Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

26 reviews

ruckystarnes's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Cursing, Vomit, and Violence

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

kat1105's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Torture, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Violence, Vomit, Gore, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

bookedupchick's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

“When you ignore me, I burn with restlessness; it feels as though the sun has turned its back on the world. And when you smile at me—when you gaze at me like you can see my soul—I feel … I feel like I am lit on fire, like you have been called by God to raze my world.” 🖤🖤🖤

Sara is a firefighter who drew the short straw and was sent on a mission — to kill the horseman. Pestilence is an immortal horseman sent by god to infect the human race with the plague. When their worlds collide and turn upside down, what they thought was their purpose completely changes…🤴🐎

I thought it was interesting, but I was enamored by it. The spice was okay, but not really what I was thinking. 🤷🏼‍♀️

🦠 Post Apocalyptic 
⚔️ Enemies To Lovers 
💀 “I was sent to kill you” Vibes
🌹 Beauty & the Beast Vibes
👥 Forced Proximity 
🔮 Romantasy 

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
🌶️🌶️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Gore, Torture, Sexual content, Gun violence, Child death, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Death, Cursing, Alcohol, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic

whitney427's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child death, Violence, Death, Body horror, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Torture

booksalacarte's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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? Yes

2.5

2.5⭐️ 3🌶️ (spice)

I don’t know what I was expecting from this book. Spicy Booktok raved about it and I suggested it to my best friend, kelly as a buddy read, almost as a joke because it looked super steamy. 

Pestilence was a slow burn romance and had more religious content than I was expecting, even though it’s literally based on the Bible’s four horsemen of the Apocalypse. I found the spiritual parts to be very sweet and inspiring, even though I was caught off guard seeing them in this very solidly categorized romance novel. 

The plot was difficult mainly because this was a 100% character driven story. There is a lot going on with the MC’s, but they aren’t doing too much. The traveling and troubles they run into get a little repetitive. But I understand the nature of why it had to be that way. 

The end was a little dissatisfying, with a time jump before a cliffhanger that didn’t give a clue to what the next book would entail. So the series overarching plot is a little ambiguous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Gun violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcohol, Torture, Cursing, Vomit, and Confinement

gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

I didn't know what to expect going into this book. It had been a while since I saw it doing the rounds and have since forgotten what it was about outside getting down with one of the four horseman. I am presently surprised with the story and the slow development in the relationship. 
Laura Thalassa did a wonderful job to showcase what stage their relationship was at and how it got to that stage. I really enjoyed Sara and Pestilence on their own as well. Their actions felt realistic in the situations that they found themselves in.

I'm interested to see where the rest of the series goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Blood, Animal death, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Gun violence

erynelle's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence and Gore

shananicoletaylor's review

adventurous dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.25

TW - because i know this is a massive one for me, just a prewarning that there is a horse in the book that is killed multiple times, BUT always comes back because of ✨religious magic✨

a very quick paced read, exploring some harsh topics in a mystical way. i’m not sure if i’ll continue with the series, just because the whole ‘world is being destroyed’ makes me very emotional, but i really enjoyed seeing the character development in this story 💗 the characters are loveable, stubborn, frustrating, and wholesome. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Animal death, Kidnapping, Death, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

samantha_ellen's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

I can’t put my finger on why this book was just ok for me - but I think it comes down to it just not necessarily being my type of book. I don’t think I love dystopian type books? Not sure… 

The writing is good, it’s easy to understand, there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with it. The spice was also good… the slow burn was done really well. 

But I personally found the FMC to be irritating & the mmc never really redeemable. 

Ultimately this book was ok for me, but it took me a long time to finish. 

I can see how others would really like it though. 

The only reason I kept going is because I want to read the rest of the series (mainly the death book - which just happens to be the last 🫠) but I won’t be rushing to the next one. 

I’ll read them eventually. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, and Blood