Pestilence (The Four Horsemen #1) by Laura Thalassa

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.

Format: ebook
Narrator: n/a
Perfomance: n/a
Story: 🌑🌑🌑🌑🌓

That cover!!!

I have seen different permutations of paranormal romance stories from vampires to werewolves, faeries to elves, and demons to angels and now we have a horseman. A freakin' horseman of the Apocalypse!  

So how do you turn a walking embodiment of plague into a romantic anti-hero who is not only sympathetic but sweet and gallant? 

Laura Thalassa's first book of The Four Horsemen series introduces Pestilence who, like his name, spreads the Messianic Fever across the Northern American continent. He kept Sara Burns as a prisoner after the latter tried to kill him but unfortunately Pestilence is unkillable. This is a classic Stockholm Syndrome story and an enemies-to-lovers trope done convincingly well. There's also slow-burn romance and a lot of death and I mean A LOT. If you are easily bothered by humans, young and old alike, dying agonizing deaths while the cause of death is romancing another human, you might want to look the other way. I'm not the easily bothered sort so I could enjoy Pestilence and Sara's interactions without caring too much about the rotting bodies nearby.

Sara is a fire-fighter who is also an English major (a lit bitch in her own words) and she can quote an entire selection of Poe and Shakespeare off the top of her head. I liked how well-read she is but she can be quite crass at the same time. I enjoyed how she talks to herself. I totally get her dilemma but since I have a misanthropic streak in me, if I were in her shoes I would probably be not as conflicted. But then again if Pestilence met me, it would just probably worsen his already very poor view of humanity.

Pestilence the horseman has a dim view of humanity, as mentioned, and cliche as it is, it took love for him to change his view. I wonder if authors would come up with other reasons other than FEELINGS (logic anyone?) for creatures such as a horseman of apocalypse to change his mind. If there is, it's probably not in the paranormal romance genre. Anyway, Pestilence is a great character, that's all I want to say. He was thoughtful and caring in his own way and watching Sara corrupt introduce him to the pleasures of food and wine was kind of fun. He seems genuinely earnest about his feelings and him coming to terms with his conflicting emotions was endearing.

Reading the book, you might either feel there's nothing moving the story forward or you get to enjoy Pestilence and Sara's ongoing slow burn dance juxtaposed with all the people suffering from the plague. I am, obviously, in the latter category. As Pestilence and Sara move across Canada and the US West Coast, they encounter more people who tries to kill Pestilence. People also took note of the female human traveling with him and they didn't know what to make of it whether she was a prisoner or working with the horseman and most of these people were vicious. So a special shout out goes to the beautiful couple, Ron and Ruth who welcomed Pestilence and Sara into their home and showed them simple human kindness.

I don't read a lot of new adult books. My impression of NA is that there are a lot of oversexed brooding assholes seducing impressionable virgin girls. Pestilence the book caught my attention because of the lovely cover, the catchy blurb and one reviewer comment that says Pestilence the horseman is a virgin. We need more stories with virginal male leads.

The ending, however, seemed like a typical reconciliation scene from your average romance novel so I was a teeny-tiny bit meh about it. What kind of ending I was expecting, I also don't know (maybe something different? something unexpected? something with a little more oomph?) so it's a me issue. The question now is, how is Laura Thalassa going to pull off the rest of the horsemen's stories and come up with something to top this gem?

That epilogue too! I can't wait for War!

P.S.

I'm especially curious about Famine. War and Death I have seen personified so many times already but, like my question above, how do you make a romantic lead out of the walking embodiment of hunger and starvation?

SOUNDTRACK

Plague
Crystal Castles
(III)

I need you pure I need you clean Don't try to enlighten me Power to misconstrue What have they done to you Infants in infantry Rewrite their history Uproot their colony You're ripe for harvesting Virgin cells to penetrate Too premature to permeate They can't elucidate Never thought i was the enemy I am the plague I am the plague They fake sincerity Thy gifts don't give to me Now you've been annointed They've been asking for it Infants in infantry Rewrite their history Uproot their colony You're ripe for harvesting Virgin cells to penetrate Too premature to permeate They can't elucidate Never thought i was the enemy I am the plague I am the plague I need you pure I need you clean I need you pure I need you clean