bwake's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, War, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Suicide attempt
tiana_king's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
So this book was the opposite of Pestilence in that the forced proximity made sense but the romance didn’t. Miriam getting swept up into War’s camp? Reasonable. Yet somehow even with all the time Miriam and War spent together I don’t understand how she fell in love with him. Perhaps it was too subtle for me. Additionally the story ends with some things still unanswered which is irritating. Romance aside the plot was interesting and had enough action to be exciting at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Vomit, Violence, War, Confinement, Grief, Death of parent, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Animal death
beth_waller97's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
These books get longer, the smut gets shorter, and the story drags on with absolutely no actual plot other than ‘I’m banging a horseman. Definitely shouldn’t be banging a horseman. Oh fuck, look, here’s the consequences of my actions’
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death, Genocide, Rape, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Blood
Moderate: Pregnancy
xlaurareads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
based on a friend's review, i anticipated this book to be even better than pestilence's one, but i must admit, to me, it was not as good as the first one. i love love love how the authot takes time to introduce us to the world and describe the state of it - excellent worldbuilding, really. but i also found some info missing, whether intended by the author or not, that is, i wasn't really aware that the phobos riders were humans who actively chose to fight at war's side rather than having risen with him when his time came. however, this exact instance clearly showed how cruel humans have become and once again makes it obvious why god sent the horsemen to destroy humanity altogether. that was really something. i also adored the "the guy falls first" trope because you could really feel how war softened up to miriam over time. nevertheless, i do have extremely conflicted feelings about him...i adored him one minute, then wanted to have him dead the next. i couldn't really wrap my mind about how he could be so utterly cruel and full of hate, but then again, he's war so what would you expect? i did like how he fully surrenderd to miriam near the end of the book but I'm not sure if I'm 100% d'accord with the reasons bc i just don't like the HEA the author used (plus, i didn't like it to have the same HEA in book 1 and 2). the ending was nice and didn't seem as rushed as in book 1 and i loved that we also got some chapters in war's pov near the end. all in all, i enjoyed this book a lot and finished it within two days, but my conflicted feelings aboht war and the fact that the HEA just wasn't too much my thing led me to rate this one with 3.75 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Violence, and War
Moderate: Death of parent, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Vomit
karina_dreamsinwords's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
The whole concept of this series is unique, paired with Laura's writing and you have a fantastically dark, post apocalyptic romance and what in the world- I ate it up!
I loved the strong willed heroine in this story. She was very much a "take no sh*t" from anyone type of person, the horseman especially! This was very much a hate to love scenario. War was pretty smitten from the jump and seeing his coldhearted exterior soften the longer he was with Miriam was so sweet! I love being able to see the hero open up and change his outlook all because of the women he loves. It just does it for me, friends. It really does.
I loved the strong willed heroine in this story. She was very much a "take no sh*t" from anyone type of person, the horseman especially! This was very much a hate to love scenario. War was pretty smitten from the jump and seeing his coldhearted exterior soften the longer he was with Miriam was so sweet! I love being able to see the hero open up and change his outlook all because of the women he loves. It just does it for me, friends. It really does.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault and Pregnancy
Minor: Rape, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt
kinskinn's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Sexual content, Violence, Genocide, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt
shinyfox's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Rape
meggs1005's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual content, War, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault
maddamekat's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Gore, and Genocide
Minor: Injury/injury detail and Sexual assault
paigeofstories's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ loved it but probably won’t re-read
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ a lot of descriptive spicy scenes throughout the book
TW: ⚠️ stockholm syndrome, violence
—
After some of the experiences I’ve had with Kindle Unlimited, I can’t believe we get these books for free. Thalassa clearly spends a lot of time structuring, writing and editing her stories. This one was cohesive with clear arcs, but managed to include twists and turns as well.
Although set in the same mid-apocalyptic world as Pestilence, War was a very different book (aside from the enemies-to-lovers, stockholm syndrome vibe… which, honestly, is probably the only way you can really do a romance book about one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because they’re coming to wipe out the human race). There were WAY more characters in this book, and I really enjoyed that because it allowed us to watch Miriam and War in the context of how they related to other people as well as each other. The expanded scope allowed for much more depth, which in turn, made for greater character arcs. It’s great that Thalassa has been able to take tales as old as time and put this type of spin on them, because the plots deal with familiar concepts surrounding the end of the world, but the stories themselves are incredibly original.
I liked Miriam more than the FMC in the first book of this series. She actively fought for humanity and was unwilling to accept War’s mission as gospel—not even for a moment. She knew that he had a choice in spreading war and she fought tooth-and-nail to get him to make the right choice.
There was definitely a lot more violence in this book, but the title is literally “War”, so I mean… that was to be expected. The pacing of the battles/invasions was done really well, with each one holding a significant purpose for furthering the plot (which I didn’t expect). Thalassa was not gratuitous in her battles, she made each one of them count—and it created a very tightly-knit story, which I appreciated.
The spice in this book was much more frequent than in Pestilence, and I really liked the way it was done. Thalassa has a way of capitalizing on her scenes, of making each and every one of them count for something—and I think there are a lot of authors who could learn from her in that regard. The steamy parts of this book the kind of hot scenes that make you want to curl up and re-read them, but they somehow always manage to also further the plot. It’s masterfully done.
Anyways, enter at your own risk (I mean, this is a romance book that is literally called War)… but if you can do so, this book is a delicious read.
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ a lot of descriptive spicy scenes throughout the book
TW: ⚠️ stockholm syndrome, violence
—
After some of the experiences I’ve had with Kindle Unlimited, I can’t believe we get these books for free. Thalassa clearly spends a lot of time structuring, writing and editing her stories. This one was cohesive with clear arcs, but managed to include twists and turns as well.
Although set in the same mid-apocalyptic world as Pestilence, War was a very different book (aside from the enemies-to-lovers, stockholm syndrome vibe… which, honestly, is probably the only way you can really do a romance book about one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because they’re coming to wipe out the human race). There were WAY more characters in this book, and I really enjoyed that because it allowed us to watch Miriam and War in the context of how they related to other people as well as each other. The expanded scope allowed for much more depth, which in turn, made for greater character arcs. It’s great that Thalassa has been able to take tales as old as time and put this type of spin on them, because the plots deal with familiar concepts surrounding the end of the world, but the stories themselves are incredibly original.
I liked Miriam more than the FMC in the first book of this series. She actively fought for humanity and was unwilling to accept War’s mission as gospel—not even for a moment. She knew that he had a choice in spreading war and she fought tooth-and-nail to get him to make the right choice.
There was definitely a lot more violence in this book, but the title is literally “War”, so I mean… that was to be expected. The pacing of the battles/invasions was done really well, with each one holding a significant purpose for furthering the plot (which I didn’t expect). Thalassa was not gratuitous in her battles, she made each one of them count—and it created a very tightly-knit story, which I appreciated.
The spice in this book was much more frequent than in Pestilence, and I really liked the way it was done. Thalassa has a way of capitalizing on her scenes, of making each and every one of them count for something—and I think there are a lot of authors who could learn from her in that regard. The steamy parts of this book the kind of hot scenes that make you want to curl up and re-read them, but they somehow always manage to also further the plot. It’s masterfully done.
Anyways, enter at your own risk (I mean, this is a romance book that is literally called War)… but if you can do so, this book is a delicious read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Death, and Violence