Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Pestilence

"I never asked for your vengeance, I asked for your mercy."

This was the most surprising book I've read in a while. I chose to read this solely based off the cheesy sexy-man cover and discovered that it was actually a serious novel that was often depressing as hell. The summary had me thinking it was definitely going to be a dumb erotica about Sara shaking some ass to distract Pestilence from destroying the world. Instead I found a book that (despite Sara's often cringey stupid inner dialogue) had complex themes centered around the good and evil in humanity, mental trauma and how it can affect your actions, the inability to choose who we love while despising what they are doing around you. The toxicity of their Romance kept this book aflame while the TEARS it sprung from my eyes during the death scenes kept the fires from spreading too far. I mean MY GOD! I thought I was in for some dumb sexy ass shaking and instead I am left lying awake at night questioning the inherent nature of mankind?! HUH?? The way that this author made it so that both characters had their deeply set natures, fully enemies to each other: to heal and to kill, but yet torment them throughout the book to where they both question which they are, their ties to humanity, and their purpose going forward. I am floored.

Oh and the spice was nice.

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thejadylady's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

It’s hard to read through the sad parts!

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wait_whoissheagain's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was really easy to read. The chapters are short which kept the story moving at a good pace, and held my attention. I was very engaged in this story, reading it in a total of 4 hours!

Despite this, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the plot. The premise of the story is interesting, and I was intrigued to read a fantasy book that takes place in the “real world”, but I feel like this book’s plot was lacking. We had the hero, but there was no real villain to fight. If we consider Pestilence the villain, then the FMC didn’t do much fighting at all. I’m hoping that the plot intensifies throughout the remainder of the series.

Another aspect of the book that I’m still trying to process, is the FMC’s internal struggle with her feelings for Pestilence. The horseman put Sara through A LOT (no spoilers, but Chapter 18 had me in tears) and she seems to get over these things pretty quickly because “it’s hard to be mad at something that’s so pretty” and because he made a sandwich. I feel like this is a stark contrast to her beliefs at the beginning of the book. It wasn’t until the last few chapters, when Pestilence’s character started developing, that I began to accept this change. Once again, I’m hoping their relationship will be explored and expanded upon in the next book. I would love to see more of Pestilence’s character development.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, and look forward to continuing the series. I am intrigued to see the role that the other horsemen will play in this world.

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