Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Famine by Laura Thalassa

17 reviews

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

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bellebookcorner's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense 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

4.0

 “Because around you, I feel the oddest urge to use my power to create rather than destroy.”
 
Read this book if you love; 
• Dark Fantasy Paranormal Romance 
• Morally Grey Character 
• Enemies-to-Lovers 
• Hates Everyone but Her 
• Post-Apocalyptic World 
• Touch Her and You Die 
 
Famine started a little bit differently compare to Pestilence and War. Instead of accidentally meet the FMC during his mission, Famine and Ana (the FMC) have met before the beginning of the story. 
 
Something different that I notice from this book is the addition of Famine’s POV in the last few chapters. It’s a nice change for the story and I really wish there’s more POV by the horsemen since most of the time on the previous books we only get to see from the FMC's POV. 
 
I really like Famine and Ana growing relationship throughout the story, their previous encounter has quite a huge role in their character's development. 
Famine is slightly different than War and Pestilence, he’s not destroying human kind not only because it was his purpose but also for revenge after what the humans did to him in the past which made him feels slightly more relatable.   
 
While it may seem Famine lost his faith in humanity, he met the stubborn and lovely women - Ana for the 2nd time. 
I admire Ana for still believing the good side of humanity even though she had most of her life experiencing the bad side of it. I also love her sassy remarks and her creative way of picking a fight with Famine which is delightful! 
 
Another different aspect from this book is the ending. The previous 2 books didn’t have a cliff-hanger as huge as this one. Now I’m super interested in reading Death’s story! 
 
Overall, this is a great addition to the series. 
I’m enjoying this series so far and now after reading the book I finally understand why some of the fans said that Famine was one of their favorite. 
I’m looking forward to read the final book in this series and see how everything got wrapped up! 
 
⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: Death, violence, sexual content, sexual assault, torture, brief mention of child abuse 
 
I received an advanced review copy for free through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!

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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


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bangiebangs's review against another edition

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

4.0

Good read, though I think that Pestilence might still be my favorite of the series. In this book, the relationship between Famine and Ana is a little more playful, and I'm really here for the bratty flirting and the chemistry between them. The horseman's journey here is a little less fleshed out (I thought that the change from hating humans to changing towards believing in saving them... was a bit sudden? But maybe that is because I've read all the books in one go.)

Enjoyable read, some spice (would say 2/5), the flirting is really enjoyable, and I also really liked the story here. 

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mspilesofpaper's review against another edition

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

2.0

The lack of world building is atrocious. In a half sentence is mentioned which continents have been erased and I had to use Google Maps so often to get a basic idea of where they are in Brazil because the author just mentions city names and that’s it.

Famine is just awful. I get it that he’s different than Pestilence and War as he’s somehow nature itself and that he has trauma from getting abused/tortured/… But what exactly does he expect humans in a post apocalyptic world to do when the Four Horsemen appear? Just accept that they’ve to die in utterly unnecessary cruel ways? It’s not even a quick and painless death that any of the three have dished out. 99% of the time it’s cruel and drags out the actual death.

Ana was annoying. Her sex jokes were funny at the first part but they got quickly rather boring because the majority were repetitions. Sex was the defining character trait for her which is just ugh. Of course, it’s a mask/defense mechanism for her trauma but the author didn’t handle the entire topic of being a sex worker very well.

Entire book was: 60% Famine (and Ana) riding from point A to B, 5% were sexual assault on Ana, 5% were "Famine was tortured to death again and Ana helps him again", 20% were make out/sex scenes and the last 10% was Death's cameo.

Death’s an real asshole although I don’t get why he’s on charging of deciding what his brothers have to give up to gain mortality etc because that should be God's position. Also, why has the fucker wings? That’s so out of place because he’s Death and not some kind of fallen angel aka Lucifer.

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vee79's review

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adventurous emotional funny sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0


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cozyreading4432's review against another edition

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dark 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

2.0


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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.

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meggs1005's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.0


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zbetafish's review against another edition

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

3.75


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