This was an emotional roller coaster!

At first I wasn’t too thrilled about it, but, as the story progressed, I found myself very entertained.
They were not my favorite couple. What I loved here was the scenario. I tend to enjoy more books that take me to a place I’ve never been before, and War did that.

War (The Four Horsemen, #2) ♦ Laura Thalassa | Review

It's a really thrilling and emotional read, and I wish I could give Laura Thalassa's War more than four stars. The storyline of the story keeps getting better and better as it explores more of the horsemen's fascinating world and lives.


War ♦ Laura Thalassa

Opinion

There’s no denying Thalassa’s storytelling prowess. Every chapter reveals the emotions and challenges of the well-developed characters. This novel keeps you turning pages because of the tension between the main characters — Miriam and War —, their nuanced relationship, and the detailed world-building.

The reader is kept interested without being overly overwhelmed by the perfect pace. The right amount of romance, adventure, and supernatural elements are included. You’re constantly on the edge of your seat, turning the pages to see what will happen next because of the tensions and twists.

Thalassa deserves particular praise for her ability to build a world that is completely original and recognizable at the same time. Her skill as a writer is demonstrated by the way she skillfully combines the apocalyptic scenario with romance.

Conclusion

All things considered, War is an excellent series continuation that makes you want more. This book is a must-read if you love paranormal romance and dark romance stories, as well as fantastic apocalyptic fiction!


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

This review was first published at The Art of Reading.

This was my first read from this author and I really enjoyed it! I will be read the others in the series! I thought the story was so fun! I enjoyed War and our heroine together. I loved that they were fated mates with War as a villain type hero! So good! I highly recommend this book and series!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of War.
War, the second horseman, walks on earth. He spreads war and destruction. And then he meets Miriam. His wife. They start to spend time together, as Miriam has to travel with War's war band. But she doesn't surrender to War's ways. She keeps defying him. And he might or might not like that.
I have to say that I really enjoyed reading this book. It was fast-paced and I really liked the author's writing, It was captivating and I couldn't wait to see what's going to happen next. See you in Famine.

I really enjoy the concept of these books, with the apocalypse you don't generally get a personality and story with each of the individual horsemen. Personifying them and creating a love story is such a different aspect of the end of the world.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ out of 5
I have to admit I’m a big sucker for post-apocalyptic romances. I’m in it as much for the world-building of after life as we now know it as the romance. I’m always keen to read about different authors’ takes on what happens to humanity after the apocalypse happens. The apocalypse in this series being the 4 horseman turn up to Earth.

Our heroine is running for her life being chased by the second horseman of the apocalypse, War, when he catches her and then claims that she is his wife. She is then dragged from city to city with War and his army killing everyone they come across. How can she fall for someone who is actively destroying her world?

I LOVED this book! I love the whole idea of fated mates as well as a villainous hero, so this book was basically catnip for me. I was worried that going from town to town that the storyline would get boring but it absolutely doesn’t due to the amazing development of personality and the 2 MC’s relationship. Oh and let’s not forget how 🔥🔥🔥 this book is.

𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆:
☆ He falls first
☆ Enemies to lovers
☆ Strong FMC
☆ Post-apocalyptic
☆ Hurt her and die

𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The setting and circumstances are unique, and with each page, the graphic description makes it feel like you're there in the trenches.

War was savage, but it was his purpose right, so I felt like you couldn't fault him for it. Even though there were times when you just wanted to slap sense into him.

He also had some sweet moments, "for your soft heart" wrecked me.

Miriam was such a badass. Her smart mouth and defiant actions definitely got her into more trouble than it was worth. But, it made for some entertaining twists and repercussions. *stinky bodyguards*

I adored the friendships she made too. It gave some light to all the dark.

This story was perfect for these two. Even if the story was nerve-wracking and at times a little gross, I couldn't have asked for a better ending.

--------

All the thank you's to Laura Thalassa, Net Galley, and the publisher for my copy of this arc ♡

I really loved this book. All of these books are so interesting, and the post-apocalyptic is done really well, especially considering the books focus is more on the romance aspect. And talk about a good enemies to lovers! Definitely recommend these books.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC - these opinions are my own!
This is Book 2 of the Four Horseman Series:

Similarities:
- Plot: main characters ride from town to town so the Horseman can eradicate humanity one settlement at a time.
- Enemies-to-lovers dynamic where the FMC is a fighter who tries to kill the MMC.
- The Horseman thinks he sees some kind of “divine sign” from God yet spares the FMC.
- Slow burn where the (anti-) hero falls first while the heroine takes convincing before she falls, too.

