I know this novella has been optioned for a TV show, and I really don't know how that could possibly work. This Is How You Lose The Time War is the most poetic thing I have read in years, and I just can't see it.

As it's a novella, there's not a lot of context we get here. We start with Red, of the somewhat dystopian Agency. Red is traveling from time strand to time strand in order to win the time war between the Agency and the Garden. She runs into an agent of the Garden, Blue, and Blue leaves a letter for Red. From this, the two agents start to strike up being creative 'penpals' because their superiors may not know of the fraternizing. First taunting, their letters start to be more romantic, as they fall in love...

Each chapter basically describes a bit of the time war, and how the respective parties find the letter, and then includes the letter. It's lyrical, beautifully written, thought-provoking.

Definitely not for everyone though, and again, I cannot imagine it on TV unless they really blow up the time war plot itself to make any sense at all. It didn't really make sense in the book, we don't get to know enough about it.