Review: War by T.A. Chase

Title: War (The Four Horsemen: Book Two)

Author: T.A. Chase

Pages/Word Count: 172 Pages

At a Glance: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in a romance novel? Yes, please!

Reviewed By: Jennifer

Blurb: Fighting the battle in his own heart, War must find peace before he can find love.

War destroyed an entire tribe of innocent people when he was human, all because his best friend lied to him. His guilt brings him a destiny he never planned. As the Red Horseman, War spends the centuries creating battles and wars between countries to restore balance in the world. While he accepts the job to atone for his sins, he wishes he didn’t cause men to kill each other. War lives a solitary life, without hope of ever finding forgiveness.

From the mountains of Afghanistan to the plains of Kansas, and to the steppes of Mongolia, Russell Heinz searches for peace. He’s battling survivor’s guilt after having two members of his army unit die within feet of him. His own mind shuts down, and Russell spends time in a mental ward, dreaming of a man with blood-red hair and all-black eyes. Unsure if the man is real or just a figment of his wounded mind, Russell heads to Mongolia, looking for forgiveness of his own.

Separately, Russell and War fight their own personal demons. Together, they find peace in a love tested by the fires of battle.

Reader Advisory: This book is best read in sequence as part of a series.

Publisher’s Note: This book was previously released under the same title. It has been re-edited for re-release with Pride Publishing.

Review: I dove into War shortly after reading the first book, Pestilence, and I was not disappointed. As with the first book, War starts with an explanation of how the second horseman became the Red Horseman, and as with the first, it involves guilt of some kind. Following the formula the author has set up, this one involves that related to war, which is fitting for the Horseman to be stuck with for eternity, or until he can find someone to love him.

What’s different about this book, however, is the human lover. While the first book focuses on a human who is afflicted with an illness Pestilence must help him recover from, this book involves a human, Russell, who is fighting in Afghanistan and goes through severe PTSD. The two meet under curious circumstances and are drawn to each other.

Death and Lam play important roles in this book again, and I was pleased to see them show up. To be honest, they’re my favorite characters in the series. I love how Death shows up right when the other Horsemen don’t want him to. Readers don’t learn his backstory yet, but I can’t wait until it’s revealed because given what is slowly revealed so far, I know the last book will be explosive.

Back to the Red Horseman and Russell, though. I felt their connection was real and strong. Both men have lived through war and suffer from it. As a result, they are able to relate to each other and help heal wounds from the past. I felt the relationship they formed was even stronger than Pestilence and his lover because of this.

There are some consistency and editing issues throughout the book that are distracting, especially given how this is a new edition of a previous book; however, I was able to overlook them—as I had in the first book—to enjoy the heart of the story.

If you’re a fan of mythology, you will likely enjoy this series. However, I recommend you go back and read the first book if you already haven’t. While Pestilence is not present, his circumstances are important, and given that Death is the common denominator in each book, the last book will likely tie everything together, and you wouldn’t want to miss all the little details woven into the first three!

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