Differences:
- Each horseman has been sent to earth for a different divine purpose, in this case War is going to battle/destroy each area he encounters
- This one takes place overseas and not in the United States

This is certainly a unique series with a dark villian love trope

If I were to give my most honest wish about this series - I'd wish these four books were ONE book - edit them down a bit and then we could read all at the same time.

War feels just as brutal and bittersweet as it's predecessor, Pestilence. The most human of Thalassa's four horseman, War is still extremely inhuman and brutal. I loved every second of this book and the way that Thalassa explores humanity's desperation to live and take advantage of any situation. The ending STRESSED me out. I can't recommend this series enough.

I had the same issues with this book as the first one. I didn't find Miriam nearly as annoying as I found Sara but she still went back and forth with loving War too many times. I feel like the book could have been shorter as we didn't need as many back and forth with War and Miriam. I'm also not a huge fan of the pregnancy but that's just a me thing. I overall still enjoyed the book and will continue with the next one.



Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

War is very much a tale of hope and hopelessness and what ordinary humans will do to survive. This was my favorite novel in this quartet so far.

I had a love/hate relationship with Miriam. I loved her tenacity, compassion, and empathy; but she was stuck in this mind frame of just trying to escape from War at whatever cost, even though he had proved to her that he was willing to change. War was a BAMF and I just loved the grit he brought to the story.

I don't know what I was expecting of the ending, but it wasn't that. I applaud the author for that last-second plot twist!

Overall, definitely pick this one up if you like enemies to lovers and dystopian struggles to survive.

I must say I didnt LOVE pestilence but War woke up and the world changed once more. This book takes place about 20 years after Pestilence (i presume with the context we are given) . And the second he landed he decided to be the horsemans version of a book boyfriend. He is toxic, dangerous, addictive.. and a man who knows what he wants.

Let's just not talk about how he travels with a pack of army men hell bent on destruction and if you somewho survive the wake you will not survive the zombies.

This story was developed in a more realistic way to allow the romance aspect to work

I liked this book way more than Pestilence.

There where a lot of the same components: fighter tries to kill the horseman, going from town to town, slow burn but there where better parts like this villain did not hurt the heroine.

War meets Miriam and decides she is his wife. Takes her back to his camp.

Miriam fights and holds her grounds for her morals throughout the book.

He keeps her with him, does not touch without consent and protects her from threats.

The book could have been shorter as it is practically the same story as the first one in my opinion. Over 500 pages.

This is the second book in the horsemen series!

The first and second books have similarities but they are definitely their own stories! I enjoyed War and Miriam just as much as Pestilence & Sara!

Check your triggers! Deaths happen alot.

He falls first, enemies to lovers, touch her and die, spice, banter, etc. So many great things!

"For your soft heart"

"Fuck it, I want a divorce" (I laughed OUT LOUD at this)

I'm loving the story line & can't wait to see how it ends! On to the next one, Famine! ☠️

I want to say thank you to Sourcebooks Bloom Books & Laura Thalassa, & Netgallery for this opportunity! 🖤

As the second book in the Four Horseman series, War can be read alone but will give some spoilers for the end of pestilence. War is another romance book with a toxic relationship that is hard to put down. This is not your sweet rom-com, but it is a fun story of a human woman's will coming up against the will of a divine being while love and attraction keep pulling them together.

War is the second book in The Four Horsemen series and holy moly, this one sent me into the sky. I will warn readers though that this book is quite violent and depicts gore, zombies, assault, and many other things that might be triggering to certain people.

War, the second horsemen, has finally awoken after his brother, Pestilence, failed his mission. War's duty is to judge the hearts of men and to sort out the good people from the bad. He does by destroying town after town, killing everyone in sight until the people of earth have achieved redemption. During one of his battles, he meets Miriam Elmahdy. Miriam is immediately confused and terrified as War walks up to her, calls her his wife, and decides to spare her by taking her back to his camp. The longer War stays around Miriam, the more his heart begins to change, and he begins to question what his purpose actually is.

I really liked this book. The romance in this is SPICY and I was totally invested the whole time. Miriam and War were made for each other, literally and figuratively. I loved their relationship, especially with the concept of it being two people in love who are at war with each other. Miriam is incredible. She is my favorite. I loved watching their love blossom and seeing what they learned from each other. There were a few parts where I had to stop to take a breather just because of the violence, but other than that, I don't really have any issues with this book.

I'm very excited to start Famine!

"Foolish, foolish girl."

Couldn't have said it better myself, Miriam. Couldn't have said it better myself.

