Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

17 reviews

jerkysnax's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Body horror, Blood, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Violence

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

My first time rereading these books. There’s something about Laura’s writing that just sucks me in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Murder, Grief, Gore, and Genocide

lacrimaeignis's review against another edition

dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I've always held a certain fascination for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse so when I heard about this series, I knew I would have to eventually read them (especially when I heard that Death, book 4, is being represented by Thanatos, the name of the greek god of death, whom I've always held an unexplainable but particular fondness for). I wasn't sure what to expect going in but this book definitely wastes no time in throwing you into the Apocalypse. This novel is graphic in detail at times and definitely not for the faint of heart or those who can't stomach violence or gore.

The book brought up many interesting points on the concept of religion/faith and why the Apocalypse was happening. It was very interesting to see Pestilence as a character and how he adapted and changed throughout the novel. The Female Lead, Sara, felt very realistic in how she dealt with what she was going through, especially as a young woman in her 20s.  However she does come across as annoying at times, especially with some of her side comments that serve no purpose and ended up throwing me out of the story, and she fell flat towards the end of the novel. Because of her I almost DNF'd with only 20 pages left (although my interest was waning around page 200).

The book was also very repetitive at times and therefore, very predictable. Many of the chapters/events just felt too similar to each other but because most of the chapters were short, it was easy to get through them.

The only reason I continued the book was because I was so close to the end and also because I do plan on reading the rest of the series. I gave the book 4 stars because I did like the concept and I really liked Pestilence and it also kept me intrigued enough to want to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Genocide, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual content, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

itsnotri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Kidnapping, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Please pay attention to the trigger warnings

ellalife's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Torture, Gore, Genocide, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexism, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

unsuttefing. the main love intrest is litteraly discusting, misogenitic inhuman guy.

Spoiler

and after constent abuse he is not ponished or reedimed, he just gets the girl like nothing happend

jess_bythebook's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

*2023 VERSION WITH THE REWRITES*
I compared the newer copy with the 2018 original version (almost word for word) to see how the two compare and I am actually pretty impressed. Where the older book was already captivating, this newer script is actually smoother.

Certain words were changed to modernize them while others were cut out altogether. Some capitalized, some italicized, and a couple of sentences and paragraphs were cut out near the end (they were completely unnecessary). While no major changes or new chapters were added, I do admit that the story as a whole reads better than the original.

Pestilence is still just as brutal in the beginning and we do get a true enemies to lovers story that ends up melting your heart in the absolute best way. And I still love Sara - the rough and caring firefighter who knows when to pick her battles, but also isn’t willing to compromise on her core values.

I adored being able to travel the post-apocalyptic Southern Canadian and Pacific Northwest terrain with them again. Even though I knew what was coming, the rewrites smoothed out some of the blunter transitions and I felt like I was experiencing the book through fresh eyes. Definitely worth it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Gun violence and Injury/Injury detail

rebar351's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, Violence, Torture, Murder, Kidnapping, Gore, and Genocide

al4ssandra's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, and Gun violence

kinskinn's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Gun violence, Violence, Torture, Terminal illness, Murder, Kidnapping, Blood, Genocide, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit and Rape

psydneigh's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I did not like this one. Sara is in the same “i cant love him, but i do” mindset for 98% of the book. There was no real growth, it just changes in the end.

Spoiler

I think it would’ve been better if Pestilence had spared Rob and Ruth. Then at least his actions seem to be changing and killing all of California would be more impactful

 
I also just couldn’t really get behind falling in love with a man responsible for genocide and who tortured you horrifically. I’ve read dark romances, but Pestilence did not have good enough redeeming qualities in my opinion.
Side Note: I don’t know if this was intentionally (probably not) but when the God discussion came up, Pestilence says that God is genderless and she goes with ‘it’ and then later calls God ‘he’ again? Sounds like God has they/them pronouns to me and it irked me a bit that they weren’t used.
Overall, meh read but will not be continuing the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Kidnapping, and Torture