"Morality, and not a faith.. is what matters to God."
I just finished Pestilence this morning and OMG so intense and full of sorrow and the best and worst of humanity.
Loved how the fmc who started off trying to end him started to teach him secondhand about humanity.
I didn't think it was possible for them to fall for eachother but their slow horse ridden progression across Canada and the Pacific northwest and the forced proximity helped them to grow close. He had a pretty stellar grand gesture at the end. Can't wait to read the others!
Also that quote resonates with me cause there seems to be a big distance between those two terms. Kindness and treating others as yourself is a hard ask for many.

Thank you readbloom for the new cover editions and my honest and voluntary review.

I enjoyed this book in different ways than I did War. The plots had a similar feel, but the little differences heavily impacted my enjoyment of the story. Once again, this was a very messed up and toxic romance, which was hard to support. This was true, especially in the first half of the book. I did appreciate that we saw a lot more emotional change through the story with Pestilence. And it was that which made me engaged and interested in where the story would end. I felt the final romance between Pestilence and Sara was very sweet, and I enjoyed the story as a whole. I give this book 3.5/5 stars and look forward to reading the final two books in the series.

The best part about reading Pestilence was envisioning Pestilence. As soon as his character is revealed I imagined him to be much like Geralt from The Witcher. I mean, Laura Thalassa was practically throwing this sexy human into our consciousness with every description of Pestilence.

Moving onto the actual contents of the story…
Pestilence is one of the “Four Horseman” that will end the world we know. Thus, setting up a series with this book being the first brother’s story. Pestilence is plaguing the world. Society has fallen from grace, and most of humanity that is left is trying to remain hidden from him. He rides along on a horse with no other action necessary to slowly kill humans with the plague. You don’t even have to see him to catch the plague. He has a duty to ride until his job is complete. Of course, he is distracted by a human woman on his quest to end the world.


Sara Burns is a fire fighter in a small town that has been evacuated. She’s hoping to take out Pestilence and his horse, even though it goes against her very nature to hurt others. She’s a likable character, and I admire her determination and mental strength. Being married to a fire fighter myself, I felt like the depiction of Sara was accurate to the duties and mental health of a real fire fighter/paramedic.

Pestilence had a lot of potential, but it wasn’t a home run.
I’ll stick to the non-spoiler things that took away from the story. First of all, the last name Burns. Is that an intentional pun because she’s a fire fighter? Second of all, sticking to the burn theme here, their slow burn romance wasn’t filled with enough substance to warrant true love (in my opinion). It felt as though they were just forced to be around each other but she never really learned about Pestilence as a person. He’s not a person, I know! It’s just that he really had no redeeming qualities. He travels through towns on a horse to kill off humanity. Sure he doesn’t like it, but what else does he have to offer?

Sara introduces him to human things like food, beer, coffee, and those moments are funny and sweet. It all gets thrown out the window when it’s time to mount their horse and ride through towns. They just keep traveling the world spreading the plague. That back and forth between good and bad is jarring and I can’t really get down with how it all plays out. Laura Thalassa wrote some dark and traumatic moments that are true to the darker side of human nature. Those were harder to read and did make me feel some sympathy to Pestilence and Sara.

While Pestilence was overall a great read, it wasn’t exactly my cuppa tea. Believe me, I appreciated the steamy love scenes. I just need slightly more convincing to love the bad guy in an enemy-to-lovers romance.

Based on the synopsis, I knew that I'd like this book! When I first picked it up, I only planned to read a chapter, and what happened was that I actually finished it in about two days? That's pretty fast for me. It was a fun and entertaining read for me. If you like new adult dystopian novel, pick this up!

The dystopian part of the story was fun, I enjoyed the world-building and the characters. We get Pestilence in this book! He's the first of the Four Horsemen in the Apocalypse. There's this enemies to lovers trope happening between Pestilence and Sara. Remember that Sara tried to kill him before? Even though Sara could be a little irritating at times, somehow as the story progresses I actually found the romance did get rather funny and cute at times. Of course, there's a happy ending for them. And there's grovelling and redemption!

CW. There's a part of the story that might put people off though. The romance gives off Stockholm syndrome vibes, which may not be for everyone.

What to expect in this book..

*Slow Burn
*Enemies to lovers
*Banter
*Post-apocalyptic
*Dark fantasy romance

I'm on the fence with this book. Could it be that I'm still fairly new to the fantasy world? Possibly.

