Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Famine by Laura Thalassa

17 reviews

summercampcrush's review

dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Love the FMC! Anna hilarious. First half is more of an actual enemies to lovers romance than many others boasting the same can claim. Sticks with the slow burn till the 2nd half. Much more rewarding than the last book, War. (Where War pretty much just declares the FMC his wife within the first 30 seconds of laying eyes on her, and then they wonder around the desert for the remainder of the book. 

While Pestilence wasn’t written to be incredibly plot driven, the MCs seem to be constantly facing down a new near death experience that shifts their perspectives of each other and themselves. War had almost none of that suspense built into the story, bc War OP af imo. 

We are given enough information to know that Pestilence takes place 5 years after modern life basically grinds to a halt.

There is still some mass media communication, guns are still prevalent but tend to be as dangerous to the armed due to backfires, no motors or engines run anymore, and all modern utilities are spotty at best.

War takes place 10 years after Pestilence. 

Which is why I’d categorize this book at late-stage apocalypse. It’s unclear but hinted that Famine takes place 5-10 years after War, and at least 22-25 years after everything starts shutting down. Which means the FMC is the first of the series who hasn’t known the world of before. I do wish that the author took a little more advantage of that fact. However, seeing as these are basically character driven books with fairly isolated POVs, the world building is admittedly scant - and there’s not much to be done about that w/o shifting the authors intent.   

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, and Addiction

So far I’d rank the 3 books so far: 🥇Pestilence (4.25/5) 🥈Famine (3.0/5) 🥉War (2.5/5)

kinsportch's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Death, Gore, Trafficking, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Cursing

Moderate: Child abuse and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

queerloras's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Higher rating because Famine didn't change. Also responsible sexual behaviour discussions pre-coitus 👍 But God, was that FMC annoying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Gore, Violence, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, Body horror, Vomit, Murder, and Misogyny

witchloved's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I wish it had been longer. I’m still sad my fav of the 4 was the shortest

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Body horror

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Confinement

viktoriann's review

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Misogyny, Confinement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Genocide, Vomit, Torture, Blood, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Body shaming, Cancer, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

madoav's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Okay, wow. Did not expect the ending to go the way it did, but I really appreciate that this book didn't follow the same formula the previous two did. I was a bit skeptical about Famine, because I thought it was just going to repeat the events of Pestilence, but I'm so so happy I was wrong. I think out of the three, Famine has to be my favorite now, especially because I thought his character development was truly the best out of them. I'm super excited to read the last book!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

kirahaycock21's review

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

It was a little slow throughout the middle, but overall a great book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Blood, and Genocide

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Torture, Alcohol, and Gore

Minor: Suicide

mattiedancer's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Writing: 3.5⭐️/5 

I feel like in this book Thalassa tried to strike out and make her writing a bit different, but I’m not sure it worked. Much of the writing felt the same. I was, however, less surprised by this than I was when I read book two, War. I feel like expecting the similarities made them less bothersome.

Characters: 3.25⭐️/5

Famine bears similarities to both War and Pestilence, but manages to strike out on his own as the novel progresses. Ana feels very much like a mix of Sara and Miriam from the previous two novels, and while the story progresses to a point that I enjoyed reading about, I wanted a bit more from the characters.

Plot: 3.5⭐️/5 

Girl gets captured by a Horseman. Slowly, she falls in love with him. And then, she slowly finds herself as the only reason he wants to stop the apocalypse. It’s very predictable. Yes, I was prepared for the predictability. Yes, I was still a bit annoyed at how similar it was. However, I will say that I did enjoy how Thalassa struck out to make the ending very different. I just wish this would have started sooner.

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Fans of ACOTAR and dystopian societies
• Someone looking for a romance with an intriguing plot
• Those who like fantasy/apocalyptic novels that centre on romance
• Readers who like (or don’t mind) a bit of spice, but not just spice
• Those who liked and loved the first and second books (but maybe take a break between so it’s not too fresh)

Content Warnings? 

Death, murder, sexual content, physical abuse, emotional abuse, kidnapping, gore, blood, injury, injury detail, violence, animal death, torture, grief, body horror, sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, alcohol, swearing, child abuse, child death, misogyny

Post-Reading Rating:  4⭐️/5

Made me kind of pumped for the fourth one.

Final Rating: 3.5⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Murder, Child death, Animal death, Body horror, Rape, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Cursing, Alcohol, Child abuse, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Blood, Torture, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Gore, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy

bellebookcorner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 “Because around you, I feel the oddest urge to use my power to create rather than destroy.”

 

Read this book if you love; 

• Dark Fantasy Paranormal Romance 

• Morally Grey Character 

• Enemies-to-Lovers 

• Hates Everyone but Her 

• Post-Apocalyptic World 

• Touch Her and You Die 

 

Famine started a little bit differently compare to Pestilence and War. Instead of accidentally meet the FMC during his mission, Famine and Ana (the FMC) have met before the beginning of the story. 

 

Something different that I notice from this book is the addition of Famine’s POV in the last few chapters. It’s a nice change for the story and I really wish there’s more POV by the horsemen since most of the time on the previous books we only get to see from the FMC's POV. 

 

I really like Famine and Ana growing relationship throughout the story, their previous encounter has quite a huge role in their character's development. 

Famine is slightly different than War and Pestilence, he’s not destroying human kind not only because it was his purpose but also for revenge after what the humans did to him in the past which made him feels slightly more relatable.   

 

While it may seem Famine lost his faith in humanity, he met the stubborn and lovely women - Ana for the 2nd time. 

I admire Ana for still believing the good side of humanity even though she had most of her life experiencing the bad side of it. I also love her sassy remarks and her creative way of picking a fight with Famine which is delightful! 

 

Another different aspect from this book is the ending. The previous 2 books didn’t have a cliff-hanger as huge as this one. Now I’m super interested in reading Death’s story! 

 

Overall, this is a great addition to the series. 

I’m enjoying this series so far and now after reading the book I finally understand why some of the fans said that Famine was one of their favorite. 

I’m looking forward to read the final book in this series and see how everything got wrapped up! 

 

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: Death, violence, sexual content, sexual assault, torture, brief mention of child abuse 

 

I received an advanced review copy for free through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault and Torture

Minor: Child abuse

whitney427's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Rape, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Cursing, Grief, and Alcohol