So where I proclaimed Pestilence to be, somewhat unexpectedly, a dull vanilla marshmallow, in came War. And he wasn't. But weirdly there were marshmallow tendencies. Is that going to be a theme? Is that how Thalassa is balancing the extreme concept of The Four Horsemen and all their, well, natures and the awfulness of the world around them? I guess we'll see.

But, yes, War. This pairing had a bit more of a "mate" vibe to it but an oddly respectful one, at that (see aforementioned marshmallow comment). Much as Miriam was, the reader is treated to the strange contradiction of a man who is the manifestation of war and battle and, to a degree, death, and yet he is considerate. Not forceful. But also relentless; in his dedication to his purpose and duty and also in wearing down Miriam who he believes to be his wife.

Much like book one, where I started to lose some love (yes, I was enjoying this to a degree, colour me shocked!) was the repetition. These books are long and I appreciate that the author allows these relationships some breathing room -- especially considering they are pairings of otherworldly beings of terribleness and run of the mill humans living through, and experiencing, the worst of what these beings have to offer -- but unfortunately we end up rehashing some of the same events over and over again; because what more can you do in the apocalypse, y'know?

But. But. I will say, this one felt more.. authentic. Genuine. Especially considering a development that occurs between them and how it makes War reconsider his duty and what it all means. That worked. As did this pairing's particular dynamic; far from a damsel, far from wilting wallflower, Miriam had strength and fire and War appreciated every time she challenged him. Which was a.. surprise. So, yes, I was surprised at how much of this I did enjoy; I just could've done without a lot of the rinse and repeat in the middle.

Strangely, there was sweetness to this story of war and War and it was no wonder Miriam, too, was often taken unawares by the contradiction. But I had fun. And for all that I had plans not to binge these (I think I read the first back in April and wow time flies..) I'm off to make a meal out of FAMINE.

⭐ 4.5
🌶️ 3

I read Pestilence before reading War and currently War is my favourite and I'm super excited for Death and don't know what to expect from Famine but I'm keen to start! So I can say confidently that I'm hooked! This series is fun, albeit full of death and destruction 👀 There's also many tender moments, spicy scenes, hot banter and funny dialogue. What I enjoyed the most is that there wasn't many religious undertones for any one religion - as a non religious person coming from a Muslim background I did not feel upset by the representation. And LOVED that Miriam was half Turkish (because me too!).

• urban fantasy romance, dystopian
• POC characters
• enemies to lovers (knife on throat moment)
• slowburn romance
• spicy
• hot banter
• forced proximity
• he claims her as his wife from first meeting (only if real life mutual attractions were that easy!)
• gory moments, and zombies

Love conquers War 😉 Even though I'm not sold completely on the concept of on changing the core of who they are to be with the one they love, or using spicy time for exchange of good behaviour... Which is why the half point on that 5 stars...

TikTok review will be posted soon @etidae

This was an entertaining read, but nothing spectacular.

If you like lots of action and lots of reference to God and lots of spice, you'll like this.

I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting read . I found that I was able to read quickly and enjoyed the pacing and premise of the book. I would recommend to others.

I read all of these when they were indie books I’m so glad she’s getting a publishing contract they’re good reads!

I really enjoyed this more than pestilence!

What I liked”
- “wife”
- “for your soft heart”
- war was a more amusing and attractive male counterpart and I was very here for the Khal Drogo vibes (without rape)
- Miriam as a MFC was also more enjoyable - she was less annoying for me personally than sarah. I loved her strength, attitude, and determination. In other words, she was a badass!
- much more interesting backstories delved into with both war and Miriam. I felt the world expanding in really interesting ways. Loved war talking about his brothers and some chapters from his perspective along with Miriam and her grief of losing her family
- faster romance, spicier, and really cute moments. their relationship progression was just the right speed
- he fell first
-loved that there were more things interacting with war and Miriam like Zara and the Phobos soldiers. Having a community made from war prisoners was really interesting
- wars redemption!
- “surrender”
- THE ENDING!!!!

What I didn’t like:
- sometimes I still felt like the author would have Miriam say things to sound cool or hip that felt super out of character. It was really distracting in pestilence and I feel like she reigned it in more this book but there were still sometimes that Miriam said cringey things. Like “he knocked me up real good”. 🫣🫣🫣
- plot sometimes still felt repetitive but way less so than previous book. Because the pacing was way better it was less noticeable
- there was always some iteration of saying “the horseman”, “my horseman”, etc. it’s honestly just said way too much in both books but I did feel like it was better in this one

all in all, will be continuing this series!

Another gripping continuation of the series. As soon as I finished book 1 I dove straight into this one and fortunately I was not disappointed!

I found War a deeply enjoyable male protagonist who was just the ultimate embodiment of what he stands for. Not only is this book ghastly at times but it’s also quite funny, which took me by surprise.

By the time I reached the end of this story I was once again deeply moved and totally bought the love that grew between our main characters.

Dipping right into the next book in the series, you can’t stop me!

Thank you NetGalley & Laura Thalassa for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m very split on this book. The whole middle part is utterly confusing. There seems to be no reason for the MCs to fall for each other but they are…

Now the last third of this book was phenomenal! I enjoyed the possessive “wife” usage. I also thought the zombies were a cool twist.

I wish the pacing switched a little to show more of War growing and less of kill everything!

Also I’m sorry the speaking in tongues thing is so funny to me. Like he just spoke gibberish to his army and they all had no clue what he said but were like “yeahhhh!” anyways.

Overall a good read, not my favorite but I’ll definitely read the next!

Also I adore these new covers!

It took me a long time to finish this book. I was enjoying myself but the book got slow towards the middle and I just put it down. I was determined to finish it, so I continued and I was not let down.

