Review: Pestilence (The Four Horsemen #1) by Laura Thalassa

 

Pestilence
(The Four Horsemen #1)
by Laura Thalassa

March 21, 2018

382 pages

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Goodreads Summary:
They came to earth—Pestilence, War, Famine, Death—four horsemen riding their screaming steeds, racing to the corners of the world. Four horsemen with the power to destroy all of humanity. They came to earth, and they came to end us all.

When Pestilence comes for Sara Burn’s town, one thing is certain: everyone she knows and loves is marked for death. Unless, of course, the angelic-looking horseman is stopped, which is exactly what Sara has in mind when she shoots the unholy beast off his steed.

Too bad no one told her Pestilence can’t be killed.

Now the horseman, very much alive and very pissed off, has taken her prisoner, and he’s eager to make her suffer. Only, the longer she’s with him, the more uncertain she is about his true feelings towards her … and hers towards him.

And now, well, Sara might still be able to save the world, but in order to do so, she'll have to sacrifice her heart in the process.

Review

Pestilence was a nice slow burn and (in the second half) hot as hell romance story. Objectively speaking there wasn't much else going on besides the romance?? Speaking from a romance lover's perspective this was an unusual but emotional love story.

The book consisted of lots of riding around, staying in houses and killing people off with the plague. It wasn't the most interesting thing to read about but it had some eye-opening moments. But then the ending takes it all away because what was the point?? There are some nice subtexts but don't expect anything profound from the plot.

The focus of the book is the romance. Sara and Pestilence were not suppose to have any (positive) feelings. He's the being killing off everyone she loves and she's the very thing he's trying to wipe from existence. Yet as bad as that all sounds, very confusing and conflicting feelings develop between the two. They struggled internally to disregard them. They fought hard to stop the feelings from growing but once those feelings took root they were impossible to ignore. As Sara and Pestilence became closer they also became intimate. The sexy time was scorching hot and kind of comical because of Pestilence's reactions (it's his first time after all). A little weird but sweet nonetheless.

Stupidly brave is what I would use to describe Sara Burns. An heroic act delivers her into the hands of the Horseman and sets off a chain of events that unravels as she slowly became more than his prisoner. I enjoyed Sara's self-deprecating humour. It helped her through the tough times and lessened the confusing emotions she experiences with Pestilence later on. Though I'd really have liked her to stop talking about his looks, I can understand she's a young lady with hormones and he is supposedly an all around fine specimen of manliness.

Pestilence was a bit of an underwhelming villain... Tortured soul? Besides his horrendous ability I never really got any strong vibes from him. His minimal knowledge about the humankind though was rather endearing. It gave him a humorous edge that wouldn't have otherwise existed. The serious tone he uses to express his distaste for humans was hilariously genuine. Made me think he had some innocence in him.

The epilogue timeline and the not so subtle hint to what Sara and Pestilence have been up to surprised me a little. It definitely did its job in stirring up some excitement for the sequel. Not a spoiler since this is clearly a quartet based on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse but War is coming! I hope it'll be darn good when he sets foot (horse hooves) on our little planet ;)