Pestilence
The Four Horsemen
Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction
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.
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.
Kristin lives in the PNW with her husband, and three kids. She loves to read YA fiction, fantasy, and romance. She enjoys a few side-hustles, including creating bookreels/booktoks for authors. The only shows she watches are re-runs, and if she’s not reading a book, she’s listening to one.
