Scan barcode
twinklepuff's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
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
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
bangiebangs's review against another edition
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.
Enjoyable read, some spice (would say 2/5), the flirting is really enjoyable, and I also really liked the story here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, and Grief
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
mspilesofpaper's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, and Torture
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
Minor: Death of parent
ladylunabee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
This one was about as weird of a ride as the first one was, kind of the same in a lot of ways just toned down, but still fun. I appreciate the end of this one, and can't wait to start the final book in the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gore
cocpop_reads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
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
4.25
Ana and Famine are probably my favorite couple so far. I loved both of them and I’m glad we got some dual POV in this book.
Their relationship was heartbreaking, heartwarming and hysterical.
I think because these two probably have the darkest backstories, the banter between them was necessary. And I ate it up. Their dynamic made a lot of sense for both of them. And honestly I loved Ana falling in love with Famine when he was at his absolute worst. Because both of them were deprived of actual love and to see them give it to each other unconditionally was the best.
And I loved the way the book ended, definitely more of a cliffhanger than the previous two and a great setup for the final installment in the series.
2/5 on the spicy scale. Again I felt this was more innuendo than actually dirty sex scenes. Plus you don’t get any spice till 65% into the book. But I think this couple didn’t really need that for their relationship, theirs was emotional first and then physical.
Their relationship was heartbreaking, heartwarming and hysterical.
I think because these two probably have the darkest backstories, the banter between them was necessary. And I ate it up. Their dynamic made a lot of sense for both of them. And honestly I loved Ana falling in love with Famine when he was at his absolute worst. Because both of them were deprived of actual love and to see them give it to each other unconditionally was the best.
And I loved the way the book ended, definitely more of a cliffhanger than the previous two and a great setup for the final installment in the series.
2/5 on the spicy scale. Again I felt this was more innuendo than actually dirty sex scenes. Plus you don’t get any spice till 65% into the book. But I think this couple didn’t really need that for their relationship, theirs was emotional first and then physical.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Torture
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Rape, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment
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.
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
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.
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.
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