Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Famine by Laura Thalassa

15 reviews

ninchita's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

summercampcrush's review against another edition

dark funny 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

3.75

Love the FMC! Anna hilarious. First half is more of an actual enemies to lovers romance than many others boasting the same can claim. Sticks with the slow burn till the 2nd half. Much more rewarding than the last book, War. (Where War pretty much just declares the FMC his wife within the first 30 seconds of laying eyes on her, and then they wonder around the desert for the remainder of the book. 

While Pestilence wasn’t written to be incredibly plot driven, the MCs seem to be constantly facing down a new near death experience that shifts their perspectives of each other and themselves. War had almost none of that suspense built into the story, bc War OP af imo. 

We are given enough information to know that Pestilence takes place 5 years after modern life basically grinds to a halt.

There is still some mass media communication, guns are still prevalent but tend to be as dangerous to the armed due to backfires, no motors or engines run anymore, and all modern utilities are spotty at best.

War takes place 10 years after Pestilence. 

Which is why I’d categorize this book at late-stage apocalypse. It’s unclear but hinted that Famine takes place 5-10 years after War, and at least 22-25 years after everything starts shutting down. Which means the FMC is the first of the series who hasn’t known the world of before. I do wish that the author took a little more advantage of that fact. However, seeing as these are basically character driven books with fairly isolated POVs, the world building is admittedly scant - and there’s not much to be done about that w/o shifting the authors intent.   

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, and Addiction

So far I’d rank the 3 books so far: 🥇Pestilence (4.25/5) 🥈Famine (3.0/5) 🥉War (2.5/5)

kinsportch's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Death, Gore, Trafficking, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Child abuse and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

queerloras's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

3.75

Higher rating because Famine didn't change. Also responsible sexual behaviour discussions pre-coitus 👍 But God, was that FMC annoying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Gore, Violence, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, Body horror, Vomit, Murder, and Misogyny

witchloved's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny fast-paced

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

4.75

I wish it had been longer. I’m still sad my fav of the 4 was the shortest

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Body horror

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Confinement

viktoriann's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Misogyny, Confinement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Genocide, Vomit, Torture, Blood, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Body shaming, Cancer, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

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

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Body horror, and Grief

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

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