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.

Thank you so much to Laura Thalassa for providing me with an ARC of this incredible sequel! I have been anticipating this release since November of last year, and it was well worth the wait. I had expected a continuation of the story of Pestilence; perhaps he had to leave Sara to combat his brother. I was however pleasantly surprised to see that this was a story all its own, with a battle-tested, courageous woman at its center.

It has been 13 years since the appearance of the first Horseman. Since he stopped his terrible plague from spreading across the world, his brother has taken his place. War is relentless, sweeping across the East with a mighty sword and an unquenchable blood lust. Miriam, our protagonist, has heard of his horrible deeds, but thought she was far removed from them. Her world had been shattered already; her family was taken from her in one way or another during the first Horseman’s reign. She has had to learn to adjust to this post-apocalyptic world of destruction and ruin.

Miriam has known death, and she has known murder. This new reality she lives in has made people return to their wild ways, and it is truly a kill or be killed society. She makes her own weapons and is a self-taught archer; a force to be reckoned with. That all changes when War and his army shows up in her town. She is unlucky enough to come face-to-face with the second Horseman, but instead of killing her, he starts spouting something in a dead language about her being his wife and God promising her to him, and so he takes her back to his camp.

What ensues is a battle of the greatest kind. Miriam wars with herself as the sees firsthand the towns that War brings to their knees, but because of her influence, she also sees his humanity that continues to grow every day. Hatred for this monster but love for the man underneath makes Miriam question everything, but she never loses sight of who she is. Despite War’s warnings, she continuously defies him to try and save people. She puts herself in harm’s way more than once, testing her new ‘husband’s’ patience.

I care for this pairing just as much as I did Sara and Pestilence. War is born out of the sins of men, and was made to judge the hearts of men and deal out justice as seen fit. His existence in itself is easy to hate, but War himself pulls at your heartstrings in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible. Miriam is his perfect match, headstrong and resilient. She will not break or bend, no matter how hard War pushes. She is a brilliant light of hope for humanity, and she falls into her dire situation with a fiery passion for using her closeness to the Horseman to her advantage.

I love this series, and I think Laura did a great job continuing it and peppering in mentions to the previous work as to quench fan questions about the future of Sara and Pestilence while allowing this novel to be something completely different. I’m living for the teaser for Famine, and I think he is going to be a harder nut to crack than his brothers, just from the little glimpse we get of him. These are most definitely my favorite romance books.

5/5 stars