The absolute sadness I feel at rating this 2 stars... This book started off so good! I loved the setting (we start off in Palestina and go through a few African countries throughout the book), Miriam seemed a strong independent survivalist FMC (oh, how naïve I was), was over the moon excited with the fated mates trope (are you kidding me? That's my kryptonite right there!), I was absolutely in love with War and then he dirty talked and I gasped so loud I had to fan myself to shock my nervous system into working again... I mean...

"If I'm your wife, why don't I sleep in the same tent as you? And why don't-?"
"Go on. Tell me, Miriam, about all the rest. Why don't I fuck you raw and feast on your pussy and keep you chained to my bed like a proper husband?"

*dies of heatstroke* RIGHT?!

Anyway, their bickering, War being War (I love him), the tropes... It all seemed to set me up for a 5 star read and bring me further out of my nasty slump, right until... It put me in an even nastier one. Thanks for that.

Here's why it stopped working for me:

-- BEWARE OF SPOILERS --

First thing that irked me was when War was so deadset on carrying out his task (and slagging off Pestilence in the process, but we let that one slide) but then 25% into the book he's already saying he'll do whatever necessary to keep Miriam, "no matter the cost". Turncoat *eyeroll* (just kidding). It just seemed a bit off to me that he would be so quick to give in after Miriam stomped her foot and retreated from him. Anyway on we read...

Second thing, and this is where it went wrong, I started feeling like the relationship arc was super wobbly. This goes hand in hand with me starting to dislike Miriam and her actions. She felt like such a petulant child, throwing a fit each time, emotionally retreating, then emotionally and sexually manipulating War (both of which I wasn't a fan of at all!), lying to him about things that carry a lot of weight for him (aka surrendering)... Needless to say I wasn't sold on her conflict at all; it seemed to me she was interested and attracted to him from the start but her continued denial of it rubbed me the wrong way (the worst part is I usually like this in main characters, but with her it just frustrated me). Also, she kept saying she feared War, but show me, don't tell me? Never once did I actually feel like she was afraid of him. And so, what we got was Miriam with her attachment issues giving a hot and cold vibe, stomping her foot each time War literally did what he came on Earth to do, retreating and then manipulating him to get what she wanted... which all resulted in a very wobbly relationship arc that didn't feel right to read. Even the ending, they separate and then go all in? There's no finesse. Meanwhile, War is gradually giving in, changing his ways for her, reaching out to her through his actions and words, and she's all oblivious to it (cue another eyeroll). I hated how much she hurt him, and how unfair she was towards him when he was actually trying, unlike her.

Now, on to editing, tropes, world-building and the likes. Some of these were already mildly irritating in Pestilence's book, but I guess I was lenient and more forgiving, because I actually liked the romance and FMC. But when the big things start bothering me, the little things stack up.
- The over the top use of italicized words... Seriously, stop. It's too much.
- This new trend of cashing in on tropes is actually hurting the quality of books. I made the mistake of asking my kindle to count the amount of times the word 'wife' was used in this book, since its repetitiveness bothered me so much. 211 times. I repeat, 211 times the word 'wife' was used. In a 544 page book, that's about once every two pages, although thankfully they were grouped together to obtain maximum irritation from repetitiveness. LESS IS MORE. Honestly. Less is more, because when timed right and used sparingly, it has so much more meaning. Sometimes, it felt gratuitous which annoyed me to no end. It lost all its meaning, even when it was supposed to feel meaningful.
- There's still a lack of proper world-building and a lot of easy outs used, like how did Miriam get resurrected both times? Who did it? How does it work? Where did War go to when he started chanting? So many unanswered questions. I am forever grateful War kept being War after he became human, though, because I could not deal with another Victor situation to be honest!

Overall, the book was entertaining enough, since I powered through to get the world building aspects I might've needed to continue the series. Had I not had this goal, I would've DNF'ed before the 50% mark. I loved War, but my heart bled at the way Miriam treated him. And my frustration of Miriam, her inner thoughts and her actions, as well as the impact she had on the relationship arc just didn't work for me.

*Thank you to Sourcebooks, Bloom Books, for gifting me an advanced reading copy of the re-release. This is my honest review, where all thoughts and opinions are my own.*

In this romance, Miriam, comes face to face with War. Being the second of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. This was a bit spicier than Pestilence. I did not expect what War would do with Miriam but he is War after all. This was an ARC for me and I loved it! I love when a story can throw me off my “normal” thinking of a character and switch it up…and I love the snakiness. Can’t wait to read the next!