Scan barcode
leilah_m's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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
3.25
juliakohlert's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
jillianfontaine's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
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
2.75
thanoswife's review against another edition
5.0
this book was GOOD. Pestilence was a good book, but the writing style wasn’t my favorite ever. Thalassa really upped the ante with War. I couldn’t put it down. The story, while similar to Pestilence in its framework (MC meets Horseman. Horseman take MC around destroying the world), it felt like a really different story. Miriam was a badass. It’s hard to find FMC and a “villain” MMC where the FMC doesn’t give in to him and his villainous behavior.
i did cry JUST A LITTLE. this was a good one. the spice was pretty docile, too.
i did cry JUST A LITTLE. this was a good one. the spice was pretty docile, too.
beccaalina'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
hsecen's review against another edition
4.0
Once again, Laura Thalassa delivers such a fascinating story - seeing one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse being brought to heel by the woman he's falling in love with. I thoroughly enjoy seeing these strong female main characters giving these fearsome men a run for their money, and War (the book) delivers all of that. From the moment that War (the character) declares Miriam his wife, I was completely hooked and so ready to see what journey these two were in for. There is such a war in Miriam's head for falling for this man who swears to be her protector while he is also out in the world, destroying the humans that she wants to protect. There is a push and pull throughout the book. There was only one moment where War did something rather catastrophic. It's hard to say it was redeemable, but it did make Miriam upset, and I didn't feel like War did enough to absolve himself of he did. I wish that he had groveled more and that Miriam had held to her convictions a little stronger.
Other things I enjoyed was that we get to see a new area of the world being affected and how each horseman brings about destruction for humans. I appreciated seeing the differences.
Once again, I caution readers that there are violent and graphic scenes depicted throughout the book, so be cautious of any triggers.
Other things I enjoyed was that we get to see a new area of the world being affected and how each horseman brings about destruction for humans. I appreciated seeing the differences.
Once again, I caution readers that there are violent and graphic scenes depicted throughout the book, so be cautious of any triggers.
hmmreads's review against another edition
2.0
2 stars
Yikes. This book was bad.
I wasn't feeling Pestilence all that much and it took me a while to pick this one up and boy, I'm kinda glad I did because I don't have that gnawing voice telling me that this series has "potential" anymore. Because after reading the world's logic in this book... man it's a mess. And I have no intentions of finishing the series.
A reviewer said something along the lines of "War speaks like a white loaf of bread" and I completely agree. This goes for Miriam too.
Also, the story was very shallow. I was expecting War and Miriam to discuss War raising the dead, how it was basically disrespectful and idk, inhumane? With how Miriam kept going on and on about "save the humans", she didn't really have much compassion for humans. She frowned upon it but was just like, "ew, corpses. stinky." Disappointing.
So this took place in the Middle East. I didn't quite like how the author portrayed it but eh whatever, I don't really care, you could swap out the location for any other and it wouldn't matter. Miriam was similar to the FMC in book 1 in the way she tried to kill War when he was passing by. War noticed her and took her back to camp, also claiming that she was his wife.
Right from the get-go, he was super lenient with her. He didn't kill her when she didn't plead allegiance and he agreed to small leniencies in exchange for sexual favors from her. Early on, we were shown one of War's elite killers killed because when he was on the battlefield, he was also killing their own army for like the past several cities they passed. One might take this as a warning to not try to be slick and do the same thing that the dead soldier did. But oh hoho no-- not our Miriam. She was as dense as a brick and had the highest level of self-entitlement. But of course, we don't have to worry, there's no way War would kill her! He's whipped.
So Miriam begged to join War to kill his men. She was under the impression that doing this will prevent other people from dying. And she didn't see the irony in her own train of thought. The elite soldiers, albeit truly evil or for self-preservation purposes, were human too. My god. The sheer stupidity and hypocrisy of this girl was just insane. She managed to do this for some time before she got caught by another elite soldier. And of course, War won't punish her.
There was a time when she tried to "kill" War, again, even though she's been told multiple multiple times he cannot die. War had to punish her for this but indirectly. He raised the dead to kill the other people in the camp. Miriam had this one friend that she had begged War to save prior, and this friend didn't die simply because War knew she was Miriam's friend. Yeah lots of people died, but Miriam didn't really care for them, did she? She was only like, oopsies people died because of me. But she still has her freaking friend! She didn't lose anything. All the stupid shit she was doing had no fucking consequences or weight.
