War by Laura Thalassa
This is the 2nd time I've read this book. I received an ARC from NetGalley for the rerelease.

I thoroughly enjoy this series. This is the story of the second horseman of the apocalypse, War.There is so much in this story that hits so close to home.
Living during a mass extinction event - that hits closer now than when I first read this series.
Humans may be God's favorite children, but they aren't his only children - what we are doing to the Earth is Not OK.

There are many good quotes, but this one stays with me: "No one and no religion was spared. That was my first lesson in war: everyone loses, even the victors."

As with the other books in this series, War starts out as something unimaginable, something so cruel, so inhuman. And through the story, Love wins. Miriam struggles with loving a horseman of the apocalypse. But are the horsemen here to exterminate humanity, or are we all supposed to be redeemed by love - humanity and the horsemen? I like to think that Love will always win.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I am absolutely in love with this series and I want to give a big thanks to NetGalley and Bloom Books Publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Firstly I read Pestilence which was amazing and I couldn't wait to read War so when I saw I was accepted to review this I was so excited and this did not disappoint. I could not put this down, enemies to lovers with two incredibly strong leads. I loved Miriam, she is a great FMC and I loved that there is a lot of reality to her traumatic past. I would warn people that there is a lot of violence and graphic scenes but don't let this dissuade you from this amazing book full of beautiful messages, unique characters and a lot of spice. I can not wait to read the next instalment and find out what happens next.

Thank you NetGalley! I was so excited going into War after reading Pestilence and I can say I was not disappointed! War met his match when he seen Miriam and takes her fore his wife. I wasn't expecting one of the big events and then the event at the end had me in tears! I can not wait to read Famine.

Rereading so I’m actually writing a review this time! 🤣🤣

Laura Thalassa’s War is the second book in her Four Horsemen series and it’s just as good if not better than the first. We follow Miriam in this one, and War with his hoard of, well, warriors!

If you know anything about the four horsemen of the apocalypse, then you know how dark this series is. But it’s also so epic. The romance and spice? Top notch. Laura makes you experience literally all the different ranges of emotions in this book.

I loved seeing the character growth too of these horsemen. War was no different. Watching them learn about humanity, and even becoming more human in their emotions? UGH. Chef kiss. I love this series.

After really enjoying the first book in this series, Pestilence, I looked forward to the next book as we continued to move through the apocalypse with a different one of the four horsemen. Yet this book was long, repetitive, and felt too similar to the first book. I've since finished the series and this is my least favorite book (unfortunately). I did not get invested in their romance and I still don't understand why it had to go on for quite so long. I am still disappointed I did not love this book and do think the rest of the series is worth picking up if you loved book one!

LOVED THIS. The way this story is told was pure brilliance. I thought Pestilence was good but it was nothing compared to War. This is a love story but also a story of the fall of humanity. The biblical references are there but in no way take over the stores being told. Miriam is smart, strong, sassy and had me laughing. War was cruel and violent yet protective and caring. It’s brutal and heartbreaking and the author does the most amazing job at making you love characters you think you shouldn’t. I will
read this again and again.

I gave Pestilence 5 stars so it should come as no surprise that I'm giving this one 5 stars too.

I loved all the same things in this book as the first. But in War, we start with the horseman thinking Miriam is his wife for some reason. I liked this plot device(?) better than the weak excuse for Pestilence keeping Sara around. War is deluded into keeping Miriam with him and constantly saving her from danger. This book was even less miscommunication conflict-y which was great. I was scared for a minute that Miriam was going to keep the pregnancy a secret and that would've immediately knocked off a star, so I'm glad that wasn't the case.

One thing I will complain about these books is how young the fmc's are. I can't take them seriously when they're that young. They do not have to be in their early 20s for these stories to make sense. In fact, I think an older, trauma-hardened, apocalypse survivor might make a better woman for these stories. I had to will myself to have amnesia when I read their ages and gaslit myself into pretending they were in their 30s instead to make the story more enjoyable for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books Publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really loved the first book in the series - Pestilence - and was excited to read about War next. War's story starts up a few years after Pestilence. He is relentless in his goal to destroy every city he enters. When he stumbles upon Miriam in Jerusalem he is immediately drawn to her and decides she is his "wife."

Miriam doesn't know War and isn't quite sure why he keeps assuming that she is his wife. But she also isn't timid or week and this pleases War. They enter a courtship of sorts where Miriam keeps trying to get War to stop killing and in exchange she will allow them to have a physical relationship.

I'll be honest - I wasn't drawn to this book as much as I was with Pestilence, but I still enjoyed War and Miriam. Laura Thalassa knows how to write spicy scenes with plenty of tension and she didn't disappoint in War.

I am really enjoying this series and look forward to the next book!

Wow! I love this series so much!! It is my new obsession!! I absolutely could not put this down! Fire! Pure fire!
I just reviewed War by Laura Thalassa. #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Once again, Laura Thalassa delivers such a fascinating story - seeing one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse being brought to heel by the woman he's falling in love with. I thoroughly enjoy seeing these strong female main characters giving these fearsome men a run for their money, and War (the book) delivers all of that. From the moment that War (the character) declares Miriam his wife, I was completely hooked and so ready to see what journey these two were in for. There is such a war in Miriam's head for falling for this man who swears to be her protector while he is also out in the world, destroying the humans that she wants to protect. There is a push and pull throughout the book. There was only one moment where War did something rather catastrophic. It's hard to say it was redeemable, but it did make Miriam upset, and I didn't feel like War did enough to absolve himself of he did. I wish that he had groveled more and that Miriam had held to her convictions a little stronger.
Other things I enjoyed was that we get to see a new area of the world being affected and how each horseman brings about destruction for humans. I appreciated seeing the differences.
Once again, I caution readers that there are violent and graphic scenes depicted throughout the book, so be cautious of any triggers.

