When the first book of a series is so good, it’s really hard for following books to measure up. That’s how I feel with War, following Pestilence.

War wreaks havoc in the middle east, going from civilization to civilization, and you either join him in his destruction or fall by him, leaving nothing behind besides blood and fire. Then it’s the same story formula we were acquainted with in Pestilence - he falls for a woman, and the woman has to prove humanity is worth saving to stop him.

This repeated story actually works for the series, because the horsemen and their women are different in personality and experiences. So it isn’t stale, and it ultimately works toward a larger story with all of the horsemen.

But, while I love the story idea, I actually didn’t enjoy War as much as Pestilence. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I feel like Pestilence is a more established, thought-out character. He felt more organic and defined, like there was no question that the author knew who he was. War felt like the follow up that his book is, and maybe he wasn’t as inspired or character certain, so I didn’t find myself caring about him as I did about Pestilence.

Regardless, the story is fantastic and does its job spectacularly in continuing to build the story of the Age of Horsemen and the apocalypse their women are desperately working to stop! This continues to be one of my absolute favorite series!

Can I just say...this book went full speed ahead bonkers, and that's not a *bad* thing. I expected bonkers and was told War would be bonkers, and yet I severely underestimated just how bonkers it would be.

While we have the same formula as we did with Pestilence, it doesn't feel repetitive. War, while driven by a divine task as well, is a very different person than Pestilence was. Miriam and Sara were both strong-willed (as you'd have to be), but had different motives. Miriam had nothing, except for her own life and her morals, when she met War. Sara at least knew she had a family to protect. These differences really helped separate the two, though I hope in Famine we get a FMC who is maybe less serious?

I seriously commend some of the choices made in War. Having Jerusalem be the hometown of the FMC was the correct choice, as it is probably history's most fought over city. I also thought giving Miriam a Jewish mom and a Muslim dad really added something. Using the hamsa as a symbol of both religions was really nice.

I don't really have much in way of complaints. One of my least favourite tropes was used in War (no spoilers as to what it is, but those who follow me on Instagram know), but I have to admit it was done as well as possible. It was actually a logical choice plot-wise, and it didn't detract from Miriam as a character.

Additionally, it felt like there were constantly higher stakes, which was awesome.

Overall: 4.25 stars from me.

- Forced proximity
- Strong fmc
- enemies to lovers
- Apocalypse setting

This book follows War, whos one of the horsemen that have come to earth to destroy the world. Our fmc character Miriam is out to save the world, and when she meets War, she is taken as his wife. War thinks she was put in this world for him. Miriam was great. I loved that she used her relationship with War to try to get him to concede on some things. This is a slow burn despite them being together, and it takes quite some time before they are both totally okay with each other. This story was interesting, it has similar themes to the first book in the series, but the characters sets it apart. If you like spicy romance that takes place in a dystopian universe, then you should read this.

5+++++ stars!!!

I devoured this in less than a day. I loved how War changes throughout the book and when he finally “surrendered” … major swoon!!! This book also gave me major “Golden Dynasty” vibes and I would highly recommend it.

Miriam is captured by one of the Four Hoseman of the Apocalypse - Death - and informed that she is his God-given wife. As she comes to see a different side of the man, she must decide whether she can reconcile that with the murderer sweeping across what is left of humanity.

War is another brilliant installment in Laura Thalassa's Horsemen series. It is a dark and brutal romance that had me hooked from the beginning!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

I've read the indie version of this entire series and personally I didn't like this book at first. I still don't. It's not bad, I just found war to be an unlikable character for a lot of the book. Laura Thalassa though did not leave me with a single tear though. Rereading war made me realize that a lot of the books most emotionally charged scenes make me understand more of the depth behind the characters than anything. Still I love this book wasn't my favorite but I still love it.

Thank you Netgalley and Laura Thalassa for the e-book. I have to say that while the stories are a bit predictable, Thalassa has done such a great job of building the horsemen characters. She gives them their humanity is interesting and beautiful moments. That has definitely been my favourite part of this series.
As far as characters go, War was just as great as Pestilence. I loved the way War tried to remind Miriam that humans aren’t the only living creatures on the planet but they are the only ones doing the destruction. Not enough people get that.
I enjoyed Miriam more than I did Sarah in the first book but still for how long she’s had to be independent during the apocalypse she still came across as immature. Overall she was a better lead character than I was expecting.

I really enjoyed this book and think it is a 5/5 star read. I finished this book in two days and didn’t want to out it down. I have read most of Laura Thalassas books and I have immensely enjoyed them all. War is book two in The Four Horseman series. I have now read book one and two in the series and cannot wait for the rerelease of books three and four. This book is rereleased August 15,2023. Thank you to Netgalley, Laura Thalassa and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for an opportunity to read this book.

