Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

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Title: Pestilence
Author: Laura Thalassa
Series: The Four Horsemen #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: March 20, 2018
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 381
Genres: Apocalyptic, Supernatural, Paranormal Romance, Post-Apocalyptic
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »a LOT of violence « Hide Spoiler
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Winter
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

They came to earth—Pestilence, War, Famine, Death—four horsemen riding their screaming steeds, racing to the corners of the world. Four horsemen with the power to destroy all of humanity. They came to earth, and they came to end us all.

When Pestilence comes for Sara Burn’s town, one thing is certain: everyone she knows and loves is marked for death. Unless, of course, the angelic-looking horseman is stopped, which is exactly what Sara has in mind when she shoots the unholy beast off his steed.

Too bad no one told her Pestilence can’t be killed.

Now the horseman, very much alive and very pissed off, has taken her prisoner, and he’s eager to make her suffer. Only, the longer she’s with him, the more uncertain she is about his true feelings towards her … and hers towards him.

And now, well, Sara might still be able to save the world, but in order to do so, she'll have to sacrifice her heart in the process.

My Review:

4 stars — Oh look, another review that’s choppy and all over the place and I’m too lazy to clean up.

Wow, way more graphic and violent than I was expecting!  Also way steamier, don’t know why I thought different.

In the end, Sara’s persistent reluctance to acknowledge her feelings drove me up the wall.  Because it wasn’t just that she was in denial to herself, but she willfully withheld her love from Pestilence, almost right to the end.  And I just wasn’t okay with that.

Otherwise, it was a fascinating world.  Definitely showed a lot of the worst of humanity, but also some of the best.  Probably could have used some more best to really understand Pestilence’s change of mind, but ah well.

I’m probably one of the few people who needs more than “otherworldly beauty” and amazing muscles to really like a guy, so I guess I had a bit of a harder time with how much focus was on the physical in this story…at least from Sara’s side.  I moreso appreciated how she could occasionally see the conflict and good in Pestilence, and would have enjoyed more focus on that.

There was also some strange slut-shaming from Pestilence on occasion (and others, but it fit those characters).  It was never really addressed or resolved, and I can’t decide if it makes sense for him…I would have really liked some conversations with Sara about that to see if he’d change his mind.

Basically this was a super unique and interesting story that in general kept me captivated, but I felt like there were a few missed opportunities for my own personal enjoyment, and hence 4 stars instead of higher.

Good things about Sara: her inherent empathy for anyone/anything suffering.  Getting to feel the heartbreak of devastation from a plague through her eyes was very effective.  I appreciated how she always tried to alleviate suffering if she could, even to those who didn’t deserve it.

Seriously, I really wanted Sara to convince him of humanity’s worthiness of mercy, instead of just demand it of him because she knew he cared for her.  It wasn’t enough.

Shout out to Trixie Skillz, loved that horse.

Weird to be reading this in the time of COVID…seriously weird.

And there you have it, unvarnished point form thoughts from yours truly.  You’re welcome.