Pestilence by Laura ThalassaMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
And so it was, and so it shall be, for the Age of Man is over, and the Age of the Horseman has begun.
This started off so cool, with the idea that the four horseman of the apocalypse arriving on earth. After their initial showing, where it seems they knocked the majority of electricity and communications out, they disappear for five years, until Pestilence the Conqueror arrives alone, riding his steed and spreading the Messianic Fever, a plague that kills everyone. Sara is an early twenties firefighter in Canada and we meet her as she draws the short straw and has to stay behind to try and kill Pestilence.
“Oh no, I’m not letting you die. Too quick. Suffering is made for the living. And oh, how I will make you suffer.” (Anyone else get some Pinhead vibes here?)
Sara shoots and burns Pestilence and his horse, feeling horribly guilty as she does it but then comes to the realization that while he may suffer from the violence impacted on him, he can not die. Pestilence decides to take Sara hostage, dragging her behind his horse and make her bear witness to him spreading the plague. Why Pestilence decides to take Sara hostage over all the other humans that tried to kill him? Not sure. The pov is all from Sara, which, I find to be a bit of a cop-out by the author because it allows her to not have to develop Pestilence and his world as much as I would have liked.
“Why sleep at all?” Why wait at all?
“There was the possibility …” He trails off, lost in some thought.
“What possibility?” I prod.
He rouses himself. “The possibility that humanity would redeem itself.” He grabs his glass and swirls it. “But alas, not even the End of Days can alter the depraved nature of your cursed kind.”
The idea of the story carried me fairly swiftly through the first half, the end of days and Sara riding with a four horseman but the second half made the lack of world building glaringly obvious. Pestilence himself doesn't seem to have a clear idea of the whys, he knows he was crafted for this one purpose and that humans do have a chance to halt everything if they change “things” around to God's satisfaction. Since this is a series, I'm not sure if the author is saving answers for future books but the lack of some answers made the world building really shallow and bereft.
A horseman of the apocalypse is watching me pee.
The parlance was very casual, it really brought out the New Adult feel in the second half with the above quote and then: He’s not going to be chill about it either, I can already tell. Sara thinks this after they have sex and it just didn't fit for me with how this is the apocalypse and she just had sex with an angel thing. If it was supposed to be humorous, levity, or whatever, it didn't fit for me.
He knows he’s broken my will to escape him.
This was thought by Sara around 20%. Pestilence is gorgeous and even though he gives people puss filled boils, she gets the hots for him. I didn't really feel or see the depth of emotions between these two, I'm not sure why either one fell in love with the other. Again, without Pestilence's pov, it made it extremely hard to see how and why an ageless immortal would fall in love. They also have their first kiss immediately after she pukes. Y'all. I never quite recovered from that moment.
He’d make a good dad. Can’t believe I just had that thought …
This quote felt so batshit crazy when I read it that I just had to include it. Pestilence had told her this:“How do I know English?” he says. “Or wield a bow and arrow? Why do I wear breeches and a breastplate and look like a human? I, like God, have been fashioned into something you can understand. “But this,” he gestures to his body, “is not what I really am.”
“It’s … not?” Having trouble with this one.
“I am pestilence, Sara,” he says softly. “Not a man. I have a body and a voice and a sentience not for my own benefit, but for yours.”
You don't even know what kind of nephilim thingy could be created and you're just in lalal land imagining he'd be good at peek-a-boo (or something)?????
I'm telling you, this second half didn't not deliver on any promises.
This whole time, I’d assumed that love would redeem the horseman and save us all. I should’ve known it would only ever damn us to our grisly fates.
Anyway, endless plague spreading traveling and then people trying to kill Pestilence, obviously start to try and kill Sara. Pestilence gets angry, we briefly meet death, Sara has crisis of conscience because love hasn't seemed to change Pestilence, more Poe poetry reciting, and some religious stuff that at times felt like very undercover preaching but I'm prickly as a cactus to stuff like that so maybe not too preachy. The ending felt like more of a big cop-out with Pestilence just deciding he “has served his purpose.” Did God tell him that or did he just come up with it on his own out of the blue or love? I have no earthly idea. He just decides to stop spreading plague, wear flannel, and live with Sara until she dies. I'm not sure what kind of romance I was looking for in a four horseman apocalypse story but come on. The epilogue jumps us five years and the arrival of War. Again, the concept intrigues the hell out of me but I'm not sure I'm going to continue on in the series as reviews don't look promising regarding the world building.
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