War (The Four Horsemen #2)

Like all my reviews, this is a pro/con one. For every pro, there’s a con. At the end, there is an overview wrap-up paragraph or two. There are spoilers contained herein, so if you haven’t read it yet and don’t want to be spoiled, skip this review.

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Spoiler space adequate, I think.

PRO: A refreshing change of venue. Author’s knowledge of geography was spot-on.
CON: I felt the landscape was well-described (viscerally, almost in parts of the text), but the cultural highlights of the region were almost entirely skipped. There was a real teaching moment here possible for Ms. Thalassa, and she missed the mark.

PRO: I enjoyed the sexual chemistry between Miriam, the protagonist, and War, the antagonist. Their relationship was a roller coaster ride (the snarky banter, the smoldering looks, the desperation to touch). Laura T. really does a fantastic job pulling the heartstrings in her books, and she definitely does not disappoint here.
CON: The entire book relied too heavily on typical Y.A. tropes to sell its tale (Stockholm Syndrome + good sex = falling in love; a tough female character who can seemingly do it all a little too well; a psychopathic male can be changed by the love of a good woman; discovering a pregnancy suddenly transforms the sadist into Daddy of the Year). I realize it’s a daunting task to take two characters at war with each other and figure out how to make them fall in love, especially under such incredible circumstances, but the sudden shift of War’s attitude and beliefs by the 3/4ths mark of the book (when he started to surrender to Miriam and the love he felt for her) happened as a result of a near miss to her life. Once more we see an author using a woman’s victimization (kidnapping, assault, torture, rape, and/or almost murder) as a means to deliver her and her lover into a head space of ‘love’. That isn’t sexy, IMO.

PRO: The background details in this book were well-played. For instance, describing people in camp weaving baskets, digging latrines, tending the children and horses, or when they entered a city, how narrow the streets were or where the cemetery lay in conjunction to the city’s landscape, etc. Even the use of fire and smoke to create chaos was described well enough for us to really feel as if we (the audience) were there, surrounded by danger. These minor details grounded us in the place and the moment.
CON: There were many factual errors in the text and they were quite cringe-worthy to those in-the-know, which mens the author didn’t do as good a job researching them and/or describing them with enough detail to make people with knowledge believe her during those parts of the narrative. For example, using homemade arrows on weakly made bows–which were mostly picked up from corpses and which would be foreign to her hand grip–and describing those bows as having enough poundage behind the draw that the arrow could realistically pierce leather armor or accurately hit someone in the eye or throat with a killing blow….nope. Sorry. Also, being able to effectively use a mace or an ax in battle in close combat conditions without training….not happening, not even with beginner’s luck. And lastly, the stench of a camp that’s been settled in by that many people, in such close proximity, for even a few days, would have been overwhelming (more so than the rotting zombies), yet not a whiff of a comment was made to that effect. If you’re world-building and want us to buy it, every detail needs to be correct or else you push people out of the immersion and lose them. It’s likely that most of the readership wouldn’t have known these minor details, but you have to write as if you expect an expert to do so, not for the lowest common denominator.

PRO: Miriam was a strong-willed female with a survivor’s instinct, but at the same time, she was compassionate towards humans and animals alike. Like Sara was for Pestilence, Miriam was the perfect foil for War in that she embodies all of the best parts of femininity – strength, purpose, ferocity tempered with tenderness, mercy, hope. I appreciated her daring, her caring, and her bite.
CON: Miriam’s constant running-away from War was not at all in keeping with her characterization earlier on in the novels, especially the last attempt to run from him when she discovered her pregnancy. I understand the fear, but Ms. Thalassa spent 3/4ths of the book shoving down our throats that Miriam was a tough personality and despite her fears, was brave. Running away wasn’t a brave move, at all. I found this inconsistency to have completely unraveled her character. Also, the incessant use of mid-western modern American slang to convey Miriam’s thoughts and beliefs was probably this novel’s worst trait as it attempted to make Miriam more relate-able to the target audience at the cost of her cultural ‘voice’ (again, Miriam’s background and identity was sacrificed by Ms. Thalassa, who seemed to tip-toe over the act of celebrating diversity, fearing political backlash). I’d love to have learned some actual phrases in Miriam’s native language instead, maybe some traditions from the time before the Horsemen. Sadly, it felt like Thalassa just cheaply used the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as a backdrop, culture-washing the story. I felt cheated, honestly.

PRO: The book was pretty well copy edited, overall. I only found five punctuation & grammatical mistakes. The cover art is sexy and well digitized.
CON: The book could have used a better crit group or copy editor who actually understood the issues about culture and factual errors mentioned. Invest in someone, Ms. Thalassa, who will not be afraid to tear into your manuscript.

PRO: Secondary and tertiary characters were used sparingly to focus the narrative on the protagonist and antagonist, which was a nice change of pace for a paranormal romance (which tends to have a dozen other characters coming in and out, affecting the plot in major ways).
CON: Too many go-nowhere plots. For instance, the plot with Zara served very little purpose, as it wasn’t *really* a catalyst for War changing. The most this relationship did was allow Miriam one tie closer to humanity, so she wouldn’t be lonely. Another example, the plot with Hussain had seemed, at first, to want to serve as a triangle romance plot (Hussain, the human man vs. War, the angelic male vying for Miriam’s attention), but between one chapter and the next, that suddenly dropped off the radar, and in the end, Hussain was an enemy who needed killing. The message about humans were all framed through the lens of that relationship, which didn’t bode well for us as a species (re: humans don’t deserve genocide because they can be good and there’s a chance for their redemption…..oops, no, the humans are traitorous snakes – kill them all). Awkward and confusing message there, Ms. Thalassa. And what was the deal with Deimos? I was hoping for more there, only to be utterly let down as we were given zero information about him, really. To be fair, this was the same issue I had with Pestilence’s horse in the narrative, too.

