Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

7 reviews

dontwritedown's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

3.75

Another good TikTok find, just the perfect little romance book made on an interesting concept of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. 

The male love interest was pretty bland given the fact that he is disease incarnate. He had the personality of a wet rag. But at least the FMC made up for what the wet rag refused to bring to the table.

My only issue is I don't see how this concept can be made into three more books without becoming very reptitive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

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

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

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

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

ac02's review

emotional sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Medical trauma

queenie_ofthe_void's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Sexual content