Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review: I would surrender my soul to read this book for the first time again. 

 

Picking up a few years after “Pestilence” left off, “War” tells the story of Miriam Elmahdy, a weaponsmith who catches the eye of War, one of the horsemen of the apocalypse. Instead of killing her, War takes her with him as he raids town after town, claiming that she is his wife. And despite her better instincts and initial feelings of hatred, his gentle side begins to win her over. 

 

I really like how Thalassa’s second book takes place in a different region of the world from “Pestilence”! She does a great job describing the tense environment Miriam calls home and how Jerusalem was hit harder than most cities after the arrival of the horsemen. 

 

Miriam as a character is very admirable. As a weaponsmith, Miriam knows her way around a bow and was fearless when she first crossed paths with War on the battlefield. I also love how she does not back down from a fight and let anyone, including war personified, push her around. 

 

“War”’s plot structure is very similar to “Pestilence”’s, meaning that everything I adored about the development of the romantic relationships in book 1 is mirrored in book 2. And like “Pestilence,” as soon as I started reading “War,” I could not put it down. Moments where Miriam and War shared the same pallet under the stars, rode on the same horse together, traded weapons, and took care of each other tugged on my heartstrings. Watching War and Miriam slowly surrender to each other was everything.