I really liked the pregnancy and war adjusting to it. I liked Miriam and I enjoyed her as a character. She had a mind and wasn’t afraid.

I really like Laura’s writing and I chuckled a few times. I haven’t read the first book even though I wanted to, but I just didn’t feel like reading it. I do want to read Deaths book, not sure about the third one

War is the second of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in this series by Laura Thalassa. The writing is top notch and her descriptions take you into the heart of War's camp. I enjoyed the story but it was hard for me to finish. It's a journey of deep loss, grief, & pain that slowly & against your will makes War someone you may feel empathy toward. I wanted to love this book but I struggled with it. I've read other series by Laura Thalassa and they're amazing. This particular story was harder to fall into completely for me. Possibly because of my background with Jude-Christian religion. Regardless, I recommend you give this series a try.

The Four Horseman have been sent to earth to wipe us out and the second book in the series follows War as he takes an army of humans across the world just killing everyone he comes across. Nobody is safe, nobody is saved.

I got sucked into this story pretty quickly. We didn’t have to wait long for the two MCs to meet and for the story to kick off. Unlike a lot of fantasy books, there wasn’t five chapters of world building to get through before you got to the story, though this is the second book in the series, so we might have gotten a lot of that in the first book.

Miriam was an interesting character to follow as she tried to navigate being taken from her home by War and then falling for him while he is pretty much just murdering everyone. This is one for all those girls who think they can change a guy :) It certainly sucked me in enough that I’d go back to read the first one to work out what happened to Pestilence.

Thanks to #NetGallery and the publisher. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Genre: Romance/Fantasy
Format: Digital
POV: Single (until the last few chapters)
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ /5
Age suggestion: 18+

Laura Thalassar has such a fun writing style, I enjoy it every time. I really loved the FMC, and this whole concept with the Horsemen and the wives is a whole vibe. Also, always love to see Jewish representation in books, even if it’s not huge.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC of this title. The premise of this intrigued me - Four Horseman of the apocalypse but make it - raunchy.
I had fun with this read. I thought it was a little long but it had some great scenes and I enjoyed the read. I don't like to read apocalypse books but this one I liked. I found myself questioning what else was happening in the world, where were the other horseman and what was happening in other countries. I will probably read another title in this series. The spicy scenes were very good.
Absolutely a dark romance

Thank you for the eArc.

There’s something about a book that has a true enemies to lovers story that is brutal and harsh while still having glimpses of softness, making you root for them, that really works and this book had just that.

It makes you experience the same conflicting feelings the main character has towards War, hating him for what he does while seeing a side of him that hints at what he could become.

One of the only criticisms I have was it felt a little long, with some of the scenes (especially in the first half) feeling a bit repetitive.

If it wasn’t clear, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a book to scratch the enemies to lovers itch and can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

i really enjoyed this book! i personally liked this book even more than the first! i did have some issues with miriam but for the most part i really liked her character. i really loved how war had two sides to him which made his character much more likable! i also really loved getting to read how his character developed throughout the book! another part of this book i liked was how there was more interaction with people besides war and miriam!

overall, i really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read famine! thank you to netgalley and sourcebooks for sending me this arc! all opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloom for a digital arc of War - the second book in the Four Horsemen.

Swoon!!!!! I am not surpised by the average of 4 star ratings on Goodreads, I whole heartedly agree with that.
I have always loved apocalypse stories but this one takes the crown. The steam, love, pain, everything in this book was balanced. If you've read from Thalassa before you will not be let down by this one :) :)

Coming into book 2, I was a bit more prepared for this story as we got a small glimpse into who the book would follow which is War. Regardless, this one felt like a steep departure from book 1 but not in a bad way. If anything, the plotline of War was exactly what I was hoping for yet more than I expected.

War follows War, the second horseman as he’s wreaking havoc upon the Earth which is fine until he comes face-to-face with Miriam. As in the previous book, she stands her ground against him but War doesn’t follow the same formula. War declares Miriam is his wife and spares her because of that.

While the two have an understandably rocky relationship, they eventually start to warm up to each other although it takes a while. I feel like War really honed on why War existed and how it became such a human thing. That didn’t mean this was an easy read as it’s a lot of death, killing, and general brutality.

Despite the difficult subjects and moments, there was real love and tenderness between War and Miriam. These two were truly soulmates in every sense of the word and I don’t say that lightly as this book featured a trope I don’t love. In this context though, that trope being included was great and made a lot of sense for how the story ended up.

As for the writing, Laura Thalassa ensnared me once again with her amazing writing and I read this book in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down despite it being over 500 pages which made me even more excited to pick up book 3 in this series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book (new cover) for an honest review!

I've now read half of this series and will continue on! This series emotionally confuses me in the best way. I shouldn't be cheering for one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse to get an HEA, but here we are. I was not expecting the twist at the end!

Laura Thalassa knew what she was doing when she wrote this series! This book, the four horsemen, and they're reigning queens are just impeccably written! Each story is unique and stands apart from the other but as a whole, the series is so cohesive and flows so naturally. That's a paramount of Thalassa's writing and world building and the reason why I'm so obsessed with War and Miriam. Both characters are so strong and resilient and their chemistry could easily burn your tongue. Alpha male, warrior heroine, fated mates, and enemies to lovers means this is a recipe for my dream and humanity's suffering and I just know Famine will bring it all to a head! This book is everything the world didn't even know it needed and I couldn't thank Laura Thalassa enough for sharing it with us!

I really liked the Bargainer Series by this author, but was a bit disappointed by the first book in this series, but I’m glad I gave War a second chance!

An improvement on book one, however I still prefer Thalassa’s Bargainer series. It was a decent read- easy and quick to get through, but nothing mind blowing.