OVERVIEW:
There were many problems with this story, really. “Pestilence” suffered some of the same trope issues, but was overall much more believable because (primarily) it’s setting wasn’t in a foreign land and its main protagonist was the same culture as the book’s target audience (American), and so Laura didn’t have to exaggerate the main female lead’s character so much and she culturally conveyed a solid look at Sara’s world. Miriam’s character was inconsistently written at times, and there were too many unbelievable scenes involving Miriam and her expertise in battle without much background as to how she achieved that expertise (re: it might have been different if we’d been told she’d been trained in the Israeli forces before the war or the Muslim Brotherhood during the war, but she wasn’t trained by anyone–and yet she was expert at combat techniques and handling foreign weapons???). Stockholm Syndrome is not a sexy means for falling in love, and now Thalassa has used that same plot trope twice – once in “Pestilence”, and now in “War”. She should have gone in a different direction here, IMO (for instance, Miriam leading a group of warriors fighting a guerilla war with War’s troops, leading raids on his camps, etc.). And the continual use of western slang by a person from a completely different culture–we’ve been over how eye-rolling an experience that was from a reader’s standpoint.

Overall, I feel let down by this book, honestly, because there was so much expectation after “Pestilence” and a lot of hype on social media about the release. My instinct tells me Ms. Thalassa went the route a lot of other authors in paranormal romance go once they achieve some modicum of success: not feeling as if they need to be checked-balanced by a third-party, because they don’t feel they need to hear the criticism of their writing and only yearn for the positive praise (Gena Showalter and Laura K. Hamilton massively suffer from this problem, IMHO, too). Being a professional author isn’t just about writing entertaining tales, though; any fanfiction author can do that for free. There’s a quality standard expectation to published authors, and that means at times, you must listen to the dissenters to learn where you failed so you can become a better writer. I hope Ms. Thalassa takes this message to heart.

I look forward to “Famine”. I have a feeling we’re going somewhere very dark with that character, which would be a refreshing change of pace, as both “Pestilence” and “War” were a 5-6 on the scale of ‘dark writing’ and this series really needs to be shaken up in preparation for Death’s final book, IMO.

Thanks for reading the review!

Ever since reading Laura Thalasssas Pestilence last year, I have been relentlessly stalking her and eating up all the updates on her second book, War, in her Four Horseman series. I really enjoyed Pestilence so waiting for her follow up felt like YEARS (it wasnt)!

Like Pestilence, War follows a horseman of the Apocalypse. War is much more violent and bloodthirsty than his brother Pestilence. Where Pestilence is broody and not too hot on his job of killing off humanity, War relishes in it. He thrives in taking lives and watching whole cities burn. He even enjoys raising the dead and watching them finish off whatever city he is done burning to the ground. That is until he captures Miriam.

War is an action packed book full of twists and turns. There is never a dull moment in this book and it is a BIG book. There is a lot to unpack in this novel and a lot of feelings to sort through for both War and Miriam. Miriam is a perfect equal to War. She is a survivor and she has beliefs that is she not willing to let go of. She is a fighter and she is willing to do what it takes to save what is left of her world.

I really enjoyed this book and even though it was a little bloody and violent at times it was a fun read. I also enjoy that this is sort of a different type of love story, I mean who falls in love with the four horsemen of the apocalypse and who enjoys reading that? I DO, I AM 100% HERE FOR THAT!

There is also the reason why the four horsemen have decided to pay a visit to Earth, humans are not only destroying one another but also everything else on Earth and humanity needs to be reminded that even though the horsemen are spreading plague, war, famine and death among humans, humans have been doling out the same to the rest of Earths inhabitants and humanity must now face the consequences.

Just like at the end of Pestilence we are treated to a few short sentences introducing us to the next horseman, in this case, Famine. Now, I truly believe Famine will need a chubby, 40ish year old, hangry woman to reign in his food destroying ass, just some food for thought…Laura;)

Here be some spoilers perhaps. I loved Pestilence and I believed his change, I didnt believe in War. Miriam was flat to me and where I felt Sarah changed Pestilence by showing him good in the people they meet, through poetry, I saw nothing of that in this one. The sex felt rushed and I particularly dont like that she uses sex. The humor I found in Pestilence was also lacking. The book could easily have been even longer and fleshed out the characters more.

First and foremost, READ THIS BOOK.

Im still trembling from the aftershocks.
Wow, wow, WOW!
Thalassa delivers in a MAJOR way with War. Im certain this is a highly anticipated novel for many readersit certainly was for me. I was so eager to dive into the world this sensationally talented author spins so flawlessly time and time again. Im once again blown away by her raw ability, perfectly executed style, and unique prose.
I was overwhelmed by this powerful journey of the unimaginable. From start to finish, this author didnt waver in the intensity. Each scene was a strike I felt deep within. The character development made me weep and curse and and love and worry, and sometimes laugh. War is an impossible force that cannot be reasoned with. I surrender.

A definite top read of 2019. I highly recommend falling into the complex web that is this authors writing. You will not regret it.

I was waiting for this book for ages after reading pestilence. I loved the first book and couldn’t wait for this one. It was a really good read. The tension between the main characters was really hot as were the intimate scenes. I would have loved to have read some more detailed intimate scenes between them! Some parts were a bit difficult to read but then again the book is obviously about war and battle. I will certainly be continuing this series and cant wait for the next book!

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