“Pestilence” by Laura Thalassa

Pestilence, the first of the four horsemen descends upon humanity, bringing a devastating plague to all within his radius. These four horsemen are called to Earth with a divine mission: to rectify the wrongs and restore the balance of justice that humans have disrupted.

Sara Burns is determined to save her town and family by killing Pestilence, but she soon discovers that Pestilence cannot be killed. Instead, he takes Sara as his prisoner with the intent to “make her suffer”. However, as Pestilence becomes intimately involved with a human, he starts to develop a deeper understanding of humanity itself. Will Sara's presence be enough to make Pestilence question his divine mission and potentially spare humanity?

I loved this book so much. It was so grotesque and not in the way that many fantasy romances these days are where you fall in love with the male interest and ignore all their faults. Throughout the story, I found myself wrestling with my feelings towards Pestilence, refusing to excuse his terrible deeds but really wanting to. Even the romance was not enough to make me want to see through his actions, which made the book so much more real than other fantasy romances. I was completely torn with what I wished Sara would do during the entire book and even when there was love, it was so muddled in trauma and horror.

"Pestilence" by Laura Thalassa is a truly unique series. It is a 5 out of 5 stars read for me, it challenged the conventional norms of fantasy romance. In a world where the characters' faults are not sugar-coated, it ended up being unforgettable.