Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

12 reviews

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

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

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

tiana_king's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

The circumstances that bring the two main characters together is a bit flimsy but otherwise the plot was good. My biggest gripe is just that the timeline isn’t very clear. Overall a great steamy romance with moral dilemmas, and dashes of the supernatural.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Violence, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing and Grief

Minor: Child death, Pregnancy, and Torture

cinderrunner's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I have a lot of conflicting emotions about this book. I am not a fan of "dark" romances typically and don't see the appeal of fictional relationships that are founded on toxicity/abuse. I didn't realize just how dark this novel was before i picked it up. The relationship between Sara and Pestilence is very abusive, toxic, and violent; all of which  was incredibly off putting and made it difficult to get into the love aspects of the story. However, the world in which the novel was crafted and the plot surrounding the relationship made me enjoy it to the point where I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for the awful relationship dynamics. The author created a brilliant landscape for a world sliding deeper into dystopia. She also did an incredible job capturing the moral complexity of humanity and of our ideals around right or wrong. The book was surprisingly poignant and tugged tight on my heartstrings. The violence and cruelty of the romance didn't feel pointless and the author made Pestilence's grasp of what humanity really means grow in a way that I was able to feel for him and Sara. I was worried the topic of religion would be overbearing given that the plot revolves around the four horsemen of the apocalypse, but it is handled with tact and in such a neutral way that I think an open minded reader of pretty much any background would be okay with it. But please check trigger warnings for this book because it is very dystopian and dark. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, Rape, Death, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Murder

tatiannaskye's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Torture, Murder, Child death, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Gore, Blood, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

I don’t know what to say other than smut and a whole lot of death

katemaxwell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, Sexual content, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

parfwen's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Body horror

thefantasybookaddict's review against another edition

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

It’s a good premise and I did enjoy it. A solid contemporary fantasy romance with some mild spice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence and Animal death

mybookishdelights's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

Heat Level: High

Spoiler

multiple graphic sex scenes, kissing

I don't know what I was thinking picking up a book called Pestilence and it not even entering my head that it might be sad. Good grief. I don't like apocalyptic books for a reason. A lot of my personal anxiety stems from this type of content and, unfortunately, this didn't have a great effect on me after reading. However, I don't regret reading it, if that makes sense.

This is a series of books that follows each of the four Horsemen and it's set up like a contemporary romance series where each book follows a different couple. The overarching story between the four is that the end of the world is here, etc. Since I'm not a fan of these types of plots I'm not going to really comment on it other than the fact that this book made me cry several times, which is rude. 

The characters were good. The book is told in first person present tense, which took some getting used to. It was very graphic for the unpleasantness and I've listed some content warnings. This book was written in 2018 and has a different feeling to it with a topic like pestilence and what's going on in our world today. It hit a little too close to home. I'm not sure that I will be able to continue the series, but that is definitely a me thing. 

The romance was good. The steamy scenes were steamy. There were a few parts where I felt like things could have been better explained, but for the most part I enjoyed the tension and the angst. Even though this didn't blow my mind, I see it being a book that I won't forget anytime soon and I would recommend to anyone who can handle the content.

CAWPILE Score: 7.86 = 4.25 stars
Characters: 8
Atmosphere: 9
Writing:  8
Plot: 7
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 7
Enjoyment: 8 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Gore, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Minor: Animal death and Child death