Member Reviews
PHENOMENAL!!! Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, Bloom Books for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.
GAHHH!!!! OMG!! OMG!! OMG!! ADDICTIVE!! OBSESSED!! FABULOUS!! AMAZING!! INCREDIBLE!! PERFECTION!! WHAT A BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN, DEEP EMOTIONAL EPIC FANTASY LOVE STORY!!! THE SECOND TO NONE WORLD BUILDING, RICH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, INCREDIBLE PLOT AND GOOD GRACIOUS THE STEAM AND ROMANCE MAKES THIS BOOK A MASTERPIECE!!! I WAS NOT FULLY PREPARED FOR THIS STUNNING BOOK!! EASILY ONE OF MY TOP FIVE FAVORITE BOOKS FOR THIS YEAR!!💜💜💜💜💜
Famine is a ruthless and cruel horseman of the apocalypse that blames humanity for the death and destruction that he brings upon them. His mission was personal because he endured unimaginable torment by humans which left him vengeful with no mercy for them. Well that is until Ana comes along and shows care and decides to save him. Ana is a sassy, strong and compassionate heroine that cannot stand his actions. Famine is so confused as to why Ana saved him? He struggles with why he cares for her. It was so beautiful to see them fall in love with each other. The banter, tension and chemistry between them was top notch! I found myself swooning, laughing, crying and rooting for them. Okay, the ending was freaking awesome!! Seriously, like edge of your seat and heart racing right up to the very last sentence!
Overall, I was completely immersed from start to finish! I cannot recommend this book enough and it deserves infinite stars!! ♾️♾️♾️♾️♾️💫💫💫💫💫
This book was a slow burn. I enjoyed the banter but personally had trouble getting through this book. I liked that author changed things up in this one. The FMC is a prostitute and the MMC is an alcoholic seems like a toxic relationship. I felt the character tried to be a badass but just didn't cut it. And there was so much killing that I was kinda bored of the murder.
AHHHHHH!!! First things first thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for an honest review!
Where do I start?! I love this fantasy romance series, despite our “terrible” anti-heroes, and this book has only made me that much more excited for Death's book! The slow burn was everything and I’m not normally a slow burn girlie. Let’s not for get that this has a dash of enemies to lovers as well as a dash of second chance romance. Ahhh it was so good and that ending I’m so ready for the next one.
I am kicking myself so hard right now because I had never come across Laura Thalassa until now. It's 2023 and I'm only just hearing of her now? I've been stuck under a rock for way too long.
Famine is the third book in The Four Horsemen series and happens to be the first book that I've read by this author and let me just say, I am hooked. From the beginning I was captured and engaged with the storyline between Famine and Ana.
Famine is on his mission to destroy mankind. The man is mean, ruthless and cannot be killed. He can be tortured and mutilated, but never die as he simply regenerates. Ana has had to do what was needed in order to survive. After losing her family to the hands of Famine, she is seeking vengeance, and can I just say that things don't go according to plan.
I'm not going to go into detail and ruin this book for those who haven't read it but I will say that it is dark and deliciously disturbing. Watching the slow-burn between Ana and Famine and seeing him become somewhat human, developing feelings and emotions was chef's kiss.
Overall, Laura did an amazing job with this story. A fantasy retelling of one of the four horsemen, Famine, this book will definitely keep you on your toes. There is no doubt that you won't be able to put this book down once you start as it's just so gripping. Brace yourselves though and read trigger warnings. Can't wait to delve into the rest of this series.
Famine is so brutal but amazing. Laura’s writing is great and the FMC is likeable. Famine is a good enemies to lover paranormal romance. It’s features an amazing slow burn romance. Five out of five stars to this third novel in the series. The ending has me itching to read the last book!!
I really wanted to love these but I am finding these stories to just be the same thing over and over again. Famine offers nothing new to this series and I found myself let down. I know this is a unique opinion, but I really wanted more from the series.
This book blew my expectations out of the water!! Of course it's enemies to lovers, of course we get some dual POV action, of course she has to learn to love the horseman despite everything he's done, but that ENDING!! But also the BEGINNING???? Threw me for a loop, made me question humanity quite a bit, and also I shouldn't have found some parts of this as funny as I did. Their banter was top-tier, to say the least. Ana the prostitute and Famine the horseman; like, of course the world was gonna be saved by some magic p*ssy, that's common sense at this point. But the plot twist at the end had my heart in my throat and I was not prepared. I think characterizing Famine as this sassy, deranged, incredibly broken, yet staunchly invulnerable man was absolutely perfect. And Ana is an ego-fueled, self-conscious, brilliant human who falls for Famine because they are really too alike for their own good. I laughed, I cried, I immediately started the next one because this book leaves you needing more.
4.5 rounded up to 5 because I love the cover. This book was so good. I found Famine and Ana to be freaking hilarious together. Honestly not a lot happened in this book and I was here for it. The ending definitely is going to get me to read the next book sooner than later.
Thanks so much for allowing me to review this title.
I love Laura’s work and this series is incredible.
I look forward to reading more of her words and working with you again!
Thank you!
One word: repetitive. I think as a stand-alone, this book would have been good. But having read the first two in the series, it left me apathetic. Ana read like a slightly more salacious version of Sara and Miriam but essentially these women are carbon copies of each other. The plots are also the same with small variations. Famine kills people, Ana tries to stop him, they play a cat and mouse game of running and catching, eventually they fall in love (mostly just because they are both attractive), he chooses her over his God-given task.
