Please, I loved this book 😭 I very much loved War and Miriam's banter and very (very) slow-burn relationship, and I especially loved the last 30% where War changes and redeems himself. Also, the third act conflict? My heart was in my mouth the entire time, it was emotijal genius 🥲 I love loved the epilogue, it was the perfect-est hea (plus a v mild telepathic glimpse at Pestilence and Famine!!)

TWs - death, gore, violence, blood, gun violence, bombs, literal war, sexual assault

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

I enjoyed diving back into the Four Horsemen series with this second instalment and seeing a different atrocity striking the world, this time across Western Asia into Africa. Miriam is brave and determined, and very much not interested in being held prisoner by the formidable horseman that calls her his wife. Her relationship with War is turbulent and full of guilt, anger, fear and good heap of lust. She sees a lot of terrible things on raids spreading far and wide, and does her best to help those who need it and to sabotage War’s attempts to wipe people from the planet. His role as destroyer contradicts the care he takes with her, and his attempts to better understand what it means to be a husband. A lot of themes were repeated from the first book in the series but it was still very well written. However, I would have liked to have seen Miriam’s emotions explored. It seemed very much like the focus was on her emotions surrounding War but she experienced a lot of trauma first and second hand in this book, and witnessed some terrible things, and whilst there’s brief mentions of her reactions to this it seems to move on very quickly, lacking an emotional depth to the story beyond the romance that could have really pulled me in.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

I guess she's just re-releasing these books under a publisher this time. I couldn't finish this book. It was very cringeworthy but I wish her success with her re-releases.

Perhaps it's just because I knew what to expect more this time, but I liked War a little more than the first book, Pestilence. Miriam was an engaging character I was happy to get behind, and I enjoyed her interactions with War throughout. The story moved at a good pace, making the book a quick and easy read, and I liked the subtle tie-in with events from the first volume, as it helped hold together what might otherwise have felt like four separate stories. While you could pick up this volume and following it without knowing book one, I feel it would still be best to read in order for the best experience. I am giving this book four stars.

War, the Second Horseman of the Apocalypse, has been making his way westward, exterminating entire cities in his progress. He leaves no witnesses. Until he encounters Miriam Elmahdy, a dark haired twenty-two year old, in Jerusalem. He starts speaking in tongues, but somehow Miriam understands him, and his words indicate that he believes his has found his "wife."

The Horseman has been sent to fulfill a higher purpose, to rid the earth of its sinful human population. There is so much violence, terror, and brutality in his actions. As a divine creature, War has no empathy. But as a newly risen physical being, War begins to understand human sensations. He questions his human feelings. He starts to make concessions for Miriam's wellbeing and her wishes. For her part, Miriam isn't convinced that she is War's wife. Far from it. Naturally, she seeks to thwart him wherever she can. Little by little, things change.

Of course, Miriam can't deny that War is a feast on the eyes, with his sharp handsome features and monstrous muscled body built for, well ... war. Between hating him for destroying humanity and melting a little every time he shows his softer, compassionate side, Miriam and War gradually fall into an fairly typical matrimony, complete with tenderness and pain, torrid sex and epic fights. And when War fights, he fights dirty, much to Miriam's dismay.

I adore this fantasy that humanity's Apocalypse can be diverted and that redemption is found both metaphorically and physically via the experience of Love through the eyes of each Horseman. I loved Miriam's wit and sensuality with War, her tenacity when despair surrounded her, and her eventual sacrifice and surrender. This may be my favourite of the series!

My thanks to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this re-release ARC.

2 stars

I like villainy characters, and Ares (the God of war) is one of my favorite mythological beings, so I'm used to aggressive "heroes," BUT I couldn't get on board with war. Even Pestilence had some redeemable qualities, but War... nah, he was just despicable. So if I don't like him and the romance is lacking because I can't see why the heroine would be with the hero, then I'm not going to enjoy the book which is a shame because I really liked book one.
Still, I'm going to finish the series because I'm intrigued (especially by Death)

Overall, I enjoyed reading War. Personally illness in general is a bit triggering for me, so I found the first book (Pestilence) a bit hard to read. I’ve heard that the books are similar, and while I will agree with that after reading War, they do stand out in their own ways. I liked Miriam, but I did feel she was bit all over the place. But this was similar in there is a lot of traveling. What exactly War does though, I found more interesting to read. I will continue with the next book.

