Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

33 reviews

karmascycles's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

4.0

"I never asked for your vengeance, I asked for your mercy."

This was the most surprising book I've read in a while. I chose to read this solely based off the cheesy sexy-man cover and discovered that it was actually a serious novel that was often depressing as hell. The summary had me thinking it was definitely going to be a dumb erotica about Sara shaking some ass to distract Pestilence from destroying the world. Instead I found a book that (despite Sara's often cringey stupid inner dialogue) had complex themes centered around the good and evil in humanity, mental trauma and how it can affect your actions, the inability to choose who we love while despising what they are doing around you. The toxicity of their Romance kept this book aflame while the TEARS it sprung from my eyes during the death scenes kept the fires from spreading too far. I mean MY GOD! I thought I was in for some dumb sexy ass shaking and instead I am left lying awake at night questioning the inherent nature of mankind?! HUH?? The way that this author made it so that both characters had their deeply set natures, fully enemies to each other: to heal and to kill, but yet torment them throughout the book to where they both question which they are, their ties to humanity, and their purpose going forward. I am floored.

Oh and the spice was nice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Sexual harassment

kaylmur's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.25

Solid 4 from me. This book isn't breaking any major philosophy ideas but when taken at face value, it is a delicious story about a young filthy mouthed woman and her horseman. Check your warnings, know what you're getting into. The ending felt a bit brief but getting there was delightful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Grief

awanderinglibrarianreads's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Torture, Violence, and Grief

jeco2494's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape

sabrina_the_alien's review against another edition

emotional sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

alex_baker's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

A very fun book that I had a blast reading. The change in relationship between Sarah and Pestilence from enemies to 👀 happened kind of suddenly. It isn't the BEST written, but is a good time and leaves me wanting to read the rest of the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Animal death and Child death

slavic_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death and Vomit

mattiedancer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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

4.25

Writing: 3.75⭐️/5 

Alright, so the writing is serviceable, and honestly better than I was expecting. That being said, the main character’s internal dialogue often felt a bit contrived – forced to be a bit sassier, a bit quippier than felt natural. However, it wasn’t bad, just a bit contrived at moments. And, on the more positive end, the writing is fast-paced and resonant, letting you absorb the plot quickly and easily. It takes talent to write with such smoothness, and I enjoyed reading it. 

Characters: 4⭐️/5

Again, our main character, Sara, started out feeling like a cookie-cutter “badass” main character. As the novel progressed, though, she started to grow and I thoroughly ended up enjoying reading about her and through her perspective. I liked Pestilence a lot. The mixture of his naivety with his inability to forgive Sara seemed true to him. I enjoyed the slow reveal that he didn’t like his job, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him slowly become more and more human. 

Plot: 4.25⭐️/5 

Again, I don’t think I was expecting too much from this novel’s plot, and it pushed those expectations so very far. Part of my joy with the plot might be heavily attached to the fact that I didn’t expect too much, but, regardless, I loved it. I was a bit hooked from the start, when Sara explained her and her friend’s half-baked plan to kill Pestilence. And I was extra hooked the moment Pestilence felt fear at her mortal well-being. 

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Fans of ACOTAR and dystopian societies
• Someone looking for a romance with an intriguing plot
• Those who like fantasy/apocalyptic novels that centre on romance
• Readers who like (or don’t mind) a bit of spice, but not just spice.

Content Warnings? 

Death, murder, illness, terminal illness, murder, sexual content, physical abuse, emotional abuse, kidnapping, fire, fire injury, gore, blood, injury, injury detail, gun violence, violence, animal death, torture, grief, body horror, pandemic/epidemic

Post-Reading Rating:  5⭐️/5

Addicted.

Final Rating: 4.25⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Pregnancy

bekahzabel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

3.85 rounded up to 4 stars! 

This book really got better and better as it went on. A bit of a slow start but wow I couldn’t put it down after 35%! Who knew the four horsemen could be so hot? 

Very modern writing style, 
Slow burn enemies to lovers, almost felt a bit like a bully romance at first. 
Strong character development in both the FMC & MMC. 
Magical realism. 

I will definitely continue on with these, had me giggling and laughing out loud often, swooning over banter, and smiling like a fool into my kindle. There are some triggers in there so please be sure to check those out beforehand. 

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Bloombooks for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, and Murder

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