⤷‧₊˚2 ⭑
“that was my first lession in war: everyone loses, even the victors.”

What the hell happened?
the first one was actually pretty good, but what was that?

So disappointing that the book wasn't good, at one point i just skimmed through it till the end. The characters were 0% interesting that I didn't bother with them at all also the book was basically Pestilence rewritten.

so this one was a big no for me

With War, the second book in Laura Thalassa’s The Four Horsemen series, you will discover Miriam’s story. It’s an easy read, and if you like adventure and romance, you should give this a try.

War takes Miriam as his wife insteading of killing her. As one of the horsemen, War is supposed to end the world... She is torn between horrified and falling for his human side.

An interesting take on the mythology. It is a dark and steamy book- like all of Laura Thalassa's series. It's violent and not gentle. It takes a bit of time to warm up to the main male character seeing that he's WAR. Miriam is terrific. Another winner by a great writer.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

[Disclaimer: If you want romance, leave immediately. Do not read this novel unless prepared for absolutely messed up, *problematic* love. Do read it if you're like me and couldn't leave a trashy Stockholm Syndrome plot untouched to save your life.]

Exactly the same amount of stars I gave Pestilence, because... it's basically the same book. I'm not exaggerating. Apart from this horseman having a different personality than the first one, and the heroine being slightly less profane, everything else was simply recycled: the premise, the conflict, the philosophical questions, the conversations, the repetitiveness, the finale, the "plot twist". There's only so many times that an author can write the same story, so I do wonder where Thalassa is going with Famine and Death.

Still, I found the narration hilarious. Not always appropriate for the mood of a scene - I really could have used a little less vulgarity - but hilarious. There's just something about the lead in a supernatural romance novel realizing in what a bizarre relationship they find themselves that cracks me up every single time, especially when they're narrating it this feistily, almost like breaking the fourth wall. This is, after all, a weakly disguised, tongue-in-cheek Khal Drogo fanfic with weak plot, so it should be taken with a grain of salt.

Just please, god, let someone introduce this author to a thesaurus for erotic vocabulary, because I could not for the love of me go through the intimacy in this without rolling my eyes to the heavens. And again, this is almost an exact copy of Pestilence! Down to the same two turn-off words used for genitalia. I'm not the biggest erotica reader, but even I know that there should be some variety in this. (Speaking of which, give me one reason why the horny leads in this novel would only ever have missionary sex - again.)

Another big issue I had with War is that Thalassa obviously took pains to present both leads as ethnically diverse, then makes every character in this Middle-Eastern/North-African setting eat nothing but hummus and shakshuka, not making any part of her worldbuilding feel different from the North-American surroundings of the precursor book. To her credit she apparently did a little research on old languages - and then in the afterword admitted she google-translated most of the words she used. I got fed up with this, to be honest, and I know I'm not the only one.

So, why the two stars instead of one? Because 👏 I 👏 was 👏 entertained 👏. Otherwise I wouldn't have written such an extensive review. And raced through War the way I did through Pestilence, in a day. I feel that, if I'm going to heavily criticize a novel like this, I should do it in detail and while giving good reasons, but in the end, I have no one but myself to blame for starting and finishing it. Or maybe I just want to call my own moral standards to memory. Be that as it may - this is my new guilty pleasure.

I think this one is my favorite of the series - it feels the most dystopian and sprawling. It's dark and gripping and I had a hard time putting it down.

A Few Of The Tropes: touch her and you die, one sided enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn(ish)

This was really good and I don’t know why I put off reading it for so long. LT was really good at making me have a love-hate relationship with War because of his divine duties, but once his love for Miriam grew stronger than his commitment to carrying them out, I came around to liking him again. Miriam wasn’t just a boring Mary Sue main character, either. She had spunk and personality and hard values she lived by, and was also stubborn when it came to getting War to change his ways. I liked the dry humor and banter between them and the insistence from Miriam that they sleep apart no matter how attracted she was to him.

*sort-of-not-really spoilers below*

I loved the way he changed at the ending for her, but it felt a bit rushed, and the surprise pregnancy was very predictable, and a bit unnecessary. I would’ve liked it if he changed his ways completely for Miriam, not because Miriam was pregnant with his baby. And the fact that Pestilence’s book also had ended like that was a bit boring.