Miriam was a manipulative bitch too. Essentially, when she wanted anything at all from War, she'd say something like, "this is how you get me to love you, War." Like wtf was that? It's great and all if this was just the beginning or whatever. But this stayed until the end. Her love was conditional and that's not a good look for a romance novel. Also, War only likes her because she's marked. Like there was no reason at all for him to love her. Oh and Miriam had the audacity to act shocked when War asked her if she even cared about him later on?
WTF Miriam? No it was not fucking obvious. All she did was betray him and disrespect him every time he turned his back for one second. Not saying she shouldn't be fighting War's killing spree, but she was acting like a goddamn two-faced hypocrite that couldn't even hatch a decent plan. She kept doing the same unsuccessful attempt twice. She'd try escaping before and got caught, then she tried again later on in the book-- also failed. Like god fucking damn. Where is this girl's brain???? Up her ass crack?
You know what Miriam feels like? Like those white missionaries going on trips to impoverished countries to "save" the dying starving children while they take pictures with them and post them on their social media, bragging how hard they work for these kids, only to immediately neglect the kids after their 5-minute photo-op was done. On a side note, why the fuck was Miriam so overpowered? She could take down War's elite killer with no problem when at the start of the book, she couldn't even aim that well. As I said, she had no risks, it was boring.
And then she got pregnant. And suddenly everything changeed. sigh.
It's your typical "kids changed my life for the better" trope. War suddenly did a 180 and started to save the "innocent" people he came across without hesitating. Then he was like, "I did bad things. But if I can change, then... I should save the evil people too." And then he disbanded the camp altogether. However, the elite killers thought War was going to kill them because they're evil and all so they claimed that nearby humans were going to attack them. War stepped out with them and was ambushed and thrown into a pit with explosives.
Also right, War was so hesitant saving Miriam's friend's nephew kid but why were they even kids in his camp in the first place? I don't remember that being explained.
Miriam and her 1 brain cell decided to go down to retrieve him so he wouldn't have to wake up only to be dead again after being blown into pieces. But this was the one time she wasn't overpowered and triggered the bomb. She died. And this was I think the only time I had ever been happy that a main character died. I wished she stayed dead.
When War woke up, he begged Death to bring Miriam to life again and Death requested War to "surrender and give in his sword." It was at this point that I gave up on this world. There is Death's book where his job was to finish off the earth, but here he was, doing side quest rescue missions willy-nilly while encouraging War to "don't fight, make love"? Like what was the logic here??
Also there was this whole thing where Miriam got into an accident a long time ago. She actually died there but came back with a mark that said "surrender" in angelic. I don't get the logic why War thought this mark meant Miriam was for him because life and death was Death's thing, not War's.
Everything in this book didn't make sense. FMC was as dumb as a pile of rocks. MMC was boring and stale and a pushover for FMC. Writing was cringy and cliche.
Yikes. This book was bad.
I wasn't feeling Pestilence all that much and it took me a while to pick this one up and boy, I'm kinda glad I did because I don't have that gnawing voice telling me that this series has "potential" anymore. Because after reading the world's logic in this book... man it's a mess. And I have no intentions of finishing the series.
A reviewer said something along the lines of "War speaks like a white loaf of bread" and I completely agree. This goes for Miriam too.
Also, the story was very shallow. I was expecting War and Miriam to discuss War raising the dead, how it was basically disrespectful and idk, inhumane? With how Miriam kept going on and on about "save the humans", she didn't really have much compassion for humans. She frowned upon it but was just like, "ew, corpses. stinky." Disappointing.
So this took place in the Middle East. I didn't quite like how the author portrayed it but eh whatever, I don't really care, you could swap out the location for any other and it wouldn't matter. Miriam was similar to the FMC in book 1 in the way she tried to kill War when he was passing by. War noticed her and took her back to camp, also claiming that she was his wife.
Right from the get-go, he was super lenient with her. He didn't kill her when she didn't plead allegiance and he agreed to small leniencies in exchange for sexual favors from her. Early on, we were shown one of War's elite killers killed because when he was on the battlefield, he was also killing their own army for like the past several cities they passed. One might take this as a warning to not try to be slick and do the same thing that the dead soldier did. But oh hoho no-- not our Miriam. She was as dense as a brick and had the highest level of self-entitlement. But of course, we don't have to worry, there's no way War would kill her! He's whipped.
