Famine 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.

Ana da Silva always assumed she’d die young, she just never expected it to be at the hands of Famine, the haunting immortal who once spared her life so many years ago. But if the horseman remembers her at all, he must not care, for when she comes face to face with him for the second time in her life, she’s stabbed and left for dead.

Only, she doesn’t quite die.

If there’s one thing Famine is good at, it’s cruelty. And how these blighted bastards deserve it. Try as he might, he can’t forget what they once did to him. But when Ana, a ghost from his past, corners him and promises pain for what he so recently did to her, she and her empty threats captivate him, and he decides to keep her around. 

In spite of themselves, Ana and Famine are drawn to each other. But at the end of the day, the two are enemies. Nothing changes that. Not one kind act, not two. And definitely not a few steamy nights. But enemies or reluctant lovers, if they don’t stop themselves soon, heaven will.

Famine

Famine was such a treat!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💚❤️💜💙
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎🌎
Character development: 🥲🙁😋😍
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

The setting: Brazil, 25 years after the horsemen first arrived. Cities are falling to ruin and modern technology is gone.

The Hero: Famine (Reaper) – he spreads death and destruction. The name Famine doesn’t always fit even though he has power over growing things. He kills crops and vegetation wherever he goes. Though the people don’t starve, he either has his guards stab them or strange vines sprout from the earth and impale people or choke them slowly, he also has a scythe that is good for beheading.

The heroine: Ana Da Silva – a prostitute from a whorehouse in the seaside town of Laguna. Five years ago, Ana saved Famine when he had been caught, locked up, and cut apart by humans. He begged for her help, and knowing what it is like to not be wanted, she helped him, and for her troubles she ended up in whorehouse. And now she wants to see him again. When Famine not only doesn’t recognize her but treats her like everyone else in town and has her killed, she survives and vows retribution.

The Story: Like in the books Pestilence and War, Famine and Ana end up traveling from town to town together. I really like the whole captive gets pulled along for the ride theme that all of these books have. It is a great way to show the utter brutality of the horsemen yet have feelings develop due to the close quarters.



Boy was famine brutal. I thought War would be much worse, but Famine was truly an uncaring lout. In a way his methods, though vicious and bloody, were less brutal than starving to death slowly. Though at least while starving to death there is hope that you will survive.

I really have to say, I hate it when the Hero or Heroine in a romance is a prostitute. This one especially, because Ana seemed to always be throwing out sexual innuendos and talking or thinking about sex or her life as a sex worker. I don’t need the heroine to be virginal, but I think the innuendos and her jokes about sex would have been funnier if she was just a contemporary woman who thinks about sex like most women do. It seemed sadder because she was a pro. It’s like she should be the type of person who works at a donut shop but never eats donuts because they can’t stomach anymore.

Though I did end up liking Ana, she is a fighter and though she is attracted to Famine, she also abhors the things he does. She hates him at times and wishes she had never saved him back when she was a teenager. The story of the horseman Famine is a compelling one and he is quite the Character. I originally rated this book five stars, but on hearing the audiobook, I decided to give this a four, mostly because I didn’t like Ana through most of the story. I didn’t like how focused she was on sex, talking about her sexual exploits, her trying to make Famine cringe with her sexual innuendos and more. It all made me cringe more than a few times.



I originally read this book no long after it was released. I have been re-doing this entire series via audiobook this week and have been loving it just as much as the first time. This audiobook was told in multiple points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Susannah Jones and Jay Ben Markson. Susannah has a soft, feminine voice which is very pleasant, and I enjoyed it very much. I was looking forward to this one as it was the first in the series with dual narration, but most of it was done in Ana’s point of view, we didn’t hear the male narrator till the last few hours, though I did like his voice and he did a great job.

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