Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Famine by Laura Thalassa

10 reviews

mattiedancer's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Murder, Child death, Animal death, Body horror, Rape, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Cursing, Alcohol, Child abuse, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Blood, Torture, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Gore, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy

reading_historical_romance's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

5.0

Apocalyptic/dystopian romance is my jam so I’m not sure why I’m so late boarding the Laura Thalassa train, but I’m here now!   And what a steamy ride it is.

I loved everything about this novel.  The plot, characters, setting, dialogue, romance, suspense, and, the sex.  Oh Mylanta, the sex was delightful in all the ways.

The way that the author put such a unique twist on the grumpy/sunshine trope was brilliant, as both Famine and the heroine, Ana, are also anti-heroes.  This twist carried through all of the other themes in the novel, including forgiveness and sacrifice.  I loved Famine’s supernatural powers: life and death, healing, and measuring the worth of souls against one another and the earth in and of itself.   When he grew the rose for Ana, I squee'd in the best way.

Laura Thalassa has a great voice, and I thought that her ability to develop Ana’s character so completely through her sarcastic wit -- which was communicated solely through the written word and without dialogue tags – was really impressive.

I also loved the ending and the fact that I could not predict it!   The climax was fantastic.  I am now going to buy the entire series so I can fully immerse myself in the Four Horsemen’s world.  

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the opportunity to read and review this novel.  All opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing

Moderate: Sexual content

whitney427's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Rape, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Cursing, Grief, and Alcohol

meghanperkins's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Genocide, Blood, Cursing, Death, and Murder

cluckieduck's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Murder, Misogyny, War, Vomit, Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

wolf013's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Cursing

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Vomit, and Sexual violence

zellapaige's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

This book gave me so many feelings, almost all positive although I did genuinely sob as well. I felt more emotional reading the sex scenes in this book than actually have sex with someone I love. The depth of emotions between Ana and Famine are tangible and potent. This book made me feel, perhaps more deeply than the first two, why a horseman would give up his purpose for something so different than they’d ever known. 
I appreciated the tiny peeks we got into Famine’s perspective towards the end of the book and am now incredibly excited for the last book. 
I really liked Ana’s character being a former prostitute. Ana’s years in such a harsh career made the almost paradox of her gentle heart and traumatic childhood feel realistic. Her prostitute’s confidence and brazen attitude towards Famine was also incredibly entertaining. Prostitution is often a tricky subject but the book treated the profession with respect while acknowledging negative public perceptions and physical drawbacks. This did contrast pretty sharply with the first books on the series though, especially the first, where minor characters offering sex was treated incredibly disdainfully. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Death of parent, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

rorynne's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Trafficking

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexism

Minor: Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, and Xenophobia

bookcapybara's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual content

Minor: Trafficking, Vomit, and Cannibalism

escapedred's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

0.25

Famine is a pale imitation of the plot of Pestilence and the character development of War. It lacks relationship growth between the two leads.

To put it bluntly, they are both horny on main and decide that jumping each other's bones in the later half of the book is enough to build a relationship on. Ana decides to f*ck the Horseman and that's it. Famine decides that the world can continue to exist because he likes f*cking Ana but only for Ana's lifetime, no promises.

I guess what I didn't like about them is that they're selfish and refuse to change this mindset. Also there is a lot, and I mean a lot of violence in this book (like Game of Thrones level of senseless violence).

I almost applauded when Death showed up in the end because he brought back a sense of reality to Ana and Famine (that Famine has responsibilities and he has to make a choice). But Ana and Famine still escape Death's clutches and ride off like Bonnie and Clyde. I hope Thanatos puts them in their place in the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Minor: Child abuse