So Miriam begged to join War to kill his men. She was under the impression that doing this will prevent other people from dying. And she didn't see the irony in her own train of thought. The elite soldiers, albeit truly evil or for self-preservation purposes, were human too. My god. The sheer stupidity and hypocrisy of this girl was just insane. She managed to do this for some time before she got caught by another elite soldier. And of course, War won't punish her.
There was a time when she tried to "kill" War, again, even though she's been told multiple multiple times he cannot die. War had to punish her for this but indirectly. He raised the dead to kill the other people in the camp. Miriam had this one friend that she had begged War to save prior, and this friend didn't die simply because War knew she was Miriam's friend. Yeah lots of people died, but Miriam didn't really care for them, did she? She was only like, oopsies people died because of me. But she still has her freaking friend! She didn't lose anything. All the stupid shit she was doing had no fucking consequences or weight.
Miriam was a manipulative bitch too. Essentially, when she wanted anything at all from War, she'd say something like, "this is how you get me to love you, War." Like wtf was that? It's great and all if this was just the beginning or whatever. But this stayed until the end. Her love was conditional and that's not a good look for a romance novel. Also, War only likes her because she's marked. Like there was no reason at all for him to love her. Oh and Miriam had the audacity to act shocked when War asked her if she even cared about him later on?
“It’s you,” War continues, “who never cared.” There’s an edge of bitterness to his voice.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I say miserably, half aware that Zara can probably hear every single word. Oh well.
“Speak plainly, Miriam,” War says, his features sharp and his gaze intense, hopeful.
Am I really going to do this? Shit, I think I am. I’m too exhausted to pretend away the truth.
“I care about you, War,” I admit. “More than I want to—much more. It’s been hell, not seeing you.”
WTF Miriam? No it was not fucking obvious. All she did was betray him and disrespect him every time he turned his back for one second. Not saying she shouldn't be fighting War's killing spree, but she was acting like a goddamn two-faced hypocrite that couldn't even hatch a decent plan. She kept doing the same unsuccessful attempt twice. She'd try escaping before and got caught, then she tried again later on in the book-- also failed. Like god fucking damn. Where is this girl's brain???? Up her ass crack?
You know what Miriam feels like? Like those white missionaries going on trips to impoverished countries to "save" the dying starving children while they take pictures with them and post them on their social media, bragging how hard they work for these kids, only to immediately neglect the kids after their 5-minute photo-op was done. On a side note, why the fuck was Miriam so overpowered? She could take down War's elite killer with no problem when at the start of the book, she couldn't even aim that well. As I said, she had no risks, it was boring.
And then she got pregnant. And suddenly everything changeed. sigh.
It's your typical "kids changed my life for the better" trope. War suddenly did a 180 and started to save the "innocent" people he came across without hesitating. Then he was like, "I did bad things. But if I can change, then... I should save the evil people too." And then he disbanded the camp altogether. However, the elite killers thought War was going to kill them because they're evil and all so they claimed that nearby humans were going to attack them. War stepped out with them and was ambushed and thrown into a pit with explosives.
Also right, War was so hesitant saving Miriam's friend's nephew kid but why were they even kids in his camp in the first place? I don't remember that being explained.
Miriam and her 1 brain cell decided to go down to retrieve him so he wouldn't have to wake up only to be dead again after being blown into pieces. But this was the one time she wasn't overpowered and triggered the bomb. She died. And this was I think the only time I had ever been happy that a main character died. I wished she stayed dead.
When War woke up, he begged Death to bring Miriam to life again and Death requested War to "surrender and give in his sword." It was at this point that I gave up on this world. There is Death's book where his job was to finish off the earth, but here he was, doing side quest rescue missions willy-nilly while encouraging War to "don't fight, make love"? Like what was the logic here??
Also there was this whole thing where Miriam got into an accident a long time ago. She actually died there but came back with a mark that said "surrender" in angelic. I don't get the logic why War thought this mark meant Miriam was for him because life and death was Death's thing, not War's.
Everything in this book didn't make sense. FMC was as dumb as a pile of rocks. MMC was boring and stale and a pushover for FMC. Writing was cringy and cliche.
ashs_books's review against another edition
4.0
“I may not like the guy, but I think I’m addicted to him.” - Miriam
reviewmobooks's review against another edition
slow-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? Yes
2.5