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

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

This Is How You Lose the Time War

By: Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell, Emily Woo Zeller
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.49

Buy for $13.49

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

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
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

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 25 Best Time Travel Listens to Take You on an Unforgettable Journey


Time travel is one of science fiction's most popular subgenres. Fans are drawn to its infinite possibilities, offering a glimpse into past cultures, societies, and pivotal events while exploring big what if? questions. What if you knew what would happen next in your life? What if you could go back and change history? What if you did change history? With this guide, you're sure to find an exciting audiobook to transport you to the perfect place in another time.

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

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,530
  • 4 Stars
    764
  • 3 Stars
    415
  • 2 Stars
    186
  • 1 Stars
    123
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,646
  • 4 Stars
    580
  • 3 Stars
    206
  • 2 Stars
    54
  • 1 Stars
    54
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,223
  • 4 Stars
    632
  • 3 Stars
    377
  • 2 Stars
    164
  • 1 Stars
    138

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It was a beautiful ride

I went in expecting sci-fi fun or a thriller. What I got was better. Don’t balk at the beginning just listen and become absorbed in the wonderful prose of the two combatants voiced perfectly by Farrell and Zeller. It was great. Only problem was I could have listened to it for hours on end and it ended too soon.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Short, dense, and lovely

Loved this. Tightly written so don’t underestimate this story; it packs a lot of weight into a small but beautiful space.

Only mild complaint: both narrators are excellent... they just sound too similar for my taste. Made the chapter transitions a bit confusing at first.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

So good!!!

This book was so good and so inventive. I loved the plot and also the way it was written. The prose is really spare in a way but incredibly evocative.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

just what I needed for today, eloquent bickering

it was quite a dramatic masterpiece, magnanimous and defiant in every way. the quips, the correspondence that had me questioning what was going on the entire time

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Hard SciFi Romance with Time-Traveling Assassins

This book is a romance, first and foremost. From the first page you are thrown into a hard SciFi world of time travel, espionage, and assassination, written is a prose so beautiful and flowery that it reads like one long poem.

The main character as the most elite agents fighting a two sided war of dominion over all time and creation. They become time travelling pen-pals, eventually falling in love despite being each others nemesis.

I really enjoyed this, even if I have a few quibbles, such as the actual romance that springs up between them just seems to happen suddenly, and requires a massive degree of recklessness on both their parts that the story otherwise indicates is not part of their nature. Also, at one point there is talk of a "betrayal" that makes no sense. But I shrugged it off and just rolled with it.

But the ending is sweet, and I turned my brain off long enough to just go with it. A great use of about four hours of my time.

Recommended if you like a mind-bending SciFi time travel story with a focus on a (seemingly) doomed romance.

About the narrators: the two female narrators had such similar voices that they may as well have just used one narrator, but generally speaking they did a good job. They didn't detract from the book, which is my number one rule for narrators: Do No Harm.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely gorgeous story

Traveling back and forth through time, two combatants write letters to each other. This sounds so dull, so prosaic. Instead, it is beautiful, lyrical, emotional, wonderful. It has been a very long time since I have enjoyed a book as much as this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Fantastic story and story telling

The format is a wonderful one to listen to. The back and forth of letters draws you in and had me wanting to know more. The writing was fantastic in its imagery and detail. The underlying premise is not an original one by any means but still the writing was beautiful and there were enough twisting elements to keep me unsure of how it would end until the ending was around the corner. the narrators were excellent as well and gave the story life in my mind.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Sometimes I was too dumb to understand what was ha

Sometimes I was too dumb to understand what was happening, but I was ok with it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not for me...but not a bad book

This writing I realized is not for me however it's a love story about two people from different backgrounds working against the tide of their own worlds. This IS written like poetry but I don't think it's a bad thing for readers who enjoy those books. I don't regret spending the credit. Just taught me more about the books I like and why I like them.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Strange

This is the strangest book I’ve even encountered. I forced myself to finish it but actually found myself enjoying it for its strange story. It challenges ones “outside the box “. It was interesting and yet difficult to follow. I’m might just listen again to see if I can grasp more of the story .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!