The Four Horsemen series are epic romances from Laura Thalassa

Laura Thalassa is quickly becoming my new favorite fantasy romance author. It’s in large part due to her Four Horsemen series.

Thalassa might have started out being independently published, but some of her books are now being published by Bloom Books. That’s why I was so excited to finally be picking up her Four Horsemen series.

Each book follows a different Horsemen of the Apocalypse and honestly, if it sounds strange, it kind of is but in a good way. Thankfully, I was able to mostly read them all back-to-back so I wanted to do mini-reviews along with an entire series review.

With that being said, I want to thank Bloom Books for sending me digital ARCs of the entire series because it officially cemented Laura Thalassa as one of my new favorite romance authors.

Let’s talk about Pestilence which is book 1 in the Four Horsemen series.

The first book in the Four Horsemen is about Pestilence which is a disease. The story begins with Sara who is tasked with going after Pestilence and killing him. While she tries at first, she quickly realizes that he cannot die and he ends up taking her as his prisoner. The two have an understandably rocky start but they eventually start to get to know each other.

I wouldn’t exactly call them friends, but there is a turning point in the story where they start to understand each other and they end up tolerating each other. While a romance seems unbelieve at times, Laura Thalassa made me believe it because these two somehow managed to fall in love amidst the apocalypse.

While the romance was amazing, I couldn’t help but fall in love with Sara’s character. She was so strong and unafraid. She went through so much and made some tough choices that I’m sure most people couldn’t imagine. Regardless, she was such a huge part of why I was so enthralled by this book.

Aside from Sara and Pestilence’s romance, we’re watching the apocalypse unfold and how humans are dealing with it which is so interesting. I don’t want to give away too much about the ending, but I feel like it was the perfect thing to help segue into the next book which is War. As far as being the first book in a series, I loved Pestilence. I’ve never read a romance book like this before so I was surprised by how much I loved it yet with Laura Thalassa’s beautiful and engaging writing, I’m also not surprised.

Next up in the Four Horsemen series is Book 2 which is War.

Coming into book 2, I was a bit more prepared for this story as we got a small glimpse into who the book would follow which is War. Regardless, this one felt like a steep departure from book 1 but not in a bad way. If anything, the plotline of War was exactly what I was hoping for yet more than I expected.

War follows War, the second horseman as he’s wreaking havoc upon the Earth which is fine until he comes face-to-face with Miriam. As in the previous book, she stands her ground against him but War doesn’t follow the same formula. War declares Miriam is his wife and spares her because of that.

While the two have an understandably rocky relationship, they eventually start to warm up to each other although it takes a while. I feel like War really honed on why War existed and how it became such a human thing. That didn’t mean this was an easy read as it’s a lot of death, killing, and general brutality.

Despite the difficult subjects and moments, there was real love and tenderness between War and Miriam. These two were truly soulmates in every sense of the word and I don’t say that lightly as this book featured a trope I don’t love. In this context though, that trope being included was great and made a lot of sense for how the story ended up.

As for the writing, Laura Thalassa ensnared me once again with her amazing writing and I read this book in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down despite it being over 500 pages which made me even more excited to pick up book 3 in this series.

Next up is Famine which is book 3 in the Four Horsemen series and it’s a doozy.

Coming into Book 3, I was both excited and nervous. I ended up falling in love with these first two books so I was hyped to find another new favorite. Sadly, that didn’t happen here but I will say that it really upped the stakes for the entire series.

Famine follows the story of Famine as he’s conquering Brazil and we meet Ana who has already met Famine but he doesn’t remember. After realizing who she is and how they’re connected, he ends up taking her as his captive. However, unlike the previous heroes, Famine is not quick to give up on his mission.

Ana and Famine have the slowest of slow-burn romances. I was just dying for these two to kiss and for me, this was a bit of a letdown. While I still enjoyed the story and even the surprise at the end, the romance fell flat for me. The two did end up coming together and it was nice but Famine’s disgust for her overpowered a lot of the romance for me.

Regardless, this is the next-to-the-last book in the series so there are only so many tropes and storylines to feature within this world. Plus not every single book was going to be a hit but this time, Famine missed the mark. Even so, it gives me a lot of hope for what the final book in the Four Horsemen series is going to entail as it’s finally Death’s turn, and with the ending of Famine, I really have no idea how Laura Thalassa is going to pull this off.

The end is near and Death is here to wrap up the Four Horsemen series.

Last but certainly not least, it’s the final book in the Four Horsemen series and this time, it’s Death’s story. The premise for this one is simple but has major implications. Death and Lazarus met once with him killing everyone around aside from her. We soon find out she’s unable to be killed by him.

From there, it’s a cat-and-mouse game between the two of them. Each time she gets away, he follows her, and vice versa. Eventually, Lazarus must make a hard choice and decides to work with Death’s brothers: Famine, Pestilence, and War to try and stop him. While the two fall in love, things don’t go exactly as planned.

Since this is a romance, I’m sure we all know there is a happy ending, but the path to get there is so unique. I don’t think I’ve ever a romance book that chose to go this route. Even so, it was such a delightful end to the series and I honestly cried multiple times while reading Death that I couldn’t help but give it 5 stars.

The only issue I had was that it felt like Part III felt like it dragged as the end got closer. That’s just a small complaint about an otherwise great conclusion and the end of a series I’ve come to really love and enjoy. I don’t know how Laura Thalassa managed to make Death, the final Horseman so lovable but she did it. All in all, the Four Horsemen series was an absolute delight and easily one of my new favorites.

The Four Horsemen series by Laura Thalassa is out now at your favorite bookstore. 

Will you be picking up this epic romance series from Laura Thalassa? Let us know in the comments!