Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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.

Pestilence

An intense and beautifully crafted story!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🖤💙❤️💚🩵
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍🌏
Character development: 😤🙁😋😘🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Solo Narration

The Story: This was the first of the four horsemen series, at the beginning, the four horsemen of the apocalypse “come to claim the earth to lay waste to the mortals that dwell within it.” The horsemen rode to the four corners of the world, “for the age of man is over, and the age of the horsemen has begun. They came to earth, and they came to end us all”. As the horsemen passed through town after town, human technology suddenly died. They disappeared after that, until pestilence reappeared.

The heroine: Sara Burns – This story begins on year 5 of the horsemen. Sara and other people from her town are planning to try to kill Pestilence when he comes through their town. She knows she or one of her friends will die. They were firefighters who survived some terrible circumstances in the past. Sara draws the black matchstick, meaning she is the one who will stay behind for the suicide mission to kill the horseman. All the others will leave town because they know they won’t survive his coming to town. Sara is determined to take the horseman with her when she dies.

The Hero: Pestilence (a.k.a. Pestilence the conqueror) – the news reports state that the messianic fever follows wherever Pestilence goes as he rides through cities and towns. He comes to Sara’s town with the first snow of the season, birds fly away, wolves howl, and all the animals run from the forest before he gets there. He has blond hair, an angelic face, wearing golden armor and rides a white horse.

Sara is overwhelmed by Pestilence when she first sees him. She didn’t expect him to be so beautiful. Even so, she hates him for the death toll that followed him. She saw him storming through city after city from Florida through New York. Killing people as he goes, with the fever and with his bow and arrows. Sara raises her shotgun to shoot Pestilence in the chest, she hasn’t killed anyone before so she hesitates, but she knows if she doesn’t do it, her loved ones will not live.

Sara does what she was supposed to, but he is not a human being and doesn’t die, though he does get mad. He takes Sara hostage, thinking she is one of the worst humans he has met. He tells her many have tried and failed to end him. He is determined to make her pay for what she did, and he does make her pay. He takes her captive and rides out of town with her tied to his horse. By the end of the day, he is nearly completely healed, though the strangest thing is that she hasn’t gotten the plague and died yet, like all the people in the cities he has passed through.

This book was really good with a plot that has not been done before. It wasn’t predictable. I liked both the apocalypse storyline and the love story. It remains one of my favorites. I enjoyed it as much via audiobook as I did when I first read it seven years ago. I loved that it was paranormal, captive romance, forced proximity, and had a huge moral dilemma at its core. It was steamy, funny in parts, dramatic and exciting. It had all the elements I could ask for.

The world building was terrific, I liked the writing style which encompassed religious elements as it should with the subject matter, but not enough to hit you over the head. It also had some super steamy scenes and lots of chemistry between the two main characters. The character development was fantastic; Pestilence started out as cruel, unemotional, and stoic. He gradually became more empathetic and even vulnerable as the story progressed.

The tension, the moral dilemmas, and the chemistry between Sara and Pestilence really makes you feel the weight of their journey. It plays with contrasts—Pestilence is both terrifying and angelic, Sara is both courageous and conflicted. It mirrors the kinds of thematic contrasts I really appreciate! The forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers dynamic, and the slow unraveling of Pestilence’s character was definitively gripping.

This audiobook was told in Sara’s point of view via solo narration and was narrated by Susannah Jones. I don’t generally like solo narration, but I loved this series when it first came out and wanted to listen to it via audiobook. The last two of the four books have male and female narrators. Susannah has a soft, feminine voice which is very pleasant to listen to, so the solo narration could be much worse.

Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Twitter|BookBub

View all my reviews