You have the typical strong-willed heroine, almost so that she sometimes comes off as cold and emotionless. Then you have the hero that doesn't express his feels until way late in the book. However, that also makes for an interesting story. How can two people fall in love that doesn't have the faintest idea how to express their feelings.

I personally felt like the world and character building in this book is fantastic. It sets up a great foundation for the next few books in the series.

The slow burn in the book way definitely slow, almost so much that I was skimming chapters. But i personally need a fast pace book or ill loose interest.

Thank being said I did find this book rather refreshing in the aspect that I don't know of many books that deal with spreading of a plague while also kidnapping someone. It is still to be determined if the heroine had a classic case of Stockholm syndrome or if she really fell in love. Ill be looking forward to the rest of the series in hopes that the story will get better as time goes on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“Black means… black means death.”

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.

Until he Mets Sara burns… a women who puts it all on the line to try and slow him down to save everyone.

My thoughts

If hell came to earth this author would know what to do. Well written and captivating.

Slow Burn
Enemies to lovers
Banter
Post-apocalyptic
Dark fantasy romance

This book isn’t my typical book that I’d read, but the description pulled me in, and I love it. I’ve never read post-apocalyptic sci-fyi and now I’m second guessing myself as to why I never have.

The authors descriptions are amazing. The plot pulls you in. I want to know what’s going to happen next. I feel like I’m on the edge of my seat.

I absolutely love Sara. She makes me laugh and someone I’d hang out with. Our humor and comebacks are too much alike.

Her inner dialogue is amazing and makes her character believable. She fights herself around every corner. Always thinking, doubting, questioning… wondering.

Head says one thing but heart says another.. she’s a healer.

Pestilence - the first of the four horseman - he is an interesting character - he grows and learns a lot but also has a lot of wisdom.

I love his character arc in this story.

The Ending

The ending was satisfying and kept me on edge. Making me want more. I have to know what happens next. I can not wait to continue this series. Amazing job.

I originally DNF but then decided to give it another try. I don’t know what I was expecting but the writing isn’t great and the plot is nonexistent. There is virtually no dialogue beyond Sara asking Pestilence “why are you doing this?” And him responding “suffering is for humans”. They eventually graduate to arguing over whether humans deserve to die or not. Sara also spends a lot of the book in an existential crisis over the fact that she is attracted to the guy who is killing all of mankind (except for her). There is a surprising number of pretty grotesque and descriptive scenes of people dying from the plague. It’s a hard sell to root for Pestilence as a romantic hero and Sara was a very unappealing heroine. Overall, just not a very enjoyable read. I’ve committed to reading the next book in the series so we’ll see how that goes.

Imagine: You’re an atheist, but one day the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse show up, essentially take away any and all modern technology in one fell swipe (killing an untold number of people in the process), and then disappear into thin air without an explanation. Five years later, the earth stirs, and word carries that Pestilence, the first of the Horsemen, is on his horse, and he carries plague with him as he rides. You’re one of the only four people in your community without a spouse or children of your own and you drew the short straw on being the one to stay behind and try to kill Pestilence while the rest of your community evacuates far into the rural wilderness.

Only, Pestilence doesn’t die. And when he pleads for mercy, you don’t give it. And now you're his prisoner, so he can see you suffer like you made him suffer.

I read Pestilence once before when it was still an independently-published novel. I loved it then and I love it now. It’s enemies-to-lovers, medium burn, medium spice, dark, violent, and has a terrific storyline. The worldbuilding is outstanding, which is necessary with it being the first of a four book series. The first book sets the tone, and Pestilence has a lot of stuff to do and say to set up the series while also building the complicated and fascinating romantic relationship between Pestilence and Sara (our FMC).

My favorite part of the dynamic between Pestilence and Sara is the interplay between her endless human compassion and compulsion to try and save people and/or to soothe people because she’s a first responder and Pestilence’s insistence that he can’t and won’t stop doing his job but admits he doesn’t like having to kill people and doesn’t enjoy watching them die. Neither one of them can help who they are, and for most of the book neither one of them is able to change it. And therein lies the conflict between the two, and that’s where the sparks fly.

You want to know if there’s an HEA? I would call it HFN. After all, there are three more horsemen to come. But the book does end on an up note. It’s a great read!

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

I have previously read this title when it was independently published. This review is for the 2023 Bloom Books edition.

File Under: Book Series/Dark Fantasy/Dark Romance/Post-Apocalyptic/Romantasy/Kindle Unlimited/Science Fiction/Spice Level 2/Supernatural Fantasy/Urban Fantasy

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for letting me review this series!

