Name: Pestilence (The Four Horsemen Book #1)
ISBN: 9781942662235

Laura Thalassa

Fans of Sarah J. Maas will love this story about when one of the four horseman comes to spread the plague, a young woman risks her life to save her town from him, only to fall in love with him.

Pestilence (The Four Horsemen Book #1)

Leonie

My eyes move over my pack, stuffed with all manner of survival gear— and a book of Edgar Allan Poe’s best works— [...]

She's my kind of girl, not gonna lie. Cheers, Baddie. 

On a whim, I head over to the fridge and grab a beer— the world might be ending but fuck it if there’s no beer.

Pride is a lonely soldier, seeing out his watch when there’s no one else there to care.

A woman should not be oddly pleasing. She should be a ball- busting, skull- crushing, badass motherfucker who is impossible to forget.

She gives into death almost eagerly, like an old friend reunited at last.

How we mortals love to push each other away to protect ourselves from our own pain?

🫶🏼

"I cannot decide if you are a toxin or a tonic," he says, lifting a hand to my cheek. "Only that you plague my thoughts and fill my veins."

"This is misery, Sara," he repeats. "But it is the sweetest misery I have ever felt. I don't want it to stop."

"If I know any mercy," he says, "it's Sara's doing."

"When we ride together and I hold you, I feel as though all is right. And when you laugh, I think I might truly die."

"When you ignore me, I burn with restlessness; it feels as though the sun has turned its back on the world. And when you smile at me-- when you gaze at me like you can see my soul—I feel ... I feel like I am lit on fire, like you have been called by God to raze my world."

"For good or for ill," he says over his shoulder, "I have been indelibly changed by you."

"You have managed what no one else has: you have awoken my heart."

"You have my mercy, my mind, my adoration, my body, my ... life."

"I love you," he says. "Before I even understood the term, I loved you. I love your laughter and your bawdy humor. I love your compassion and your vivacity, your fierceness and your loyalty. I meant to make you suffer, and look at me now—desperate to keep you in this land."

"Rather, I am your victor. You see, I came to conquer this land and its people," he explained, "but instead, one of its people conquered me."

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

This was so boring. Every chapter was literally a copy and paste of the previous but in a new house they broke into after spending the day travelling. I have far more questions than answers received and that pisses me off. 

Samantha Waterson

I genuinely loved this. This is probably a story I will revisit.

I love a good end of the world romance, and it was so interesting to see it with the 'villain'.

I stayed up until 4:30am reading this, and read it in five hours.

It made me cry and giggle, I can't explain it. Definitely a fav.

Sarah Campbell

I genuinely loved this. This is probably a story I will revisit.
I love a good end of the world romance, and it was so interesting to see it with the 'villain'.
I stayed up until 4:30am reading this, and read it in five hours.
It made me cry and giggle, I can't explain it. Definitely a fav.

This book was very sweet, slow burn romance. There is definitely some more gory content as it is apocalyptic, but I enjoyed the enemy to lovers story. Lower end when it comes to spice level, but overall a good read 

Daisy Gosnell

marta 

Highly entertaining slow burn of a book with glimpses of just how awful and wonderful people can be. 

Kristen Savage

Taous Merakchi

Bon bah je vais être obligée de lire les trois autres maintenant.

Nouran Hazem

I just love it when men are down so bad for the girl and become so obsessed they lose their minds.. also love it when the guy aka Pestilence: harbinger of the apocalypse is all proper and noble and the girl is so modern and says things like “buddy”and “cool”. Love it when the guy is so clueless about human emotion and cues and learns everything from the girl and always tries to make her happy.. Sara was definitely a badass and funny.. Pestilence was so sweet and adorable for a guy who was tasked to kill all humanity.. and seeing him fall for Sara was just so wholesome.. he literally takes her to the church to get married after the first time they have sex 😭💀he’s just so clueless it was low-key cute..

“When you ignore me, I burn with restlessness; it feels as though the sun has turned its back on the world. And when you smile at me—when you gaze at me like you can see my soul—I feel … I feel like I am lit on fire, like you have been called by God to raze my world.” 🖤🖤🖤

Sara is a firefighter who drew the short straw and was sent on a mission — to kill the horseman. Pestilence is an immortal horseman sent by god to infect the human race with the plague. When their worlds collide and turn upside down, what they thought was their purpose completely changes…🤴🐎

I thought it was interesting, but I was enamored by it. The spice was okay, but not really what I was thinking. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Tess

“When you ignore me, I burn with restlessness; it feels as though the sun has turned its back on the world. And when you smile at me—when you gaze at me like you can see my soul—I feel … I feel like I am lit on fire, like you have been called by God to raze my world.” 🖤🖤🖤

