Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

49 reviews

thejadylady's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty

The animal is immortal Also, elderly death isn’t included

nasha_lou's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Loved it, good reflection on the today’s world…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Sexual content

wait_whoissheagain's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Murder, Animal death, Blood, and Physical abuse

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

yomaddjesty's review

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Murder, Medical trauma, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gore and Sexual content

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

slavic_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative sad tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Genocide, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Vomit and Child death

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

lunahale's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

tell me why this book made me sob 😭 i was unprepared for the amount of tissues i went through with this book, so i’m excited to continue this series

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

bekahzabel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious tense 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? No

4.0

3.85 rounded up to 4 stars! 

This book really got better and better as it went on. A bit of a slow start but wow I couldn’t put it down after 35%! Who knew the four horsemen could be so hot? 

Very modern writing style, 
Slow burn enemies to lovers, almost felt a bit like a bully romance at first. 
Strong character development in both the FMC & MMC. 
Magical realism. 

I will definitely continue on with these, had me giggling and laughing out loud often, swooning over banter, and smiling like a fool into my kindle. There are some triggers in there so please be sure to check those out beforehand. 

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Bloombooks for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Gore, Grief, and Confinement