I knew about The Four Horsemen series prior to it getting picked up by the publisher but hadn't quite jumped yet to read it! I loved this apocalyptic romance! These women were badass and it was great to start off with Pestilence!

If you’re able to turn the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse into your main male leads in a romance novel, you’ve gotta be pretty damn good at your job.

Sara has the privilege of killing Pestilence, and though she hits her mark, no one told her he and his horse are unkillable. In return, the horseman spares her from both death and disease, keeping her as his prisoner so she will know suffering as he has. You can imagine that this isn’t the best start to any relationship, but if you’re into enemies-to-lovers and opposites-attract romances, there’s a lot to enjoy amongst the pages of this book.

I’ve read plenty of books where the connection between two opposing characters comes too easily, but this one does not fall into that trap. The chemistry is there, to be sure, but Sara often wonders if she’s betraying her people every time she catches herself giving into his softer side. And for his part, Pestilence cannot understand why he feels the way he does toward Sara. It’s much too human, but the more he fights against it, the harder it becomes to deny how she’s changing him.

I love a good forbidden romance, and I’ve come to realize I can get behind a well-written slow-burn as well. I would say this book falls into both of those categories, and it adds gravity to the story. This could have been a silly little story about banging one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, but there’s a lot of weight to what Laura Thalassa is saying within these pages. The book is about the strength of love, and how humanity holds within it the power of their own destruction—as well as their own salvation.

What a fun read!! In this book our FMC is set on a mission to end the life of Pestilence the Conqueror. He and his brothers and brought the apocalypse to the world and she takes a chance at death to kill him and save the world, only to find out, he can’t die. Pestilence takes Sara captive and over the course of time she falls for her captor, only he falls first. The build up of their relationship and the whole I was meant to kill you and you are meant to kill me situation was so fun to read and keeps you wondering what the solution will be, or if there will ever be one. I throughly enjoyed this book and will be moving straight on to read “War” with high expectations!

The Four Horseman appeared on earth and brought with them a whole lot of death and suffering. When Sara tries to save her loved ones (and the whole country) from the disease that Pestilence is spreading, she doesn’t realise that he can’t be killed. So he takes her as a prisoner and forces her to watch as he continues his purpose of wiping out humanity.

You know it’s true love when your meet cute involves one setting the other on fire and watching you die a slow and painful death. There was plenty of action in this book and, like book 2, it brings up a whole bunch of moral questions. I sometimes totally get the idea that humans are beyond saving and maybe it’s time to start from scratch again. Then you’ll see a little slither of something that gives you hope that all is not lost.

“War” is still my favourite of the series so far, but I’m excited to read the other books in the series. I loved Rob and Ruth and wish everyone could be like them.

Favourite quote of the book:
“Hey, Pestilence,” I say, “I need to use the shitter.”

Thanks to #NetGallery and the publisher. I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Genre: Romance/Fantasy
Format: Digital
POV: Single
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Age suggestion: 18+

This book was a wild ride y'all! The premise was something new and unconventional, which was nice on the one hand but for my personal taste a little too much on the other. I really liked how Pestilence had no experience with human emotions whatsoever and didn't know what was going on about 90% of the time. Sara was pretty funny and overall likeable.
Just as a heads up, this really isn't a plot driven story.

𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔:
I was completely transported and immersed into the apocalyptic world within this book. I really enjoyed the variety throughout; there was comedy, slow burn romance, and a sprinkle of torture. This was my first dystopianesque book and it definitely won't be my last. Sara was fierce, sharp-tongued, determined, compassionate, and honest. Pestilence was set in his ways, grumpy, at times brutal but ultimately misguided. He was a top-notch morally grey, anti-hero. This book really gets you thinking about differing perspectives, values, right versus wrong, and so forth. The tension between these two was fab. There was always something happening to keep me hooked, and I found myself flying through!

Thank you to Laura Thalassa, Bloom Books, and Net Galley for my copy of this arc.

I was provided an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

If you're looking for your next spicy BookTok read, look no further! I can assure you: PESTILENCE lives up to the hype (I literally read this whole book in one day).

PESTILENCE by Laura Thalassa takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the four horsemen have appeared to wipe out humanity. While three of the brothers sleep for now, Pestilence rides across the globe, spreading an incurable fever. In an attempt to help her town get away-- and save the world-- Sara tries to kill Pestilence. Too bad she didn't realize that he was immortal.

