Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Pestilence

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

16 reviews

caseyf's review

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adventurous emotional fast-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

3.75

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rebar351's review against another edition

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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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ollie_again's review against another edition

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I gave this a fair shot, but holy hell was this bad. Before picking this book up I had it in my head that it might be too dark for me, but that I've seen it recommended so much it has to have a good romance. Nope on both things.

How do you take the concept of romancing the Horsemen of the Apocalypse & manage it to be extremely boring and flat at the same time? The MC keeps hamming on that Pestilence is beautiful, sexy and handsome from the very beginning, even in between him torturing her, killing people left and right and generally being the undesirable number one?

There is no gradual development of their relationship. We are meant to feel something for Pestilence as he starts thinking differently about the world, but... yikes. I did not feel any chemistry at all, there is nothing sexy in this book to be found, and when you pile that on the fact that people are dying from plague yet they get kissy-kissy in the next room, I wanna vom.

And to the darkness of the book... yes, the general idea and the things that happen are dark in theory, but the way they are portrayed and relayed left me feeling nothing. When neither the *dark* nor the *romance* in the equation can squeeze some emotion out of me, it's a pretty bad package.

Unfortunately, another overhyped romance off my TBR.

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omgvalkyrie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

The first book of Laura Thalassa’s Four Horsemen series, Pestilence introduces you to a contemporary world similar to ours, except for the whole “apocalypse is upon us part.” Pestilence and his steed are traveling through the Canadian/American Pacific Northwest carrying out his sole purpose, the annihilation of the human race. Sara Burns is looking to stop him, but that pesky immortality keeps getting in the way, so he decides to take her along for the ride down the coast! Let’s see if she can convince him to forsake his purpose.

The post-apocalyptic world that Laura Thalassa builds immediately sucked me in and wouldn’t let me go. I adore her prose and narration through the novel. Pestilence encompasses all of the intense emotions: tragedy, compassion, desperation, angst, a little bit of love! To be honest, for a post-apocalyptic romance, I thought alot more than I realized, especially with such an attractive man on the cover. The matter of religion is handled in a very respectful manner, in my opinion. Nothing is offensive or contradictory to the beliefs of the Abrahamic creeds: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. We are convinced God is beyond religions so all religions deserve respect. It is discussed in a very neutral manner. But thanks for the existential crisis, Laura.

-Canadian/American PNW

-Forced Proximity

-Enemies-to-lovers

-Opposites Attract

-Virgin Hero

-One Horse, Two Riders

CW/TW: Graphic Illness, Torture, Sexual Content, Hostage Situation, High Count Death

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tatiannaskye's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Ugh I don’t know what to say about this book other than I’m not the biggest fan. Was it worth it to waste my time? Maybe. Will I ever read it again? Hell to the no. Wish I could have gotten more out of it but oh well, it’s done and over with so I’m happy about that at least!

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kinskinn's review

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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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ireadinbed's review

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adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-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

3.75

I went into this book expecting to dnf it with a strong recommendation from a Facebook group as a read like for a dark romance I thought was okay

It was so much better than I expected. I really felt for Pestilence in his struggle to accept humanity when he has repeatedly seen it's worst.

I just found it a genuinely meaningful read.

All that said, I thought the last 15% ish of the book felt very rushed. And what I came to the book for (smut, because of the read like suggestion) was honestly really underwhelming and weirdly written. I felt like the author added them because she had to and honestly I would have preferred fade to black over that awkwardness.

I'm not sure I will read on with the series but I'm sleepy tempted, especially if I need a good cry! You can't get a more intense enemies to lovers of I'm honest.

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wereallmadihere's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

Great steaminess but also some cool fantasy world building and interesting takes on religion/religious archetypes. Main characters confront some of their personalities and conflict w/ themselves & it's very good.

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parfwen's review

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dark medium-paced

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

2.25

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ka_ke's review

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adventurous dark 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

As a fan of Laura Thalassa, I was a little let down by Pestilence. I found that there was no plot, but also no spice. The theological perspectives thrown in are enlightening, but it’s not why I read the book.

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