"War" by Laura Thalassa is the second book in the Four Horsemen series. The story follows Miriam, a twenty-two-year-old woman, who is trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse roam free. War is descending on Jerusalem, and Miriam knows she can't win, but she doesn't give up. She's brave and faces him head-on, which of course gets her noticed by the horseman. As her world unravels and she grapples with her complicated relationship with War, she finds herself in the middle between War and the rest of humanity. The characters are complex, and the world-building is incredible. Thalassa's writing is so vivid, it feels like you're right there with the characters. The plot revolves around War's conquest, his mission to judge human hearts and deliver them to whatever comes after. Overall, "War" is a brilliant story that stretches your mind and leaves you wanting more.

In the second book of the Four Horsemen series, War is awake and wrecking havoc through Miriam's home country. When she ends up crossing paths with the deadly horseman, he doesn't kill her like she thought he would. Instead, he recognizes her as his wife and forces her to leave with him. As she spends more time with War, Miriam struggles with her feelings for the horseman.

This is my favorite Laura Thalassa series! ! In the first book, we met Pestilence who didn't particularly enjoy what he did. He traveled alone ,on horse, carrying out his assignment. However, War is the complete opposite. He thrives in the battle. Unlike Pestilence, he doesn't travel alone, but with a big army moving from place to place setting up camp.

Even though War isn't my favorite horseman, I really enjoyed this book. I loved Miriam. She was tough and fought War every step of the way. The world building was terrific and I liked that this book was set in a different area of the world than the first one. It shows that not everything is just concentrated to the US/Canada but globally people are being impacted.

Overall, I recommend this book and series if you're looking for: post apocalyptic , enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and a no-nonsense MFC!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for the ARC!

War is coming.

Book two of the Four Horsemen series by Laura Thalassa features the pairing of War, who is working his way across the world with his war camp, killing and pillaging all in his path, and Miriam, an amateur weapons maker who was separated from her family in a boating accident years ago. War comes across Miriam during a raid on her city and after seeing her throat scar claim her as his wife. And Miriam isn’t exactly enthused about that!

As with my Pestilence review, a reminder that before reading this book you MUST be comfortable with reading about battle and death on page. A lot. It’s not overly graphic or crude, but if you are not a fan of that then I would not recommend this series.

The relationship between War and Miriam is both instant and slow burn. War, upon seeing Miriam, instantly claims her as his wife and does so with such conviction. Miriam, for her part, is wholly uninterested in him and wants nothing to do with the whole ‘wife’ thing. I appreciated how the relationship slowly built and the concessions that were made by both. Miriam and War bargain at first, but over time War slowly begins to change as Miriam challenges him.

The pacing and plot are once again excellent. The story is neither too rushed or too slow and I felt like it hit all the important points that needed to be made. The plot, while being fundamentally similar to Pestilence, has its own twists and turns that set it apart. Again, like I said for Pestilence, this series is a bit formulaic simply due to the task the Horsemen all have. However, this book can stand on its own and does not feel like a carbon copy which I appreciate. Oh and there’s spice. Lots of it. Definitely more than Pestilence and I was a definite fan.

If you want another true enemies to lovers set in a dystopian future then look no further! This series is for you!

Thanks to netgalley and Bloom Books for providing me with an eARC of the newly published edition in exchange for my honest review!

I loved War by Laura Thalassa, this entire series is pure gold! And the rereleased covers are to DIE for! War is a super brutal and conscious-less character. I loved the way his relationship with Miriam changed his heart and how he opened himself up to love for her. Miriam is an incredibly strong and resilient FMC, I loved seeing her grow into her strength to save the world from War!

War is a dark, intense, edge-of-your-seat romance book. It's not an easy read. It challenges the reader and forces them to read some pretty dark things. This book follows one of the Four Horsemen, War. Without getting too spoilery, I'll say: be prepared to read horrible things about the MMC and start to like him despite it. It's hard to reconcile the hotness and unfolding character arch of the MMC with what he's doing. He redeems himself but there's a price, as there usually is with dark romances. I like both MCs and the tension between them. Overall, if you're into dark and heavy romance books, I recommend this one. It's my favourite of the Four Horsemen books.

War is changing, and the world is changing with him.

This entire series is so fantastic and favorite for me. War, in particular, felt so unique to the rest of the series. It was moving and the enemies-to-lovers aspect was perfect. I think this series is so unlike anything I've read or heard about. The romance is top tier, in my opinion, but also having the post-apocalyptic backdrop makes it even better. The stakes feel so high and real, and you begin wondering how the romance could ever work, but Laura Thalassa always come through. I highly recommend this series if you're at all interested in a dark, post-apocalyptic, enemies-to-lovers, angsty romance.