War takes place a few years after Pestilence’s epilogue. It focuses on the second horseman, War, and the main POV character Miriam. War immediately believes that Miriam is his wife and she provides a lot of pushback and at first wants nothing to do with War. The relationship starts to grow due to Miriam working to try and bargain for humanity.

This book gets a little darker than Pestilence’s was but it’s a good read. Given 4 stars cause I did feel like some part of it dragged.

Thank you the Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book better than boon 1, Pestilence. I think the redemption here was much more convincing. War changes because we starts grappling with the morality of his actions (whereas Pestilence changes because the love interest left him). I also think this book did better with including real side characters and relationships other than the main one between War and Miriam.

Laura Thalassa writing style makes the story fly by. I stayed up until 2am to finish! I'm going to take a book before starting book 3 because it does feel a little repetitive... I hope Thalassa comes up with something different for the other two horsemen than man takes woman prisoner, they fall in lust, then love, and his heart changes suddenly.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for an eARC of this book!

Aw man, I think War might be my favorite of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I feel as conflicted as Miriam. Shouldn't love him, but I do. This book had me smiling except for all of the killing but it's the Apocalypse so you have to expect that stuff, ya know? Another great read. Now I'm on to the next one!

Wowza! I really enjoyed this one. I am so excited to continue on with the series because I just love these characters and this world. If you’re someone who is looking for a good romance but also som entertaining plot that is something more than just your basic contemporary romance, then I suggest giving this one a try!

I thoroughly enjoyed book 1 - Pestilence, but I had a hard time getting behind the characters and their love story for this one.

Let's start with what I did enjoy : the writing. In Laura Thalassa's fashion, the writing is accessible and flows easily. There are a few instances where the inner monologue fet annoying to me, especially with the swearing because it felt anachronic to the story, not because I don't usually enjoy it. Other than that, I think Laura's description of guilt is always on point.

Now, for the characters: where it was easy to love Pestilence because it was very obvious he did not understand any "human" notions and you get to see him discover them little by little, wit War, it felt like he had already lived among humans for a long time and therefore was familiar with customs, he just completely disrespected them. And therefore, disrespected the female main character Miriam. And somehow, she convinced herself it was love?! The utter entitlement of the character and the pushover characterization of Miriam was a bad combo for me to fully appreciate them together. I did not feel any chemistry nor a development of love. It was Stockholm Syndrome at its best but I only enjoy it when it is admitted to be such, not when the FMC falls for an abuser. The small gestures meant to "redeem" War were too small to matter to me and fully buy into this love story.

I also felt very uncomfortable with Miriam being half-jew, half-muslim and that part of her identity not being a focal point nor talked about BUT the impact of the war in Isreal on her life and that of her family is talked about. I feel like it was not necessary to choose to tell the story of this specific ethnicity, religion and political background, especially when it is such a complex one and isn't done well in the book.

Only Laura Thalassa could write a compelling love story about War, a destruction focused creature and a woman just trying to save her people. Miriam was such a great, strong female main character who was so brave and strong standing up for what she believed in even after she has lost all her family. I liked that Miriam didn’t immediately fall for War and the draw they had towards each other but fell slowly over time. War had been a man for a while but did not truly understand what it meant and it was a wonder to watch Miriam teach him what it meant and how to be one with emotions and attachments.
The world building is fantastic, the fact that War was in a different area than Pestilence gave the feeling of the four horse men are each in charge of taking out a different part of the world which made logical sense. Even though they are immortal beings their job is a large one. This dystopian world that is post the four horsemen coming and then Pestilence and now War is broken down and everyone has lost it seems so bleak but at the same time humans are pushing to try to continue on.
It was a hard read at times, I mean you are reading about the world’s destruction and the murder of people, towns and cities I remember in Pestilence’s book having the same feeling.
I can’t wait to read Famine as the last two books were interesting dystopian reads.