Sara is a firefighter who drew the short straw and was sent on a mission — to kill the horseman. Pestilence is an immortal horseman sent by god to infect the human race with the plague. When their worlds collide and turn upside down, what they thought was their purpose completely changes…🤴🐎

I thought it was interesting, but I was enamored by it. The spice was okay, but not really what I was thinking. 🤷🏼‍♀️

🦠 Post Apocalyptic 

⚔️ Enemies To Lovers 

💀 “I was sent to kill you” Vibes

🌹 Beauty & the Beast Vibes

👥 Forced Proximity 

🔮 Romantasy 

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

🌶️🌶️/5

Nouran

Takecia Bright

Loved the authors take on love and mercy. It was a confusing and sometimes ugly love but that’s what love can be sometimes.

Gem Koeman

** spoiler alert **
           You know what. This was dumb fun and I loved it. I was expecting less plot and heavy on the smut but it was actually fairly light on spice. 

The MC was incredibly likeable even if her taste is rather questionable. I thought her inner monologue was hilarious. 

At times I found myself tearing up a bit, especially when Rob/Ruth succumbed.

If you want something which isn't really serious and you like a fantasy/dystopia type romance then you might enjoy this.

Hadeer Tarek 

dija

PESTICIDE WAS SHIT AND THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY


Buddy read with  This Bad Bitch

Sade A

I'm the first person to raise pitch forks when reviewing romance books but in this case, 🤷🏾‍♀️ fuck it. Not like i'm going to get life lessons from someone who wants to bang a mythical being.
To be fair, honestly when i think about it, romance books are in my opinion there just to make you go all guey +this book is more fantasy than real and i had no seriously strong feelings beside the whole thing being seriously funny to me because why the hell would you want to shack up with the literal harbringer of plagues? The point is i can afford to be generous.
Anyways, the road to guey in romance books is obviously paved with plot holes and questionable character choices but sometimes like in this book it's fairly easy to ignore (honestly it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be.)

P.s: i'm not sure how much of this magnimonious review is down to the fact that i got the book while it was free in the Kindle store but well, it all worked out.

 So now to a visual representation of my thoughts on this book:
 👉🏾  👉🏾  👉🏾  👉🏾  👉🏾  👉🏾  👉🏾 .

The book did have pacing problems but overall i did enjoy it and i'm not opposed to actually buying the 2nd book. *Provided it's within a reasonable price*

All in all Laura Thalassa,

Lover of Romance 

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance

*May Contain Spoilers*

Pestilence is the first book in a new series by Laura Thalassa "The Four Horseman" which features a series surrounding the legend and myths of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. I will be honest, that what drew me to this book was the cover because dang isn't it gorgeous??!! I just love just about everything about it. (But for those that don't know, there will be a new cover soon --so sad--but the cover artist used a copy righted image but her latest update is that her new cover artist is one that has done some of Armentrout's book and many others so *crossing fingers* its just as gorgeous) And then I saw a raving review at Beware of the Reader and her review convinced me that I needed this book in my life. So I grabbed it in audio. I first wanted to mention this wonderful narration. The narrator is Susannah Jones and I hadn't listened to her before. She did a fantastic job in working this story so well and adding the right level of emotion when it was needed. She, did a superb job in making this story come alive for the listener, so if you love audiobooks...I highly recommend grabbing this one in audio if you can. :)

Pestilence is a book that might not work for everyone considering this is a book on the Apocalypse and our beloved hero is Pestilence, the first horseman. So if you aren't a fan of anti-heroes I am not sure that this book would work for you. However, if you adore Anti Heroes, enemies, to lovers trope, a slow burn romance and a apocalypse-mythological fantasy type setting, grab it because I promise you will love it just as much as I did.

