Reviews tagging 'War'

War by Laura Thalassa

74 reviews

kirahaycock21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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

4.25

I thought there was a little too much back and forth on and off again between the main characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

mattiedancer's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

3.75

Writing: 3.25⭐️/5 

Alright, so the writing is serviceable. I liked it in the sense that it didn’t get in the way. I did feel like the pacing was a bit off for this one. I noticed a lot more exposition starting to creep in. It felt a bit less polished. Overall, though, it stood out less than her first book in this series (Pestilence) strictly because it felt a bit like a carbon copy in certain sections.

Characters: 3.5⭐️/5

Above I said that the writing felt a bit too familiar. So did the characters. Now, War is completely different than Pestilence. Miriam feels a little too similar to Sara. As the novel picked up, she definitely struck out on her own, gaining her own sense of self. However, by then the similarities were embedded into my brain too much, and it became harder to notice their differences. I did appreciate getting a few more side characters in this one as well, even if some of them lacked a bit of depth.

Plot: 3.75⭐️/5 

The plot is fun – and, you guessed it, overall very similar to Pestilence. All in all, I did enjoy the differences, loving how Miriam pushed against her fate as War’s wife. I loved how he, in his differences from Pestilence, forced her to move in different directions. I will say the end felt a bit too pulled out. Everything felt so over, and for everyone to come back to kill War just felt a bit contrived, as though Thalassa was trying too hard to make the ending similar to Pestilence.

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Fans of ACOTAR and dystopian societies
• Someone looking for a romance with an intriguing plot
• Those who like fantasy/apocalyptic novels that centre on romance
• Readers who like (or don’t mind) a bit of spice, but not just spice
• Those who liked and loved the first book (but maybe take a break between so it’s not too fresh)

Content Warnings? 

Death, murder, murder, sexual content, physical abuse, emotional abuse, kidnapping, fire, fire injury, gore, blood, injury, injury detail, gun violence, violence, animal death, torture, grief, body horror, sexual harassment, sexual assault, war, 

Post-Reading Rating:  3⭐️/5

I didn’t love how the ending came about. Very contrived and pushed towards predictability, when it didn’t have to be.

Final Rating: 3.5⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ashwood_15's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and War

Minor: Sexual assault

ramakn22's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and War

twinklepuff's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bellebookcorner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“Loss is a wound that never heals. Never never never. It scabs over, and for a time you can almost forget it’s there, but then something—a smell, a sound, a memory—will split that wound right open, and you’ll be reminded again that you’re not whole. That you’ll never fully be whole again.”

Read this book if you love;
• Dark Fantasy Paranormal Romance
• Morally Grey Character
• Enemies-to-Lovers
• He Falls First
• Forced Marriage
• Post-Apocalyptic World
• Touch Her and You Die

This sequel is pretty much similar to the 1st book, one of the four horsemen (War) met the FMC(Miriam) while doing their mission. I also found Miriam and the previous one has similar traits – stubborn, strong willed and compassionate.

The world building is expanding, this time it takes place in Israel. Compare to Pestilence who works alone, War has a large camp where his captives and soldiers live. It’s interesting that the readers got a glimpse of how life goes for those living at the camp.

Pestilence was right though, War is more ruthless and vicious compare to Pestilence. I would be terrified meeting him face to face, but not Miriam who raised up against him every chance she got.

I like seeing how War slowly changes and learn more about mercy, growing conscience and redemption throughout the story, however it was mostly centered because of his needs to be loved by Miriam.
 
It takes quite a while for Miriam and War to admit their feelings for each other because they argue/fight most of the time.
The level of spiciness of this book is higher than the 1st book since War definitely know his way around women compare to Pestilence. 
 
Overall, this story is pretty enjoyable. I really like the character’s development and the author’s writing style - it was easy to read and conveyed the emotions very well; the feeling of loss, love and hope.
I want to keep reading this series since I heard Famine and Death gets even better so I’m looking forward to it.

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: Death, violence, sexual content, murder, war, sexual assault, vomit

I received an advanced review copy for free through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit

katbenimble's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The hero was better in this one, but the FMC was AN IDIOT.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

emmathebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

3.5

This was definitely better than the first book. However, I felt like something was missing. I would’ve liked to see more of War’s POV,  which could’ve really captured his moral struggles throughout the story. It’s a bit slow at times and the end was quite fast, but that doesn’t make the book much less enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

itsnotri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, and War

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail