Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

19 reviews

mzquirk's review against another edition

dark sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Animal death, Death, Violence, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture

Moderate: Cursing and Physical abuse

karmascycles's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

4.0

"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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic relationship, Child death, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Murder, Gun violence, and Grief

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Sexual harassment

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

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

katbenimble's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.25

I do not even know where to begin with this 😂 it was so bad.  The plot holes are big enough for Tricksy to ride through.  The graphic violence was almost too much for me. The MCs are both idiots. The spice started like...75% through the book. The end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Murder, Torture, Stalking, Medical content, Gore, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content

lacrimaeignis's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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

4.0

I've always held a certain fascination for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse so when I heard about this series, I knew I would have to eventually read them (especially when I heard that Death, book 4, is being represented by Thanatos, the name of the greek god of death, whom I've always held an unexplainable but particular fondness for). I wasn't sure what to expect going in but this book definitely wastes no time in throwing you into the Apocalypse. This novel is graphic in detail at times and definitely not for the faint of heart or those who can't stomach violence or gore.

The book brought up many interesting points on the concept of religion/faith and why the Apocalypse was happening. It was very interesting to see Pestilence as a character and how he adapted and changed throughout the novel. The Female Lead, Sara, felt very realistic in how she dealt with what she was going through, especially as a young woman in her 20s.  However she does come across as annoying at times, especially with some of her side comments that serve no purpose and ended up throwing me out of the story, and she fell flat towards the end of the novel. Because of her I almost DNF'd with only 20 pages left (although my interest was waning around page 200).

The book was also very repetitive at times and therefore, very predictable. Many of the chapters/events just felt too similar to each other but because most of the chapters were short, it was easy to get through them.

The only reason I continued the book was because I was so close to the end and also because I do plan on reading the rest of the series. I gave the book 4 stars because I did like the concept and I really liked Pestilence and it also kept me intrigued enough to want to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Genocide, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual content, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Blood, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

ellalife's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Torture, Gore, Genocide, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexism, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

unsuttefing. the main love intrest is litteraly discusting, misogenitic inhuman guy.

and after constent abuse he is not ponished or reedimed, he just gets the girl like nothing happend

harvestingbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Torture

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I have a lot of conflicting emotions about this book. I am not a fan of "dark" romances typically and don't see the appeal of fictional relationships that are founded on toxicity/abuse. I didn't realize just how dark this novel was before i picked it up. The relationship between Sara and Pestilence is very abusive, toxic, and violent; all of which  was incredibly off putting and made it difficult to get into the love aspects of the story. However, the world in which the novel was crafted and the plot surrounding the relationship made me enjoy it to the point where I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for the awful relationship dynamics. The author created a brilliant landscape for a world sliding deeper into dystopia. She also did an incredible job capturing the moral complexity of humanity and of our ideals around right or wrong. The book was surprisingly poignant and tugged tight on my heartstrings. The violence and cruelty of the romance didn't feel pointless and the author made Pestilence's grasp of what humanity really means grow in a way that I was able to feel for him and Sara. I was worried the topic of religion would be overbearing given that the plot revolves around the four horsemen of the apocalypse, but it is handled with tact and in such a neutral way that I think an open minded reader of pretty much any background would be okay with it. But please check trigger warnings for this book because it is very dystopian and dark. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, Rape, Death, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Murder

parfwen's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Body horror