(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.
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➸ Before I started the book, I have accepted that I WILL NOT dive into a dark, paranormal, heart-pounding adventure in a post-apocalyptic world, but take a leap into a fluffy - yet dark romance. So, I sat back and tried to enjoy the ride. This much hype must lead somewhere, no?
➸Let’s look at the story (loaded with spoilers ⚠️)
Four years ago four horseman landed on earth. With their arrival humans thought the end of the world was there. But they were so wrong. The horseman disappeared as fast as they appeared on earth, leaving behind their destruction. Four years later one of them appears again - Pestilence the conqueror of the world. Spreading a plague through the world he’s destroying Pestilence is attacked by a human girl -Sara. Sara Burns is a sarcastic firefighter (with love for poetry, especially Edgar Allan Poe) who has literally drawn the short stick to stay behind and protect her town at all costs. When she sees Pestilence riding his horse, she shoots him and then lights his body on fire. To her horror, he comes for her, half-rotting and dead (the guy is immortal -duh!), and makes her his prisoner, vowing to her that as soon as he's fully healed, he intends to make her suffer. The problem occurs with what the insta-love, even though it doesn't happen instantly - Sara's attraction to Pestilence happens way too fast (especially since she forgives his abusive treatment of her - shooting her in the back with arrows, dragging her bound down a tarmac road while he's on horseback, etc.).
There’s suffering and there is pain painted with thick hate, but the line between love and hate is small and soon Sara isn’t so sure about her thoughts and her feelings for the horseman anymore.
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➸One could say that the whole point of this book is to show that Pestilence came to understand humanity and found compassion through the power of love, I do not agree with that. I don't blame Pestilence for his nature, even understand it in a way (fuck, maybe humanity do deserve the apocalypse), I blame Sara (and her humanity-or lack). As mentioned before, I can get on board with the whole apocalypse thing, humanity deserve a big ol’ cleanse, but Sara’s priority during this whole process was Pestilence and his beauty, then Pestilence and his suffering if humans try to kill him, Pestilence and the very naughty things she wants to do to him (remember, he is immortal) , Pestilence and how he is just a poor little misunderstood immortal being who has not experienced human emotions and desires and who can totally be excused for killing millions of people – because well…he is hot. She’d excuse every single thing or rationalise it somehow to make her feel less shitty about banging a guy who spread a plague and then made you watch while they die in agony. But it’s alright, he’s just kinda misguided and maybe after enough banging he’ll be more lenient with humans and you know, you get all the benefits of being immune to disease and the orgasms he’s so happy to provide. Here’s an example: the last time Sara (who was taken captive by Pestilence) and Pestilence entered a big city, riding his undead stallion, the citizens had set up an ambush, resulting to Pestilence being gravely injured (note that he cannot be killed). So, the next time they approach a big city, Sara wants to get off the main road, because:
a) she wants to spare the people that didn't evacuate from a horrible, painful death
b) she's afraid she might be killed in the ambush
c) she doesn't want undying Pestilence to get hurt
*And yes, Sara goes for option c) of course.
I must add, along the way they encountered some really nasty people who committed atrocities against them, and I do not condone that. However, Sara was present when children and sweet elderly people died because of Pestilence, when children lost mothers to plague and parents lost their children when Pestilence commandeered their homes in order for Sara to eat their food (!) and rest (!), something Sara gradually came to accept.
➸Sadly, this fucked up relationship was not my only issue. Besides the basically non-existent world-build, the novel also lacks plot. There wasn't happening anything remarkable that would push story forward, there was only annoying bickering between them and nothing else… The entire book consists of the same routine: Pestilence (and Sara) riding his horse through cities to spread the plague with his presence. It was literally a rinse, repeat situation of: ride till Sara is tired and hungry, find a house (occupied or empty, doesn’t matter), steal those peoples food (after Sara tells us if the house has electricity and what food can be found in the pantry - each and every time) and take their bed so she can rest while the occupants (including children & elderly) die of the plague you brought to them, scout the premises of the house while Sara rests, then start the cycle again. Occasionally they interrupted by desperate people trying to stop them. It eventually got really tedious, it felt like I witnessed the same events again and again…and again. And that’s it. That’s the whole plot.
➸ I would have thought I'd love Pestilence, but man did I struggle. And no, it wasn't because he kills so many humans in the course of the story. It's because he was a total beta-hero in my eyes. Sure, he's a big baddie, sure he's all tough and weapony and all that jazz. But I felt no alpha vibes from him. The story also didn’t develop Pestilence’s character. For someone so powerful and all knowing - he literally knew nothing about humans (he’d say he was a witness to everything so he actually should have know more than enough). We got some cheesy lines about God and spirituality, but the rest of the time he felt like a robot built with a purpose who doesn’t have a mind of its own but is slowly developing free will. It feels like the writer was more concerned to write how beautiful he was in every chapter than actually giving him an interesting personality. And on top of that, he never regretted his actions. The only reason he stopped spreading the plague at the end, is so that Sara would stay with him and accept him fully and marry him and get to her pants whenever he wanted.
And I really tried not to cringe every time Sara calls Pestilence well, Pestilence, even in their… ehem… intimate moments. And at the end he named himself Victor? Like really?
Let’s see some quotes:
“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.” Pestilence really could work on his compliments.
***
Caught him in a good mood, I did.
Not.
"So... I haven't gotten sick."
"Astute observation, mortal."
"Is that just luck, or do you control who gets the plague?" I ask.
"Were you born with all your organs intact?" he responds.
"Yes..." I say cautiously.
"Good," he responds, "then I expect you to use the one beneath your skull."
***
*sigh*
This was wrong on so many levels, yet I was still grabbed the next book at the end, so there might be something really wrong with me as well... This book was like a train wreck—so, so bad, and yet so fascinating…
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