Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

11 reviews

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

bangiebangs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

Oh this book was something else... 

You get dropped into the story, and the first third of the book is savage - not to spoil, but it's not easy to like either of the characters then. Understand their motivation? Yes. But not like. 

I really enjoyed the setup here, and also the twists that really went against what I was expecting the story to be. Yes, tropes and the ending are as expected, but how we get there was particularly enjoyable here. I also liked the pacing (even if at times it went slower than others), but this worked well for me. 

I've since read the second book and am on the third, and I love that (so far) the journey is always different, and there is some food for thought in there as well (humanity and how we treat each other). 

Slight warning to heed the CNs, because this is brutal at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Body horror, Child death, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Torture, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death

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

xlaurareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

in the beginning, i was completely engulfed in this book; however, i feel after sara tried to kill pestilence there wasn't too much happening anymore, idk? like they went to other people's houses, they kinda fell for each other real slowly but other than that? i think pestilence's character development was real great but also kinda very very late. nevertheless, i loved how one could really feel how i fell for sara and how he feels about her; it was amazing how he cared about her and made sure she's got everything she needs. the ending seemed a bit rushed then, hm. i had high hopes after the amazing start but i can't give it more than 4 stars bc it was just a bit repetitive and the character development seemed just so dragged on and was too long-winded for my liking. but in general i still found the book pretty good and it was one of the best fantasy romance books I've read this year. and I'm all in for "i hate everyone but her". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Grief

ka_ke's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Emotional abuse, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Death, Cursing, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and Sexual content

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, War, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Classism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Genocide

zellapaige's review against another edition

dark inspiring slow-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

Incredibly unique romance. I never really felt like we got to see enough of Pestilence’s emotions. The strength of Sara’s emotions still made for an incredibly compelling narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, and Violence

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