Pestilence begins when the four horsemen of the Apocalypse arrive, where every battery and electrical and digital device goes down, their own version of an EMP. But then they disappear for five long years, while the human race is holding their breaths wondering what the future will hold for them.  But now the first horseman "Pestilence" has been riding through Canada, spreading the plague, and every town or city he rides in, the plague spreads to everyone and no one is safe. Our heroine, Sara is a firefighter and she is one of the last few to help get their town evacuated to a northern settlement. But the last four firefighters draw straws on the one who will stay behind, and attempt to kill Pestilence but it doesn't work and he comes to her and captures her wanting her to "suffer" not only for trying to kill him but also for not granting him mercy when he asked for it.
Getting angry at one of the horsemen of the apocalypse for bringing about the end of man is like getting angry at ice for being cold
At first, she thinks she will be dying soon, but she doesn't get sick like everyone else does. She is forced to travel with Pestilence wherever he goes, from town to town and she tries to give aid to those that are sick whenever she can. But the more time they spend together, a connection between Pestilence and Sara starts to develop. Pestilence, is an avenger on an errand from God, to deliver his errand. He only has one purpose, he doesn't understand human emotions or compassion. But Pestilence is capable of these emotions, and slowly Pestilence begins to understand human a bit more. He begins to understand what it means to grieve, to have loss, to enjoy the simple things in life such as a good meal or a passionate kiss. We see Pestilence struggle with his "duty" on an emotional level, and with each chapter, the bond between Pestilence and Sara deepens.
The kiss has only barely begun when it goes from sweet to wild and desperate. He’s my oxygen and I haven’t been able to breathe for months
Sara doesn't want to be attracted to Pestilence or start to have feelings for him. Because he is her enemy, and she feels like she is betraying the human race just by having these feelings for him. Their relationship takes a new turn when they come across a home with an elderly couple, that instead of being violent towards Pestilence, they welcome him with open arms. They understand his mission, and that the human race has a chance to redeem themselves if they choose to do so. And Sara begins to realize that she can help Pestilence understand that the human race is redeemable and can be saved. But will her love for Pestilence be enough to save those she loves?

GAH!! I LOVED this book so much, there is so much goodness in here and I couldn't put it down. I adored everything about it, and it worked my emotions so badly. This is NOT an easy romance, especially in the beginning. As this is a enemy to lovers trope, there is some angst obviously and at first, our hero has no feeling or emotions. Pestilence is definitely an Anti Hero, but so much character growth he goes through. We see how emotions begin to slowly build in him, and we see how he hates what he has to do, but in his mind....its needed and necessary. But once he captures Sara and begins to be drawn to her and understand her more, seeing her compassion and the way she grieves over the losses of the plague, he slowly becomes more aware of what it means to love and that there is goodness in the human race.
When you find someone worth spending that time with, you don’t want to share those minutes with anyone else
The bantering between them though is hilarious, I just love the way they go back and forth. Sara loves to talk and think about things and Pestilence prefers his solitude and so seeing such opposite personalities brings about some fun interactions because they are so different from each other and the way they talk with each other is delightful and guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.
“What’s God like?” I ask. “That is not a subject I can discuss with mortals.” Of course it isn’t. “Well, then can you at least tell me what it’s like?” I ask. “What what’s like?” Pestilence’s grip has moved so that he’s now cupping my arm, his thumb rubbing circles into my flesh. “I don’t know—death. The Great Beyond.” I hold out my hand to catch a flake of snow “It would be easier to explain sight to the blind,” Pestilence says. “It can’t be understood by description alone; it must be experienced.” What is the use of having a horseman around if he won’t answer any of the fun questions?”
Seeing Sara and Pestilence fall in love is painful at times, and each of them tortures themselves over it. Because they are enemies, and they believe they are betraying themselves and their beliefs by having feelings for each other. We see them come to the point where they give into what they are feeling and admit that they love each other and seeing them fight for each other. The hero though he really surprised me in the end though, he makes such a change where he has to make a decision over his mission or the woman he loves and their sweet ending.....*sigh* just about made me cry.
Love is the greatest gift we can give or receive
This is definitely not a romance for the faint of heart, there is so much character development and seeing them fight for each other and learning what loving someone is truly about. And then the worldbuilding for the Apocalypse is AMAZING, so intense at times and I loved the way that this author wrote this book because it really opens the series just right and I can't wait for WAR....wish it was out like NOW!! hehe

Overall I found Pestilence to be a heart engaging, thrill you to your toes exciting, so romantic and emotionally engaging it tugs at the heartstrings and delivers an outstanding story that you can squee in excitement over....A DELICIOUS LOVE TALE!!!

Neeky Reid

They are both so delusional that it became funny

 I don't feel sorry for Pestilence, boo hoo you were tasked to wreak havoc on the human race so to feel better about himself he decides that they were beneath him and weren't worth saving. Sara started to believe her own hype. Why are the people demons for trying to survive?
She has a lot to say when she's the only one being spared from his wrath. The countless stops they made in people's homes for her benefit and tried to make us the readers side with their actions. That man who tried to kill her should have been successful. And she's not sympathetic enough for it to be believable.
Also why couldn't we get a pov from Pestilence? Her out look on things were quite boring and repetitive.

Leonor Ribeiro 

Wren Elliott 

This book is a little dark, well the whole series is really, what with the whole imminent danger of the world ending and all that. But Laura Thalassa has written the whole end of the world, heroine taken by the monster against their will really well.

