War by Laura Thalassa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
War is the 2nd-installment to Laura Thalassa’s Romantasy series, The Four Horsemen. I read the 1st-book, Pestilence, in late-2024 and I didn’t hate it.
This is not a genre I have a lot of experience in, so perhaps it requires a bit more explanation as to why I would randomly be picking up this older series now.
Last year after I read Kaylie Smith’s Phantasma, I had a moment where I was considering becoming a Romantasy-Girlie, so of course, I bought a bunch of books I knew nothing about to fit that new personality.
During that frenzy of fiscal irresponsibility, I bought this entire series for no reason. After reading Pestilence though, I knew I wanted to continue. Good news!
It was interesting, and though often repetitive, it did keep me engaged. I liked that the story was set in an apocalyptic world and how Pestilence wasn’t really a human being. LOL — that seems so strange to say.
War is set after the events in Pestilence, and has no real connection to that story other than the fact that War is Pestilence’s ‘brother’, and Pestilence is briefly referred to a couple of times.
I ended up enjoying this one quite a bit more than that 1st-book. I don’t know why exactly I enjoyed this so much, I don’t know what that says about me, but I did and I’m not gonna lie about it.
Maybe it’s because it sort of reads like a piece of Khal Drogo fanfic, and I would never, ever turn that down.
We each like what we like. The end. I’m accepting no further questions on that at this time.
I also enjoyed the setting of this one a lot. It was set in the Middle East and Northern Africa, whereas Pestilence was set in North America. I thought it made sense for the author to jump locations, since this is a world-wide event, so it would make sense to give stories from around the world.
I’m not commenting on Thalassa’s representations of those places, just the idea of making it a globe-spanning series. I’m interested to see where the next 2-books are set.
There is a lot more action in this one, with hard-fought battle scenes, hand-to-hand combat moments and intense interactions. I loved both of the MCs, Miriam and War, and enjoyed watching their relationship develop.
War was much more appealing to me than Pestilence, so that definitely boosted my enjoyment level as well. Pestilence felt a little clueless and bumbling, whereas War gives very confident, powerful, Alpha Male vibes.
There were times I questioned Miriam’s choices, but she was certainly in a tough spot. What would you do to survive the apocalypse, you know?
I also really enjoyed the conclusion. I think the author wrapped it up in a satisfying way. I walk away from this, happy that I made the time for it.
I will be continuing with the series, though I’m not sure how long it will take me to get to the next book. I am very interested to learn more about it though. Wondering what Famine’s personality will be like…
