This is How You Lose the Time War

by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone · 2019

In a dying world, a secret message marked “Burn before reading” sparks a clandestine correspondence between two of the universe’s deadliest operatives. Red, a precision‑engineered agent of the post‑singularity Agency, and Blue, a sentient strand of the organic‑based Garden, are sworn enemies locked in a war that stretches across centuries. Their letters begin as taunts and tactical boasts, but each missive peels back layers of history, technology, and longing, drawing the rivals into an impossible intimacy. As the exchange deepens, Red and Blue discover that love can be a weapon more potent than any chronal device. Yet their bond threatens to unravel the very futures they were trained to protect—exposing them to certain death in a conflict that allows only one victor. In this lyrical, epistolary novella, Amal El‑Mohtar and Max Gladstone weave a breathtaking romance that bends time, challenges destiny, and asks whether the greatest battle is fought within the heart.