Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Famine by Laura Thalassa

17 reviews

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

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

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

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

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

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

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

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

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

Minor: Vomit, Trafficking, 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, Death, Genocide, Gore, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Minor: Child abuse