Beautifully tangled and confusing. Poetic. Sad and romantic. I think this one can't be parsed too closely, although I'm tempted to do so. ( )

I read this book two letters a day until I finished it. I don't know what made me read it that way but I am glad I did. I absolutely loved this book and reading it slowly like correspondence made it even stronger for me. ( )

I feel like the more I think about this book the more I dislike it.

First, the 2 main characters are murderers. They have killed lots of people. They take some level of pleasure in it. Whole lives are snuffed out. Well, whole timelines, really, but I'll give a pass for time travel shenanigans. Neither character shows any sign of remorse, IIRC. Which is fine, but it does mean you're writing a story about the romance between 2 mass murderers. Which is a more difficult task to pull off than a normal romance story.

The science fiction setting doesn't really matter much and most of the details aren't explained but it's still overcomplicated and written about using metaphors and descriptions which don't really make much sense. This is a subjective thing, obviously. But it didn't connect with me.

Which is really a broader issue that shows itself in the "romance", such as it is. There's lots of descriptions that don't really make sense, even in the love letters.

And the romance just... sucks? The characters come across as basically identical, writing in the same sort of way. And the letters feel full of irony and lack of sincerity and focusing on being witty in a way that comes across as not witty, actually. Even after they make a random switch into full throated romance "i love you" mode part way through.

I dunno. It just didn't click with me. ( )

Beautiful use of words. Short. Funny if you really listen. Helps if you’re a bit geeky. ( )

Weinert, Simon