History Literature / ThisIsHowYouLoseTheTimeWar

* ForWantOfANail: Red and Blue are agents on opposite sides of a time war trying to alter every timeline to ensure the respective futures they hail from come about. They ''are'' capable of wiping out armies on their own, but subtle changes are more common. Red's first letter to Blue describes her carefully micromanaging events so that a single doctor in the 21st century works from home one day, thus causing two timelines to merge into one that will eventually lead to the formation of the Agency.

* NatureVersusTechnology: In this world, there are only two possible futures: one is the Garden, a biological society filled with OrganicTechnology that prefers to move at nature's pace; the other is the Agency, an aloof, technological society that prefers mechanical efficiency. These two groups are locked in a TimeWar and send out agents that try and ensure their futures come to pass.

* SuicideMission: [[spoiler: Red knows that her mission to save Blue will likely end in her death but she doesn't care.]]

* FleshVsSteel: The time war is being fought between two potential futures, one high-tech and populated by digitized human minds, and the other filled with sufficiently advanced OrganicTechnology.

* TimeTravelRomance: Red and Blue fall in love up and down thousands of timelines.

* ShoutOut: One letter, written while Red is harvesting lumber for Genghis Khan's armies, begins "How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?", a line from a ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' comic.

* ShoutOut: One letter, written while Red is harvesting lumber for Genghis Khan's armies, begins "How many boards would the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored?", a line from a ''Comics/CalvinAndHobbes'' comic.

* MirrorMatch: [[spoiler: Red actually fights her future self, the Seeker, at one point, with it technically ending in a draw (although obviously the Seeker runs away before Red realized who she was fighting.]]

* TimePolice: Two rival groups of them, Red's Agency (a technological utopia), and Blue's Garden (a biopunk one), constantly fighting each other over the various timelines to try and [[RetGone cut each other out of the universe]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/time_war.jpeg]]

A 2019 novella by Amal El-Mohtar and Creator/MaxGladstone. Two agents on rival sides of a time war exchange letters across time and space.

** MirrorMatch: [[spoiler: Red actually fights the Seeker at one point, with it technically ending in a draw (although obviously the Seeker runs away before Red realized who she was fighting.]]

* {{Motif}}: Go games, which are mentioned in passing as resembling the time war and the letters exchange between Red and Blue.

* ForWantOfANail: Red and Blue are commandos on opposite sides of a time war trying to alter every timeline to ensure the respective futures they hail from come about. They ''are'' capable of wiping out armies on their own, but subtle changes are more common. Red's first letter to Blue describes her carefully micromanaging events so that a single doctor in the 21st century works from home one day, thus causing two timelines to merge into one that will eventually lead to the formation of the Agency.

* PenPals: What Red and Blue end up becoming.

* AtlantisIsBoring: Both Red and Blue are of this opinion, something they bond over early in their correspondence. Apparently there have been several Atlantises, none of which they enjoyed.

* {{Biopunk}}: Blue's Garden is highly, ''highly'' advanced OrganicTechnology.

* AnimalMotifs: Birds play an important role to both protagonists
* AtlantisIsBoring: Both Red and Blue are of this opinion, something they bond over early in their correspondence
* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim
* ButterflyOfDoom: Occasionally how Red or Blue completes a mission
* ColorMotif: Obviously
* CouldntFindAPen: Being time travelers Red and Blue use some interesting methods to write and deliver their letters
* DatingCatwoman: They are on rival sides of the war, after all
* FriendlyEnemy: At first, though it develops into something more
* FutureSelfReveal: [[spoiler:The Seeker that shows up at the end of most chapters is actually Red from the future]]
* PenPals: What Red and Blue end up becoming
* TimePolice: Two rival groups of them, even
* TimeTravelRomance

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