Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

68 reviews

isabellesimone's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Which is saying a lot since I love nearly every book I’ve read. A wonderful idea for a book and great execution. This book made me examine my own humanity while throughly enjoying myself while reading. I literally couldn’t put it down. I truly can’t wait to read the rest of the series because I am now sucked into the apocalyptic world of the Four Horseman. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Child death, Confinement, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and Rape

esageser19's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Vomit, Torture, and Rape

awanderinglibrarianreads's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Violence, Torture, Child death, and Body horror

punk_n_plant's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Blood, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Gun violence

Minor: Sexism and Sexual harassment

jeco2494's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Torture, and Death

Minor: Rape

sabrina_the_alien's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, and Torture

fizzieee's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Your run-of-the-mill enemies to lovers romance (with one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, of course). I did enjoy this although I did feel like I had to suspend some level of belief/ignore glaring issues of believability to enjoy it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Blood

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal cruelty and Vomit

alex_baker's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A very fun book that I had a blast reading. The change in relationship between Sarah and Pestilence from enemies to 👀 happened kind of suddenly. It isn't the BEST written, but is a good time and leaves me wanting to read the rest of the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Body horror, Confinement, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Child death and Animal death

arianna9's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

My god... Sara Burns is such a good character.

Their love was so in-depth, yet Pestilence didn't know it till page 250.

  I love Thalassa's way of interpreting the horsemen. It wasn't frightening at all. But warning. This isn't for people who want a relaxing romance. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Child death, Terminal illness, Bullying, Death, and Torture

mattiedancer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.25

Writing: 3.75⭐️/5 

Alright, so the writing is serviceable, and honestly better than I was expecting. That being said, the main character’s internal dialogue often felt a bit contrived – forced to be a bit sassier, a bit quippier than felt natural. However, it wasn’t bad, just a bit contrived at moments. And, on the more positive end, the writing is fast-paced and resonant, letting you absorb the plot quickly and easily. It takes talent to write with such smoothness, and I enjoyed reading it. 

Characters: 4⭐️/5

Again, our main character, Sara, started out feeling like a cookie-cutter “badass” main character. As the novel progressed, though, she started to grow and I thoroughly ended up enjoying reading about her and through her perspective. I liked Pestilence a lot. The mixture of his naivety with his inability to forgive Sara seemed true to him. I enjoyed the slow reveal that he didn’t like his job, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him slowly become more and more human. 

Plot: 4.25⭐️/5 

Again, I don’t think I was expecting too much from this novel’s plot, and it pushed those expectations so very far. Part of my joy with the plot might be heavily attached to the fact that I didn’t expect too much, but, regardless, I loved it. I was a bit hooked from the start, when Sara explained her and her friend’s half-baked plan to kill Pestilence. And I was extra hooked the moment Pestilence felt fear at her mortal well-being. 

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.

Content Warnings? 

Death, murder, illness, terminal illness, murder, sexual content, physical abuse, emotional abuse, kidnapping, fire, fire injury, gore, blood, injury, injury detail, gun violence, violence, animal death, torture, grief, body horror, pandemic/epidemic

Post-Reading Rating:  5⭐️/5

Addicted.

Final Rating: 4.25⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Gore, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexism, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Terminal illness

Minor: Pregnancy