The author brings up some interesting philosophical questions about the definition of good vs evil, what it means to be human, etc. I think I personally would’ve enjoyed this more if it didn’t feel as though this was a dark romance trying to masquerade as high brow literature.
Famine is the third book in the Four Horseman series. Ana is quite a different heroine that doesn't take crap form Famine. If you thought War and Pestilence were bad Famine is worse. I still think these books are unnecessarily long I still enjoy the read and how these unlikely characters come together. I am very much looking forward to the last book and see who can hopefully bring Death to his knees.
Thanks to the author and the publisher for providing me with an ARC!
If you're into unconventional dark romances in an apocalyptic setting, this one's a must-read.
The third book in the Four Horsemen series is Famine. This book (third in the series) takes you on a rollercoaster with Famine and Ana, who're equal parts snarky and charming.
While the overall theme is the same, the author has added a unique twist to the story - the characters.
Famine's treatment of the heroine is harsh, like that of the other horsemen. This sets the stage for an important character development in the story. He is brash, violent, and has had a terrible past with the humans. He detests them and his only motive is to kill them all. Although similar to his brothers, I thought famine had a snarky personality.
Ana is a prostitute, and once in the past, she had saved Famine. He doesn't remember her at first, but when he does, he takes her with him, traveling to different cities. I liked Ana - quite different from the other heroines. She makes punny jokes and tries to rile Famine up. She is strong, feisty and hates what Famine stands for.
In the first part of the story, they get to know each other and, as time flies and cities destroyed; they start to fall for one another.
It's a good enough story. And it sets the stage up for the final book - Death (who we get to meet finally!!!)
I would still rate War higher than Pestilence and Famine.
The third horsemen of the apocalypse is here and he is not impressed with us humans. Not surprising given all he has been through. I love this series and have been plowing through them all. Thalassa continues this series with 'Famine' and it's a doozy. I loved that there are nods to the first two horsemen and their wives. I was curious as to how Famine would go about killing off humans, given the other interesting ways this has been done by the first two, and it is just as interesting and horrifying to imagine. Towards the end of the book, I found myself thinking, "Ah, now we are getting somewhere new." The lead up to 'Death' is perfect and I am ready to see how Thalassa brings this series to an end.
Better than war! Give me all the slow burn! Loved this book! Famine is so ruthless! By far my favorite! The chemistry is amazing, it’s dark but they understand each other perfectly. Can’t wait for Death! The ending was everything!!!! Edge of my seat!
This book had me laughing out loud the whole time! The banter in this book was absolutely perfect, and the romance was so sweet! I love a good slow burn and this definitely delivered. Famine is definitely my favourite of the brothers and Ana was absolutely hilarious!
The Four Horsemen series by Laura Thalassa
Post-Apocalyptic fantasy romance
Pestilence 3.75 stars
War 3 stars
Famine 4.25 stars
Death 4.25 stars
As you can tell by the name of the series these books feature the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (from the Bible, so there is a smattering of religious talk). For those of you seeing the genre as “fantasy romance“, a bit of clarification: the first three books are more fantasy with a romance subplot, whereas the fourth book focuses more on the romance. And these are only fantasy books in the sense that the titular characters are made-up beings with magical powers; otherwise this takes place in our world, and there are no other magical elements.
A word of warning to you all — I read these back to back, but I don’t think that was the best way to go. Spoiler alert: because these are post apocalyptic, they are dark. There’s a lot of death and destruction. A LOT. This makes for heavy reads full of despair. So maybe sprinkle in some fun reads in between, ok?
Pestilence was a great introduction to the world. The books span around 20 years, so this first one is at the beginning of the apocalypse. He also seemed to be one of the more “human” of the Horsemen (in addition to Death).
War didn’t work as much for me. He seemed almost robotic for most of the book. I also had some issues with some of the dialogue – the FMC is from Jerusalem, and we are almost 10 years into the apocalypse, so some of the slang and terminology she uses didn’t seem realistic.
Famine has a great FMC! She was a sex worker, so doesn’t have too much of a filter on her mouth. She was sassy and brash and lots of fun.
Death is where the romance ramped up, and it was a great finale to the series. Out of all of them he seemed the most sad about his duties. He’s got a job to do but he ain’t happy about it.
Overall I really enjoyed this reading experience, and would definitely recommend!
Thank you to NetGalley & SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.
Again, love the new cover. I think famine might be my favorite story. The slow burn was delicious and Ana was simply perfection. She’s strong and fierce and probably one of the coolest of the FMC written. The world building was fantastic as always, and I feel like this storyline was the best written.
I could not finish this book. I DNF at 20%
I thought the premises were not very interesting and the depiction of sex worker from the start feels shameful and I don't really appreciate that take.
Wow!!! I am just loving this series so much . I pretty much binge read the entire series because I so love all the books. Laura gets me hooked from the first page.
I do recommend .
Famine is quite possibly my favorite of the Four Horsemen series. I really, truly felt the enemies-to-lovers vibes, and I just ate it up!
Famine spared Ana's life in her youth, but during their second encounter, he has her stabbed and left for dead. Ana of course survives and is determined to return the favor of Famine's cruelty. I think what really sold me on Famine as a character was that he wasn't simply doing his duty that was expected of him, like his brothers before him. Famine felt hurt by humanity and wanted to hurt them back. He and Ana share a 'no fucks to be given' attitude the entire book, but somehow find a few to spare for each other, fortunately for the rest of humanity. And I just loved that Famine didn't cease to be the villain, or the bad boy, or whatever at the end of the story. He still didn't care about humanity at the end, but he cared enough for Ana to do what was right for her and to have her by his side. I love a villain who stays a villain.