Pestilence

Magical vagina of a Strong Female Character saves humanity! I tried not to take this book seriously because it's a sordid romance novel between a Biblical tyrant and a Mary Sue but some of it was pretty ridiculous, even for the genre. Overall, pretty enjoyable, because who doesn't love a little naughty with their Bible references. I didn't enjoy it as much as the author's [b:Rhapsodic 25820414 Rhapsodic (The Bargainer, #1) Laura Thalassa https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1466107203s/25820414.jpg 45677320] series but I see myself continuing on with the next book.

I can't even begin to put into words how beautiful of a story this was. It was horribly depressing, which of course was expected, but it was also so beautiful and sweet. Everything came together so wonderfully in the end.

I didn't expect to love Pestilence as much as I did, y'know considering the whole plague thing, but he truly was such a beautifully written character. I started to sympathise for him and his situation, he didn't truly want to kill people and he didn't like watching them die, but he thought he had no other choice other than carrying out his duty. He was also surprisingly romantic and I really enjoyed his devotion to Sara.

I also adored Sara, she was very brave in spite of her situation and held on strong. I especially loved when she started to humanise Pestilence, forcing him to see humanity as more than just their bad side. She had a hard time balancing her love for humanity and her love for Pestilence but she did eventually stay true to her beliefs.

I absolutely loved this book and I can't wait to delve into the rest in the series. I think Laura did wonderfully in making this world come to life.

So...I guess I just read a book about a woman who falls in love and gets it on with a harbinger of the apocalypse. Hmm. You know what? I'm not even going to question it (though I definitely did question things many times along the way). The story was entertaining, and I actually really enjoyed that it was told from Sara's POV. She was a wildly entertaining narrator.

Well, there is so much wrong with this book, that I can't remember one good thing about it. To be completely honest, I should've probably slept that night instead of reading, but what's done is done.

The only thing I would like to say is that the cover of the book is way too beautiful for the crap inside of it.

3.25/5. This was such an odd book to read! It kinda blends this epic, global-scale destructive backstory of Biblical proportions to a romance that kinda reads rather cliche and tropey. I went into this knowing it was a romance novel so I don't know what I was expecting, perhaps a bit more epic-ness. I actually quite enjoyed the premise of the Four Horsemen awakening and discovering perhaps their affinity for mortal women, and also really liked some of the discussions here about religion and God, so I'd probably read more into the series. I just didn't wasn't a big fan of the romance in this one.

The protagonist Sara Burns treads on a pretty fine line between mercy and violence. On one hand, she is portrayed as being compassionate to just about every human being she comes across, even those that think the worst of her and who try to harm her. But on the other hand, she keeps talking about how, while she didn't enjoy her gruesome take-down of Pestilence at the beginning, she'd do the same thing over and over again if it meant saving the rest of humanity. Idk, it kinda doesn't add up to me.

The Stockholm Syndrome trope plays a huge role in this story, given that Sara gets taken captive by Pestilence after her failed assassination attempt. I don't mind this trope but I also think it's pretty difficult to execute convincingly, and I don't know if this book manages to do that. Pestilence presumably keeps Sara alive to “make her suffer”, and yes he does “torture” her a bit by making her run and shooting her with an arrow and all that, but ultimately there wasn't really a believable reason why he'd essentially just keep her there with him all the time. To watch him take down other people? How would he know that that would make her suffer? What if Sara had been incredibly self-centered and just congratulated herself all the time that it was someone else dying and not her? For all of Pestilence's powers, I don't think mind-reading is one of them so I don't know how he'd know that watching others die would be painful for her. We experience the whole story through Sara's first-person perspective and I'm not sure if I'm a fan of her voice either. She's supposedly an adult but a lot of the slang she uses makes her sound like a teen, or someone trying to be one, which is a little weird.

