Pestilence (Four Horsemen, #1)

by Laura Thalassa

[stacey_is_sassy]

It's time to prepare for WAR!!

War is coming!! War is coming!! War is coming!!

Well, I think War is coming. The last message I saw from Laura Thalassa mentioned a June release date. I can hear you all scoffing that we're more than halfway through June and there is no War but, I still wanted to be prepared just in case. I decided that a re-read of Pestilence was the best way to prepare for the second of The Four Horseman to arrive.

I was so excited to see that Susannah Jones was narrating and it made me even more excited to start my re-read/listen. Ms Jones is one of my favourite narrators. Her acting abilities shine through in her narrating and I find her one of the easiest to listen to when it comes to females "doing" males. It's a slight drop in her voice and rumble that makes it believable and not hard on the ear. Her portrayal of Sara and Pestilence was spot on and I enjoyed the experience.

Pestilence is an amazing story and the narration did it justice. Honestly, I think my read was just a smidge better, though. I'm glad I've bought the audio version for future re-reads/listens, but I'm thankful that reading it was my introduction to The Four Horseman.

If you haven't tried a Laura Thalassa yet, I highly recommend giving her a try.

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Pestilence made me question my path…

For the first time, Goodreads’ “likes” lead me to a book. A lot of people might be sitting reading this thinking *Duh, Sassy, that’s what Goodreads is all about*. Well, in this case, it was a little different. I had seen the name Laura Thalassa around the traps, and I had been meaning to check her out. I saw the cover of Pestilence, liked it and when I realised she had written it, I decided that this would be my starting point. So, I added it to my Want to Read shelf and instantly my friends liked it. Liked it so much that my curiosity was even more piqued. Obviously, other readers loved Pestilence or maybe it was Laura Thalassa? Either way, my one-click-finger was influenced and I bought without even checking out the blurb.

Thank you, Goodreads friends, I am grateful you lead me to The Four Horsemen series.

Wow!! Some books come into your life and give you a shiver up your spine. Pestilence gave me a shake/shimmy/shiver that rocked my foundations. I loved the author’s writing style, her characters and the storyline sucked me in from the very first page. Almost instantly my feelings and emotions were in tumult. On this journey, I felt anger towards a killer, that morphed into guilt…because I played a part in setting his path to destruction.

This is the type of story where you can’t help but look at yourself and wonder if you should change your path a little. Am I dooming our world by my thoughtlessness? Should I be showing more love and forgiveness to my fellow humans? Has my disillusionment with politics, media and bad people in general, turned me away from lending a helping hand? The facts are there, but what will be the turning point when we really accept that we’re killing the environment? Are we already doomed because of our greed and selfishness? I loved that Pestilence made me think.

Pestilence is a dystopian romance. I don’t read a lot of these types of stories but in this case, it made me think more paranormal romance than dystopian. Bossy alpha male who makes the rules and expects them to be obeyed. A feisty heroine who stands up for what she believes in. A connection that can’t be denied. These are all things I adore in my romance, so I was left very satisfied.

I don’t really want to go too far into the storyline because I think you will enjoy it better without knowing too much. There is a lot of growth within these characters that you can’t even expect to happen when you first meet them. It’s easy to judge a killer. It’s easy to be tarred with the same brush when so many people act without thought to the consequences. Sometimes you need to look below the surface of a killer. Not everyone is bad and you just need to be in the presence of good, kind and generous people to remember that.

I absolutely LOVED Pestilence. It can at times be a little confronting, a wee bit gory and a touch dark but it was never too much or over the top. The characters were interesting, the love story was at times sweet and also sizzling. I loved getting to know them better and enjoyed seeing them come together.

I highly recommend Pestilence and can’t wait to be on the War path.