Reviews with content warning for Child death - Famine

Okay, wow. Did not expect the ending to go the way it did, but I really appreciate that this book didn't follow the same formula the previous two did. I was a bit skeptical about Famine, because I thought it was just going to repeat the events of Pestilence, but I'm so so happy I was wrong. I think out of the three, Famine has to be my favorite now, especially because I thought his character development was truly the best out of them. I'm super excited to read the last book!!

Content Warnings

mattiedancer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5

Writing: 3.5⭐️/5

I feel like in this book Thalassa tried to strike out and make her writing a bit different, but I’m not sure it worked. Much of the writing felt the same. I was, however, less surprised by this than I was when I read book two, War. I feel like expecting the similarities made them less bothersome.

Characters: 3.25⭐️/5

Famine bears similarities to both War and Pestilence, but manages to strike out on his own as the novel progresses. Ana feels very much like a mix of Sara and Miriam from the previous two novels, and while the story progresses to a point that I enjoyed reading about, I wanted a bit more from the characters.

Plot: 3.5⭐️/5

Girl gets captured by a Horseman. Slowly, she falls in love with him. And then, she slowly finds herself as the only reason he wants to stop the apocalypse. It’s very predictable. Yes, I was prepared for the predictability. Yes, I was still a bit annoyed at how similar it was. However, I will say that I did enjoy how Thalassa struck out to make the ending very different. I just wish this would have started sooner.

Who Should Read This Book?

Fans of ACOTAR and dystopian societies
Someone looking for a romance with an intriguing plot
Those who like fantasy/apocalyptic novels that centre on romance
Readers who like (or don’t mind) a bit of spice, but not just spice
Those who liked and loved the first and second books (but maybe take a break between so it’s not too fresh)

Content Warnings?

Death, murder, sexual content, physical abuse, emotional abuse, kidnapping, gore, blood, injury, injury detail, violence, animal death, torture, grief, body horror, sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, alcohol, swearing, child abuse, child death, misogyny

Post-Reading Rating: 4⭐️/5

Made me kind of pumped for the fourth one.

Final Rating: 3.5⭐️/5

Content Warnings

ramakn22's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

twinklepuff's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

merlinandrose'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? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

kat1105's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

cluckieduck's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.25

A much better entry than Pestilence and War but still just an ok read.

I enjoyed Famine & Ana - like other reviews have mentioned, it was actually quite funny considering the setting. They have good love/hate interactions, which broke up the monotony of the same recycled story of 'oh-he's-a-bad-evil-person-but-he's-so-darn-sexy-that-maybe-I'll-overlook-the-mass-murder-and-stuff' thing.

The ending was quite something, so I'm looking forward to the big reunion.

Content Warnings

books_bunny's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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

4.5

Similar to the previous instalments of this quartet there are content warnings for graphic torture, gore and death with multiple mentions of rape but nothing graphic. In this instalment there was also no animal cruelty or death which was a nice change of pace.

Ana da Silva originally saves the life of the third horseman of the apocalypse Famine. 5 years later they meet again in a new town where Ana is now working as a prostitute at "The Painted Angel". I adored the relationship between these 2 main characters; some of their one liners aimed at each other had me laughing out loud. I also liked the discussions of illnesses mentioned in this book particularly STD's and the risk of infection from untreated wounds. The discussion of STD's was especially appreciated as it is discussed before the first sexual encounter takes place. Due to Ana's job this is a discussion that should have taken place between 2 consenting adults and was nice to see represented instead of just pushing the subject under the rug with the excuse that he is a horseman of the apocalypse so it didn't need to be discussed.

Unfortunately, nothing about this book made me feel or think Brazil and if it hadn’t been explicitly stated that this was where this story is taking place then I would have had no idea. I also found that around the 50-75% mark the book dragged a bit. I found that it could have done with being a bit shorter as it started to get a repetitive with certain topics (both within Ana's thoughts and verbal/physical encounters). However, whilst I found this book repetitive in itself, I was thrilled to see that it didn't follow many of the patterns established in both Pestilence and War, instead finding its own plot points and character opinions.

I was relieved when it picked up again at the end, especially when the ending made a point of linking the book back to the overarching plot of the series which I sometimes forgot about in the previous 2. Additionally, due to all the discussion of Death in this book it has made me super excited to finish this series and pick up Death as soon as possible.

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