Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Famine by Laura Thalassa

10 reviews

kirahaycock21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

It was a little slow throughout the middle, but overall a great book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Blood, and Genocide

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Torture, Alcohol, and Gore

Minor: Suicide

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

kat1105's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Rape

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

xlaurareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

first things first: this book is for sure the best of the series - i don't think it can get any better from here on! i fell in love with ana in the very first chapter, she's such a strong and badass woman who's endured a lot and come even farther. i fell for famine soon after. he's an amazingly crafted character and he just makes so much sense to me, everything he does and why he does it, how and why he falls in love with ana - it's incredibly beautiful. again, this one is a slow-burn but when they finally admitted (or halfway admitted) their feelings for each other, it felt absolutely right and the spice was exquisite and also more prominent than in the preceding books of the series. i also really appreciated that the author finally chose a different ending for this couple; however, the ending left me frustrated, raging and breathless. it did make some sort of sense to me, but it felt more unfair than anything else. i just don't know why death, now of all times, had to be such a big big asshole and i hate him all the more for it. of course, the ending also clearly indicates how the fourth and last book is going to begin. the last sentence left me speechless and giddy with excitement on what to expect. all in all, except for the ending and the fact that in the last chapter before it famine didn't really give me the famine vibes anymore, i loved this book with all my heart. best of the series, famine and ana are my fav characters so far and I'd definitely recommend reading it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Alcohol, Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse

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

books_bunny's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Vomit and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child death and Rape

rapgamenancyreagan's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, and Pregnancy

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