The Fifth Horseman - Becca In A Book

The Fifth Horseman is a darkly comic tale of two thirty-somethings caught between our world and the afterlife, who must embrace their role as reapers to prevent the End Times.

Death is just a day job you can’t quit…

Emma and Mark had a bad day. The worst part of it was dying. But, according to Death, the Rider on the Pale Horse and first horseman of the apocalypse, things aren’t that simple. Turns out the sand in their hourglass is stuck in place. Somewhere between life and death, they’re put to work as Death’s assistants, reaping the souls of the living until it’s time for their final clock out…

To compound matters, despite their omnipotence, the four horsemen are facing an existential threat – one they’re ill-equipped and ill-prepared to combat. They’re suddenly getting old, weak, and succumbing to illness. What has brought on this uncharacteristic frailty? Does Charon, the ferryman of the River Styx, have more up his sleeve than just the coins proffered by the dead to secure passage to the afterlife? And why do you never see baby pigeons?

Emma and Mark must reap like their afterlives depend on it, to help prevent the End Times – even if it means scuppering the one opportunity they have at being granted a second chance at life.

(Goodreads Summary)

My Thoughts

There were so many things that I enjoyed about this book. It was such a fun, funny, and unique story that made something we usually see as sad and depressing, jovial.

I mean this story is so unique and has so many fun and twisted ideas about what death is and what we think the after life will be. This author took all the myths and ideas that we could possibly have ever had and twisted them in such a fun way. I have never read anything close to this hilarity and I had a fun time reading it.

THIS BOOK WORLD IS JUST SO FUN. I mean Charon is just a pure delight and I was so in love with the fact that War was a fierce Amazonian like female and Death was a depressed grump….. Although some of the characters turned out to be villains, I loved them all equally and I enjoyed getting to know all their points of view.

ALSO the start of this book was a very very interesting one and it just sucked me into the story immediately and I couldn’t wait to read more. The way these main characters meet the world of death is definitely one that some people might find triggering, but it made a unique start to the book so I appreciated it.

The only thing I had a little issue with is that I feel like the story dragged a little…. It kind of hit a lull in the middle of the book and I had to take a couple breaks in order for me to continue.

BUT… the ending was so cute and what I hoped for for the entire book!

Overall, I did really enjoy the book, the book world, and its characters, but I just wish it was maybe more exciting all the way through.