Our monster, who in this case is one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Pestilence, is bullheaded and generally not too likeable when we first meet him, though I did find that I liked him by the end. Our heroine, however, is firefighter Sara Burns, fierce and compassionate, I mean the opening she does something that had my mouth hanging open in shock but I won't give away exactly what it was. Which leads me to mention that there are a few very vivid descriptions of some grotesque stuff, I'm not so easily put off but just as a forewarning to others. 

It's something of a slow burn, not the slowest but also it's well over halfway through the book that we get some spice happening and even then it isn't anything too wild. It's cute and fits the way Sara and Pestilence slowly build their relationship up from nothing, which is fair considering he is trying to end the world and she attempted to kill him, but hey, we love a bit of enemies to lovers am I right?

Okay so now that I've said all the good things... I have to admit that overall I didn't love it. Despite what I've seen others say, I didn't really like Pestilence (I know! I'm so sorry!) but don't get me wrong I liked the book it just didn't hit me until the very end. Although I'm only giving it a 3 out of 5 it won me over enough by the end to continue the series and gosh am I glad I did!

Jessica Lynn

Oh fuck yeah, someone finally made the death and destruction of the entire human race SEXY!!!!!!!! 5/5 for the idea, 3/5 for the execution with this one. I know that would technically make this a 4 star but I must detract one because there is not 6 pack abs on this book cover like the rest.

Courtney 

“Pray for the world dear Sara, War is coming” CHILLS

Andrea Rodriguez

Solid 3.75 stars. 

I loved seeing Pestilence slowly become more human the more time he spent with Sara. It was very sweet and endearing.

Of course it was frustrating having to deal with him being so adamant about his purpose, but the journey to him completely surrendering himself to Sara was absolutely worth it. 

She set it up perfect for the next book. Can’t wait to read it!

Ashley Wendt

Um. I’m not sure what to say about this. I bought this on whim because of the pretty cover (which has since changed). I must not have read the synopsis, because this was not what I was expecting at all. I had it in my head this was a fantasy with fae...yeah...NO! This ended up being about one of the Four Horseman from the Bible...and a hate to love relationship and a bit of smut thrown in there. I’m not quite sure how I feel about myself after reading this one. 😳

freya.nightwolf

This book has a lot of truth in it about human nature. Yep, human nature tends to destroy everything and Pestilence comes to deliver God's wrath. WARNING! If you're weak-kneed, then probably you should know that you get the description of the plague infections and the wounds inflicted by shotguns AND burns. Literally burning flesh and missing parts!

Now, I'm glad that Laura puts these descriptions of the bad things because common! This is a HORSEMAN and it's a horseman's job to literally inflict pain and get a good description of the act. So again, don't expect to be privy to that. 

I liked how Pestilence's story is written and I really liked the fact that the two main characters have the whole book. There are other characters, but let's name them "passing characters". So you get everything there is on Pestilence and Sara. I like how Pestilence grows and his curiosity about trying human things. Even if he knows his task, his mission, and his purpose, you can see the conflict in him. And usually, the people/species that don't like their mission, are the ones that are the best for the job. So, Pestilence is in this situation, and little by little, he starts listening to his heart and questioning things, a normal action that makes him look a lot like a human. Even if his literally the plague itself, you can see his evolution, not necessarily as a person [HE'S NOT HUMAN], but as a being, as a living, breathing, undying being. 

Sara is his salvation. I AM WARNING YOU! SHE WILL SUFFER HIS WRATH! AND NOT IN A PLEASANT WAY! REALLY SUFFERING! I love that this isn't a story where the guy sees his prey and immediately falls in love with it. NO! She, like every other human, suffers and he hurts her really bad and nearly kills her. So everything is about communication, trying new things, and let's be honest. Sara has a lot of patience with him. A LOT! They change each other and the way they do that, that's their journey as beings, supreme being and human. 

I've seen the other reviews, but I really think this book deserves 5 stars. The plague is the first step in the apocalypse, so is normal and natural that after him comes the worst. Like in every torture or battle, things increase in their suffering and the magnitude of the danger, pain, and the end of life itself. So I think Pestilence got the right story. When bad things happen, is not just one thing, no. There are multiple bad things, and the worst is yet to come.

Sven Test

I expected more from this revered book. I considered DNF’ing it many times, but kept going in hopes to see what everyone else saw. It wasn’t much, unfortunately. 

Despite it having so many pages, not much really happened. Everything kept repeating itself to the point I was rolling my eyes so much. 

Now, will I be reading War and hope the book community is right with this one, at least? Yes.