She repeatedly asks him to stop killing, and he repeatedly refuses although it’s clear that he could do so. However, Miriam continues to try to thwart War through various means, including trying to kill him, attempting to protect a few citizens during battle, and offering him sex in exchange for not destroying the aviaries of carrier pigeons that the cities use (in this post-technology future) to warn one another of his approach. Miriam and War become sexually and emotionally involved fairly quickly. For the rest of the book, Miriam travels with War’s army south through Egypt and into Sudan as they attack cities and kill thousands. Within just a few pages, he appears with an army, destroys Jerusalem, and declares Miriam to be his fated wife. Miriam has heard rumors about the Horseman, specifically War and the destruction he brings. The heroine in War is Miriam, who is described as half-Jewish, half-Muslim and lives in Jerusalem. War is the second book in the series, following Pestilence ( reviewed by Elyse here).
The premise of Laura Thalassa’s Four Horsemen series is that the Four Horsemen of the Christian Book of Revelation (Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death) are sequentially released on the world.
I know that I have never felt anything like the fear and anguish she was feeling when that photo was taken. As I write this now, I’m looking at a photo of a screaming Kurdish woman running with a baby in her arms. I’m not sure there is ever an easy day to try to review a book in which the love interest is the architect of a genocide that results in thousands of on-page deaths. I started trying to write my review of War by Laura Thalassa on the day after the Turkish air force started bombing Kurdish-controlled portions of Syria. I’m struggling with all of that and I’m not sure I get to answers, but anyway – read with caution, please. I thought about not reviewing it but I think there is a worthwhile discussion to be had about what it means that a book like this not only exists, but is laden with positive reviews on GoodReads. I’m sorry if this is upsetting for you guys to read. I honestly found this book very hard to read and hard to write about, especially with what’s in the news these days. Genocide, both real and fictional, specifically including mass beheadings and murder of children rape and both Islamophobia AND Antisemitism.
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