Scan barcode
kennedynoelle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
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
4.0
Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for giving me this ebook!!
In this novel we follow the second horseman of the apocalypse, War, and Miriam, as war is raging in the Middle East and into Africa. Unlike the first book, this one is enemies AND lovers at the same time. I found that quite interesting but it does lead to many moral dilemmas and dumb decisions made by our FMC. It’s these dumb decisions in the second half that annoyed me enough to lower the rating. Other than that I really enjoyed it and loved seeing how War developed throughout the story as well as his relationship with Miriam.
For those wanting to read this, there are definitely topics that many may not want to encounter so make sure to check any trigger warnings!! Without spoiling anything, there is also a trope that occurs in the last 25% that I know many people don’t like so if this could be concerning to you, make sure to check that out too!
In this novel we follow the second horseman of the apocalypse, War, and Miriam, as war is raging in the Middle East and into Africa. Unlike the first book, this one is enemies AND lovers at the same time. I found that quite interesting but it does lead to many moral dilemmas and dumb decisions made by our FMC. It’s these dumb decisions in the second half that annoyed me enough to lower the rating. Other than that I really enjoyed it and loved seeing how War developed throughout the story as well as his relationship with Miriam.
For those wanting to read this, there are definitely topics that many may not want to encounter so make sure to check any trigger warnings!! Without spoiling anything, there is also a trope that occurs in the last 25% that I know many people don’t like so if this could be concerning to you, make sure to check that out too!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy and Rape
kat1105'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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Rape, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and War
alibookedup's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoyed this more than pestilence!
What I liked”
- “wife”
- “for your soft heart”
- war was a more amusing and attractive male counterpart and I was very here for the Khal drogo vibes (without rape)
- Miriam as a MFC was also more enjoyable - she was less annoying for me personally than sarah. I loved her strength, attitude, and determination. In other words, she was a badass!
- much more interesting backstories delved into with both war and Miriam. I felt the world expanding in really interesting ways. Loved war talking about his brothers and some chapters from his perspective along with Miriam and her grief of losing her family
- faster romance, spicier, and really cute moments. their relationship progression was just the right speed
- he fell first
-loved that there were more things interacting with war and Miriam like Zara and the Phobos soldiers. Having a community made from war prisoners was really interesting
- wars redemption
- “surrender”
- THE ENDING!!!!
What I didn’t like:
- sometimes I still felt like the author would have Miriam say things to sound cool or hip that felt super out of character. It was really distracting in pestilence and I feel like she reigned it in more this book but there were still sometimes that Miriam said cringey things. Like “he knocked me up real good”. 🫣🫣🫣
- plot sometimes still felt repetitive but way less so than previous book. Because the pacing was way better it was less noticeable
- there was always some iteration of saying “the horseman”, “my horseman”, etc. it’s honestly just said way too much in both books but I did feel like it was better in this one
What I liked”
- “wife”
- “for your soft heart”
- war was a more amusing and attractive male counterpart and I was very here for the Khal drogo vibes (without rape)
- Miriam as a MFC was also more enjoyable - she was less annoying for me personally than sarah. I loved her strength, attitude, and determination. In other words, she was a badass!
- much more interesting backstories delved into with both war and Miriam. I felt the world expanding in really interesting ways. Loved war talking about his brothers and some chapters from his perspective along with Miriam and her grief of losing her family
- faster romance, spicier, and really cute moments. their relationship progression was just the right speed
- he fell first
-loved that there were more things interacting with war and Miriam like Zara and the Phobos soldiers. Having a community made from war prisoners was really interesting
- wars redemption
- “surrender”
- THE ENDING!!!!
What I didn’t like:
- sometimes I still felt like the author would have Miriam say things to sound cool or hip that felt super out of character. It was really distracting in pestilence and I feel like she reigned it in more this book but there were still sometimes that Miriam said cringey things. Like “he knocked me up real good”. 🫣🫣🫣
- plot sometimes still felt repetitive but way less so than previous book. Because the pacing was way better it was less noticeable
- there was always some iteration of saying “the horseman”, “my horseman”, etc. it’s honestly just said way too much in both books but I did feel like it was better in this one
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Rape, Child death, and War
headbangerhijabi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual assault, and War
Moderate: Pregnancy and Sexual violence
Minor: Vomit and Xenophobia
whitney427's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, War, Death, Pregnancy, and Child death
Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Rape, and Torture
Minor: Slavery and Suicidal thoughts
mspilesofpaper's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
2.5 stars.
Slightly better than Pestilence.
Pestilence was boring and certainly hated it to kill people. War is pretty much Ares (or is Ares like War? who knows) as both enjoy battle, killing, bloodlust etc. War has zero issues with the fact that his men would rape women in the war camp until it would’ve happened to Sara. (All these rape/sexual assault mentions really tell me that I would just kill myself if we have to live through an apocalypse.)
The ending is so … ugh, stereotypical? It’s an happy ending but so predictable.
I hope that Death will live up to his two scenes because he’s an ass in both.
Concerning the world state: Pestilence went through the USA and Canada with parts of Mexico. War took Asia (from Vietnam starting), the Middle East and Egypt/Sudan. I suppose that one book will play in Europe then. South America and Africa (aside Egypt & Sudan) are still possibilities but somehow I doubt that one of the remaining books will play there.
Slightly better than Pestilence.
Pestilence was boring and certainly hated it to kill people. War is pretty much Ares (or is Ares like War? who knows) as both enjoy battle, killing, bloodlust etc. War has zero issues with the fact that his men would rape women in the war camp until it would’ve happened to Sara. (All these rape/sexual assault mentions really tell me that I would just kill myself if we have to live through an apocalypse.)
The ending is so … ugh, stereotypical? It’s an happy ending but so predictable.
I hope that Death will live up to his two scenes because he’s an ass in both.
Concerning the world state: Pestilence went through the USA and Canada with parts of Mexico. War took Asia (from Vietnam starting), the Middle East and Egypt/Sudan. I suppose that one book will play in Europe then. South America and Africa (aside Egypt & Sudan) are still possibilities but somehow I doubt that one of the remaining books will play there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
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