What a wonderful addition to this series! I really enjoyed Pestilence, so I was very excited to read War. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this! The cover is beautiful and the book is well written.

The main characters are beautifully described, and their relationship is questionable but as the story develops, so does the relationship. The fact that she falls for the guy who's killing off human-kind seems to be the big NO-NO for some people. One reviewer somewhere once put it simply; would you really feel like humans deserved a place on this earth after what they have collectively done to it, and doomsday was around the corner? I have to say, that as much as it would pain me to die and lose everything, if judgement day was upon us, I could definitely understand.

The book is beautifully written, with laugh-out-loud moments.

After reading Pestilence, I knew I had to discover the fate of the remaining 3 horsemen, so I finally picked up the next book in the series, War. I enjoyed the first book of the series, but I loved this one so much more! It's made me even more excited to get into the final two in the series.

13 years after the Horsemen had originally appeared on Earth, Miriam is in the middle of a massacre in her home of Jerusalem as War's army destroys everything and anyone in sight. She is sure she is next to die when War himself spots her in the chaos but much to her surprise, he instead declares her as his wife and takes her back to his camp.

Miriam isn't sure how to take this new turn of events, but she refuses to surrender herself to her new "husband" The one thing she is sure of, is she needs to do everything in her power to take out members of War's army and convince War himself to stop the bloodshed from town to town. Perhaps the only way is to go along with their "marriage" and use his love for her as a bargaining chip. Unfortunately, he may be more stubborn then she is.

The chemistry with Miriam and War was probably my favorite part of the book. From the beginning, I was unable to picture War as anyone other than Jason Mamoa when he played Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones, especially in the way that he treated Miriam. (Im thinking the part in the show where they were super in love) He wanted her right away, but he very quickly starts to care for her and I love that he doesn't force her into sexual relationship. He wants her to want to be with him, for her to surrender. This makes Miriam's plans a little harder but it makes for great tension and banter between the two.

This is a Dark Romance, so there is plenty of violence and it's worth reminding readers going into the book, War is a horsemen of the apocalypse. He is here to kill and destroy humanity, but he will do anything to save his "wife." So if you are looking for a hero or even a morally grey love interest, I would say this is definitely not the book for you.

But for me, I loved it! Famine and Death, here I come!

Miriam is alone, fending for herself when suddenly War and his army come to her city in order to kill all of the inhabitants. But, luckily (or unluckily?) for Miriam, she is spared when War lays eyes on her and calls her “wife.”

Let me start off by saying that this isn’t necessarily a bad book by any means but I just don’t think it was for me. Now obviously it’s a love story with War, he’s going to do some truly heinous things and for the most part our main character Miriam reacted exactly how I wanted her to, but at times I really wish she would have stayed angry longer. It all started to get very repetitive. War would do something awful, Miriam would retaliate and get mad, and then the next chapter she would be fine with him again. I understand that for a romance you actually have to have the romance part but it just wasn’t connecting to me. In the previous book Pestilence the love between the main characters felt a lot more believable to me than this one. With that said though, I do plan to continue the series and read the last two books.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bloom Books for sending me an early copy for review!

4 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was so excited to dive into this after I absolutely loved Pestilence and it definitely did not miss.

At the end of the previous book where Pestilence has given up his mission to be with Sara, we get a cliffhanger where War is awoken. Fast forward to the beginning of this book and several years have passed since then. I really enjoyed this detail, as we get to see the world as it has been trying to recover from Pestilence while War has had time to establish himself as the newest apocalyptic threat.

The world has further adjusted to its essential reversion to the Dark Ages and Miriam is not just surviving, but fighting. Whereas Sara had lived most of her life before the Horsemen arrived, a majority of Miriam’s life has taken place in a world where they exist. All alone, she has been forced to learn to craft weapons, forage, and kill in order to live to see another day. She’ll even sacrifice herself to kill War himself if it means saving others.

The pace of this book seemed quite a bit slower to me and I didn’t feel that it really picked up until the 50-60% mark. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a very enjoyable read. But compared to Pestilence and its fast pace right out the gate, this felt like it took longer to find its stride.

The pregnancy trope is one of my least favorites, so when it popped up near the end, I could definitely find myself checking out a little bit, hence the lower rating. Despite that, I still loved watching the relationship between Miriam and War grow and am looking forward to seeing how the story evolves in Famine!

Omg , 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
So good , I have to said this dark romance by Laura is just amazing loved the first one , loved the second and I can’t wait to read the rest .

War by L. Thalassa is the second stand-alone in the Four Horsemen Series, re-published by Sourcebooks Bloom Books.
Miriam and War have nothing in common, but she refuses to submit to the big destroyer.
An incredible dystopian read that is best read in order. The previous book is Pestilence, the next ones are Famine and Death.

This copy was kindly given to me by the publisher and netgalley for review. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely love the cover revamp for this series! (unlike the revamp on her Rhapsodic series, not a fan of those new covers... sorry to the cover artist!). War so far is one of my favorite, tied with Pestilence I think. If you like journey stories, one horse (lol), touch her and you die, this is the book for you. This series overall is fast paced, steamy and so much fun. I think it is a really cool take on the apocalypse and the four horseman that bring it forth.
All I have left is to binge Death and wrap up this series.

I love Laura Thalassa so far, I am starting her back log as I try to catch up but I love the pace of her novels, settings, plots and of course, the steamy romance.

Thank you NetGalley and Laura Thalassa for an ebook in exchange for an honest review!

Rating: 3/5 Stars

While this book was interesting at some points, it lost me at many others. Felt very repetitive but still was enjoyable.