* destined lovers
* Enemies to lovers
* Hurt my woman and die

I really wanted to love this series because it's been on my TBR forever and I loved these new covers, but unfortunately it's been incredibly underwhelming and they're all pretty much rinse and repeats of each other but with just a new horseman.

yeah so this book has me kicking my feet and giggling hehehehhehehehhehehhe i love war ❤️

this book was basically a copy paste of pestilence but better and more dramatic and war was hotter

I enjoyed this just as much as the first book in the series! War is a great book boyfriend well after he finds Miriam 👀 I didn’t think wife was a cute pet name until I read this! Some triggers like cheating and rape but overall this was a well written story!

I could not get through 2 chapters of this book. The writing is just so so hard to get through and connect to 😭
DNF

Thank you to @netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Pub Date: Aug 15th, 2023

This series has me in a chokehold like I wish a horseman would.

I love the variety between the books. Each one takes place in a different part of the world. Each horseman has their own unique abilities and motivations. The stories and characters are new and fresh. They read like fantastic standalones, while also connecting seamlessly to the larger plot as a whole. I like how the other brothers are mentioned in each book. I love how each book has a different angelic concept at its core. Each female lead comes from different backgrounds, has different experiences, and is unique in their personality. Miriam’s innocence was so endearing. Everything about this series is real and raw. There was a shocking surprise in this one that I wasn’t expecting and I absolutely loved. Although I didn’t love War quite as much as Pestilence (or Famine), this was still amazing. Highly recommend and so deserving of all the hype!

TW: Blood, gore, violence, war situations, attempted rape, childhood trauma, and death of a parent mentioned

War is the second installment of the Four Horsemen series by Laura Thalassa. Pestilence has fallen in love and with that, War is next in line to be the judge and juror of humanity. Only when he and his riders are destroying Jerusalem, he comes across Miriam. She is brave and fierce and she is his wife, or so he thinks!

Miriam was such a bad ass (would Laura write any other kind of FMC??) she was on her own, making weapons, attempting to kill War, fighting him every step of the way in their relationship. Just an honest to goodness bad ass! War is portrayed as this brutal hulk of a man. He appears to not show any mercy when him and his horde ride into towns but little by little we see how he softens into the sweet little fluffy marshmallow he is, especially when it comes to Miriam. Honestly I felt so much relief at this book, the MMC doesn’t brutalize the FMC like in the first book, which was so hard to get over! Instead we get a MMC who is so gone for the FMC he will do anything for her, anything to keep her alive, and anything to make her love him, even when she attempts to run away and even murder him so many times. I love that type of adoration LOL!

I thought the pacing was great through out, I was able to read it in one sitting and did not want to put it down. And even though it was my second time reading it I found it just as entertaining as the first time around. Beware there are scenes where you just want to cry and you feel so hopeless…it’s war and it’s traumatic.

I will definitely continue the series as it’s one of my favorites of Laura’s. Thank you so much to Bloom Books for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Triggers: sexual assault (not by the main love interest), zombies, gore, detailed scenes of battle, near death experiences
Themes: Enemies to lovers, insta-love that is one sided, R rated romance, happily ever after

Book two of the series takes on more of an insta-love dynamic between the heroine, Miriam, and the antagonist/male lead, War. With unique abilities that allow him to seige entire cities in the matter of hours, War has made it a habit of decimating cities to fulfill his unique mission.

War continues his mission, even after finding Miriam, who is uniquely branded with an intriguing mark that proved to be her curious salvation. Mirium has lost everything at the expense of the Four Horsemen, and even still, War continues to ask for her surrender.

Laura Thalassa's second addition is jarring at times, and was in many ways just as good as the first novel in the series. Out of preference, I found the heroine in this story to be a bit taxing. She makes short sighted mistakes that you may expect out of a 15 year old character, while at other times she appropriately reads as 22 years old. Other than that, I enjoyed the plot development. We get to see a glimpse of what followed in Sara and Pestilence's story, and get a brief glimpse into Death, who seems the least forgiving of all the brothers. I would recommend this story to those who enjoy fantasy, and don't mind one sided insta-love stories.