Pestilence and Sara have a... *complicated* relationship to say the least. It is really interesting to see their dynamic play out: he's an immortal being who hates killing and is forced to do so anyway and she is a human, who suffers from his lack of understanding of humanity while also still growing to care for him. Sara has to struggle with feelings of guilt for "turning against humanity" even as she realizes that Pestilence is just as human as she is. Meanwhile, Pestilence convinces himself that he hates humanity so that he can swallow destroying them, but he's also learning to be kind for this human girl-- who tried to kill him, mind you. Painfully. Even with all the bloodshed it is all oddly... heartwarming???

The author is really great at imbuing spots of humor even with all the bad things her characters go through. Seriously-- Pestilence has sex with Sara one time and he's immediately like, "LET'S GET MARRIED." It is hilarious. It also gives Pestilence this odd sense of innocence, because there's so much of humanity that he doesn't understand and hasn't experienced. And yet he is also the one who is willingly destroying the world and millions of families. It's this really odd dichotomy that you wouldn't think would work, but it actually does.

I also found the author's take on religion interesting. I like the idea that God doesn't really care about which religion you follow because it's not about being right or wrong. It's about being a good person, which isn't dependent upon one particular religion. Additionally, I really liked the discussion about how God doesn't really have a gender-- and why would they? Can humanity impose our own societal norms on a being that is intended to be so far above us? And why would such a being share our values or constructs? (No disrespect intended to people who are religious, of course! I just found it an interesting thought experiment, but I also recognize that I'm coming at this from a non-religious perspective, so apologies if my phrasing is off or anything!)

I honestly don't have anything super major to critique with this title: it's well written, it's themes are thought-provoking, and, of course, the steaminess is properly up to temperature if you know what I'm saying ;). I really loved it, and will definitely be looking forward to the next book in the series!

I read this series after they were first published and it’s still just as good as I remember! Thanks so much to Bloom and Netgalley for reminding me how much I enjoyed them. Plus, I love the new covers! Now I’m going to need to add these beauties to my book dragon hoard.

Pestilence starts off with a bang, literally. Sara tries to end Pestilence as he travels through her town to stop his advancement through the world. Lo and behold, Pestilence is immortal. Once he comes to, he’s a bit peeved Sara tried to unalive him and puts her through the ringer for it. Instead of infecting her like everyone else, he keeps her alive to torment. This book has:

Enemies to lovers
Forced proximity
Tension
Anti-hero
HEA

The drama and tension in this book is top-notch. Laura has a way of writing that flows well and is easy to follow. I devoured this book, flying through the pages and eager to continue reading. I’d definitely give this book and its sequels a read if you’re looking for a new fantasy romance series!

Pestilence captivated me from the moment I delved into its pages. As a fan of paranormal romance, I was immediately drawn to the intricate interplay between hope and the resilience of humanity within this dark and weighty narrative. The story itself is both thrilling and engrossing, keeping me on the edge of my seat. Thalassa's skillful character development adds depth and complexity to the individuals who inhabit this tale. Their well-crafted personas enhance the overall experience, making it all the more enjoyable and memorable.

Pestilence came to conquer and I caught it bad. This book is the epitome of morally grey. You start out with a world doomed to a slow, painful death and a morally conflicted woman desperate to save it from the first Horseman of the apocalypse, and everything explodes from there. Pestilence WANTS you to suffer, it is toxic in the ways it will break you into tiny peaces and then tenderly coax you back together again only to teach you a new meaning of pain. And the biggest evil is that you will love every moment. From the first transgression this enemies to lovers tale explores redemption, fate, duty, morality, the human disposition, loyalty and divinity. All with a healthy dose of slow burning steam to tempt your fall. Bring your guilt and tag along for the Horseman's ride to end the world.

This book.. holy wow. I’m not sure what it says about me that I enjoyed it so much. But let me tell you that DID. It had a little bit of everything that I didn’t expect, like the humor and well plot. But I loved it. Would recommend.

Thank you, NetGalley, and Sourcebooks for the ARC! I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed this book. I think it’s a concept that hasn’t been done before and I think it was done really well . I especially enjoyed the relationship between both of the main characters, although the main female character was slightly irritating at times. It’s a great first book and definitely keeps the reader excited for the rest of the series. In addition, it explores themes are deeper than one would expect. I think it’s a great romance that shows the struggle between a character that’s not really human while also still feeling human emotions. I know that the rest of the series is going to be incredibly exciting!