to binge
  • You need a strong romance to drive the plot

Content notes

Violence War
Enemies to Lovers
Time Travel
Letters
Book profile

Mood, trope, and intensity breakdown

How this book actually feels — based on mood analysis, not publisher blurbs.

Mood profile
Romance
10%
Fantasy
75%
Pacing
3/5
Darkness
3/5
Spice
0/5
Core elements
Genre
Science Fiction
Romance
LGBTQ+
Moods
Beautiful
Lyrical
Devastating
Key Tropes
Enemies to Lovers
Time Travel
Letters
Ending
Satisfying
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Matched on shared moods, tropes, and reading experience — not just genre tags.

FAQ

Quick answers readers search for

Is This Is How You Lose the Time War spicy?

No spice (0/5) — clean read with no heat.

Who would enjoy This Is How You Lose the Time War?

Readers who love beautiful and lyrical stories with enemies to lovers and time travel. Best suited for Adult readers and up.

What kind of read is This Is How You Lose the Time War?

A beautiful, lyrical Adult science fiction built around enemies to lovers, time travel, letters. 209 pages and a satisfying conclusion.

What are the content warnings for This Is How You Lose the Time War?

Content notes include: violence, war. Sort By Cravings always flags these so you can make informed choices.

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How this guide was built

Every Sort By Cravings guide is written after a full read-through — not scraped from publisher blurbs or Amazon summaries. We map tropes directly from the text, cross-reference BookTok and Goodreads reader reactions across 500+ community posts, and calibrate heat ratings against reader consensus before publishing. Mood tags, spice numbers, and “skip if” notes reflect actual reading experience. Read our editorial standards.

📚 Last reviewed: March 2026 Guide verified against current edition
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