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.

Hooking, thrilling and unique.
it is such a unique context in romance that I couldn’t help but love. It deals with really intense topics, especially as a war. Now in 2023 I recommend this series if you like HBO’s The Last of Us but make it romance.

I'm going to go ahead and review the series as a whole, because there are common themes that run throughout that are uniquely explicated in each book.

Where do I even start? First, that I totally understand the hype about this series now. It’s one of those series that grabs you by the throat and takes you along for one hell (pun intended) of a ride.

Each FMC brings different elements of humanity to the fore that speak to their angelic counterparts in profound ways. And the ways in which author Laura Thalassa explores idea about God, humanity, frailty, good, and evil are so intriguing. Though these were written starting in the “before” times, Thalassa’s work seems all the more prescient today.

If you want your mind and heart challenged, if you want to experience the beauties of love and human nature (and their ugliness, too), then please, please read this series. It is masterful.

This was a good read, but I didn't love it as much as I did the first book in this series. I won't lie, I started this book with high expectations after reading the first story and it didn't meet my expectations. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't as amazing a story to me as I had hoped it would be. I liked Miriam and War characters a lot and although War took countless lives, he loved Miriam and her soft heart. He had his soft moments throughout this story even though most were few and far between but there were moments. I loved that Miriam wasn't a weak character and she gave as good as she got. This story was steamy, but I needed a little more romance between the main characters. It had its funny moments, twists and turns, a sweet reuniting ending. It also ends leaving readers ready for Famine and I am excited to read the next book. This is a series I will be recommending to my paranormal romance book loving friends.