The best part of this book for me was when they came across an elderly couple, Rob and Ruth. I was really hoping that Rob and Ruth would somehow show Pestilence that humanity might be worth redeeming after all, and that he'd spare them from the plague. Unfortunately, that didn't come to pass. I teared up when they eventually died of the plague! And that made me even more bewildered that, shortly after burying them both and being presumably melancholic and resentful about what was going on with the world, Sara and Pestilence could still take a bath together in Rob and Ruth's bathroom and get horny. Whut?! Way to ruin the only moment in this book with emotional depth.

More spoilery thoughts about the last quarter of the book: Sara had plenty of valid reasons not to marry Pestilence the first time he asked, but unfortunately I don't think the narrative was convincing about it. She could've said she was reconciling herself with the frankly terrifying idea of uniting herself with an immortal non-human entity, or someone who had kept her captive for the past however long, or even just that the idea of marriage after just one night of sex needed some getting used to, but no... Sara just basically falls back into the “it's not love, it's lust!” thing which is the flimsiest excuse ever and made her sound like she was just playing hard to get. I also thought it was a bit creepy that Pestilence would essentially stalk Sara to “care for her” even after she told him pretty clearly that she wanted to leave him and we're supposed to find this romantic. We also never find out exactly how and why Pestilence decided to... just stop being Pestilence? He said he fulfills his purpose but what's the end goal that he's achieved here? Does he get any penalties for no longer being a Horseman? What're all the logistics involved here??You know, I guess I shouldn't expect that level of world-building in a romance novel but I can't help it. The premise is of epic proportions and I think the set-up was not bad, which is why I'm just frustrated that we don't have any pay-off for that.

I've heard that this series improves as it goes on so I'd probably check out more of these and hope I like the subsequent ones better!

I despise poorly thought out/written tension and followed up by weird and off putting sex scenes. One point Sara the Mc said “bumping uglies”
Yikes

It's a 4.5 but I'm gonna give it a 5 because that 0.5 left is just me not getting that "this-is-the-one" feeling but it also doesn't have anything wrong with it.

I cried a lot with this book, don't even ask me why. It's just all the situations that Sara goes through, they got me.

I don't even think I was expecting any of the stuff I read, and it was better than what I could've expected.

3.5 stars

I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It was highly entertaining, despite all its flaws.
I'll keep reading the other books.

I reeeally liked this book. Laura Thalassa has this way of making you fall in love with her characters even when you don't want to. I mean, Pestilence is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and he's come to kill humans, because they failed to take care of their planet and they're just... awful (not far from what's actually happening in the world right now, right?). I didn't want to like him, he was killing innocent people and he was just awful in the beginning. But well, I was surprised to discover that I ended up falling in love with him.

Sara Burns is a firefighter who happens to have to stay behind and try to kill the horseman. It's her duty and she is willing to die for it in order to help the world and get rid of Pestilence. What she doesn't know is: he is immortal and cannot be killed. Pestilence gets his revenge by taking Sara as his prisoner and forcing her through pain unknown to her before she met him. She doesn't give up on trying to make him change his mind, trying to make him stop killing everyone he encounters.

I really loved Sara and Pestilence, their banter was so fun to read and I laughed until I cried at some points in this book, Laura has a great way of creating funny situations.

This was a very nice book and I'm glad I picked it up, I recommend it to anyone who wants a fun read.

Great start to the series, I really enjoyed it! underneath it all, Pestilence is more human from the get go than he thinks. Sara just brings the rest of it out of him.

I liked the world scenario in this book, it is a really good apocalypse version. The real/raw human scenes between Sara and Pestilence were my favorite parts of the book - watching his humanity come to light and his love for Sara bloom.

2.5/5 stars

Honestly, I think this is one of those books you read for fun and not so much for its literary merit.
It was a very quick and easy read, and is definitely a good book to get you out of a reading slump.
Overall, I did enjoy this book.
However, I am not sure I will finish reading the series.
I also wasn't a huge fan of our love interest, which probably plays a huge part in the lower rating.
Be aware it is a dark story (so be sure to check the trigger warnings), with a little bit of borderline Stockholm Syndrome romance.


Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for a honest review.

this was sooo good

3 stars only for the first 200 pages.

The four horsemen have arrived to declare the beginning of the end of the world, causing most technology to break down, and then they disappeared. Now Pestilence is back and is spreading a Plague everywhere he goes, and only Sara is brave enough to try to kill him - or so she thinks. She was not the first one to think that, or to try, not knowing Pestilence cannot be killed. Now she's his prisoner, and he's taking her with him all over the world to finish his task. Can she sway him to change his mind?
I had some conflicting feelings about the characters in this book. Pestilence is supposed to be neutral, unfeeling, and indiscriminating. But he decides to show mercy to Sara because he thought he saw a sign. But, even knowing that, seeing Sara chip away at that part of his exterior kept making me hope for a redeeming act from him. And I think that was the mistake Sara kept making - romanticizing Pestilence when he was clear about his intention to make her suffer. However, I was happy at the end when he actually broke down and decided he was done with his task, and that humans can, in fact, be redeemed. I am looking forward to reading War next.

Amazing. Loved this book.

Rating: 1.5 leaves out of 5
Characters: 1.5/5
Cover: 1.5/5
Story: 1/5
Writing: 1.5/5
Genre: Romance/Paranormal/New Adult/Dystopia/Fantasy
Type: Audiobook
Worth?: Hell no

FINALLY done with this god forsaken book. Holy shit do I have a RANT. Where do I even start... if you fall for someone who is murdering mass amount of people. You aren't any better that someone who would be a fangirl to a serial killer. I don't know how ANYONE would find this a good book or hot or a turn on.

It was cringe as hell. The whole LOVE is going to save the world BS is BS. This was giving me “I can change this toxic abusive dude with my love” vibes.

This is not the book to read during moon-sickness. Rob and Ruth wrecked me. I mean full sob. This series is already fun though. I will be continuing right away. TBR list who?

"Laura Thalassa's 'Pestilence' takes the apocalypse and gives it a surprising romantic twist. Imagine a harbinger of doom who is as brooding as he is devastating—enter Pestilence, the first of the Four Horsemen. Thalassa crafts a tale where sparks fly amidst the ruins, blending romance and ruin in a way that is both enthralling and unsettling. Her writing is sharp, the characters unforgettable, and the plot as relentless as, well, a plague. 'Pestilence' is a ride through the end of the world that's impossible to put down. Five stars for making the apocalypse weirdly swoon-worthy."

Sigh, I also want a hot man that could make the world sick just because they did me injustice, and recover it again

A riveting entry in the realm of post-apocalyptic fantasy, blending a thrilling narrative with a richly developed, smut-filled romance that captivates from the first page. Thalassa masterfully crafts a world teetering on the brink of destruction, where the supernatural and human resilience collide in unexpected ways. The book's indulgent blend of intense emotions and steamy scenes makes it a standout for fans of both fantasy and romance genres.

The beautiful cover has claimed another victim. So much promise, so much left to be desired.

Pestilence is a solidly average book. It was good enough for me to finish, but I feel no great desire to pick up the next one in the series.

The four horsemen of the apocalypse is usually biblical and steeped in religion. Thankfully, there's no proselytizing. So, there's that to be grateful for as an atheist/agnostic.

I think the writing style wasn't for me, and I needed more from Sara, the main character. Literally plague made flesh is wiping humanity from the land, yet there's Sara, almost not even bothered by it all because Pestilence is a McHottie with abs. Where's the soul crushing anguish? The guilt? The grief?

As for the writing style...

He knows exactly what she's forgiving him for, and he's covering up the fact that he-is-shook.

This one was...weird. I had high expectations based on reviewers I follow, but it didn't live up to their hype. There were times when I wasn't sure I was going to finish the story. I'm rounding up to three stars just for the unusual setting. It ultimately entertained me, but I have no interest in continuing on or revisiting the characters.