War by Laura Thalassa

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

They came to earth—Pestilence, War, Famine, Death—four horsemen riding their screaming steeds, racing to the corners of the world. Four horsemen with the power to destroy all of humanity. They came to earth, and they came to end us all. 

The day Jerusalem falls, Miriam Elmahdy knows her life is over. Houses are burning, the streets run red with blood, and a traitorous army is massacring every last resident. There is no surviving this, especially not once Miriam catches the eye of War himself. But when the massive and terrifying horseman corners Miriam, he calls her his wife, and instead of killing her, he takes her back to his camp. 

Now Miriam faces a terrifying future, one where she watches her world burn town by town, and the one man responsible for it all is her seemingly indestructible “husband”. But there’s another side to him, one that’s gentle and loving and dead set on winning her over, and she might not be strong enough to resist. 

However, if there’s one thing Miriam has learned, it’s that love and war cannot coexist. And so she must make the ultimate choice: surrender to War and watch humankind fall, or sacrifice everything and stop him.

War

War is so awesome!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💜🩷💙💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: ☹️😍😋😀
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Solo Narration

I loved the first book, Pestilence so I had a feeling I would like this one even better and that feeling was so right! At the beginning I wasn’t quite sure where this story was going to go, since it started out so different than Pestilence. However, I couldn’t turn away and I loved every minute. For one thing I love the fact that these heroines are so strong and capable.

Miriam is a survivor, she grew up in New Palestine, formerly known as Israel and is the daughter of a Jew and a Muslim. She survived the death of her father who was hit by a bus at the beginning of the apocalypse when everything with a motor stopped working. Then later Miriam, her mother and younger sister had to flee the city when there was a war. This was prior to the horseman “War” coming. Her city has seen many wars over the past few thousand years.

When Miriam lost the rest of her family in an accident, she returned to the city and lived alone in the damaged and condemned building where their previous apartment was located. She became adept at making weapons and had several rules to staying alive, the most important of which was to be brave. She was not afraid to kill in defense of herself, but when she sees the horseman “War” coming into her city she is brave enough to try to kill him.

“War” sees Miriam and immediately knows that she is his wife and was made for him. Though Miriam fights him at every turn. And it is no small thing since everyone else that goes against him ends up dead. Miriam keeps trying though because he is determined to kill all humans. He forces the people that are captured to either swear fealty to his cause or to die.

The fact that “War” sees her as his wife makes things both easier and harder for Miriam. Easier since he isn’t so willing to kill her but harder because she is both attracted to him and repulsed by what he is doing. It makes for some pretty steamy scenes. I won’t go further into what happens but to say that “War” won’t let Miriam go, so he takes her and his army from place to place destroying everything in his path while she tries to change his mind and thwart him in other ways.

Miriam’s fierce determination, the chilling destruction, and the complicated dynamic between her and the Horseman were the essence of the story. Her resilience and cunning make her a compelling protagonist, and it’s fascinating how her survival instincts clash with War’s absolute power. That tension made every moment gripping.

The world-building, the character depth, and the sensory details were well defined. The layered storytelling and symbolic themes really shine through. The main and supporting characters are well developed and have their own reasons for doing things. The sites and smells are thoroughly thought out as well. I couldn’t put this book down, and now I can’t wait for Famine!



This audiobook was told in Mirium’s points of view via solo narration and was narrated by Susannah Jones. I don’t generally like solo narration, but I loved this series when it first came out and wanted to listen to it via audiobook. Susannah has a soft, feminine voice which is very pleasant, and I enjoyed it very much and didn’t miss the dual narration. So far, I have enjoyed the first two audiobooks as much I liked reading these books the first time years ago. Though I must say I am glad the next two books have both male and female narrators.

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