Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

38 reviews

hippievamp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism

sageofthearts's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Transphobia, and Violence

nervcorp's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

im fucking crying. im fucking crying. 
not over the plot. over the thinks theis fucking book says about living. kill me now!!! i am so insane!!! i put this book down atleast twice because it was so REAL!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

this one is CRAZY. please please please read at your own risk ...

littki's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

this book is truly fantastic. its gory, its brutal, and it pulls no punches & softens no blows as it tells its story and this makes it the most visceral telling of queer personhood i can remember reading.

going through the story as benjis body is rotting from the inside, transforming into something he never wanted to be, never asked to be, never consented to be is such a horrific way of showcasing what its like to be trans and to not be allowed to be yourself; what forcing down the purest version of yourself does to you, how it can kill you. it was done so beautifully and so tragically and it just...illustrates it so well. the ultimate conclusion of benji becoming seraph, the end form of what he was turning into the whole story, was done so wonderfully, as well; how he gets taken over by rage and bloodlust when hes back in the cult he was raised in, how seraph awakens then as hes back to the abuse and transphobia he was raised in...it truly is poetic. he ends up the savior the Angels raised him as, only he's not their savior and he never was.

and nick...oh, i truly do love his character so much and i only wish we got into his mind more because hes such a beautifully written autistic character, which is, sadly, a rarity. hes so authentically written and represented and i felt so much of myself in him and his subtleties. his hatred of being touched, his stimming, his masking, his constant need to have it all together even when he wants to fall apart...it was so well written and i truly appreciate him so much. hes so, so special 💖

this book has so much heart and hope, and even though the story is over, i know these characters can claw into the dirt and pull themselves from the Hell theyve been plunged into. i know that they can survive and, as said near the end, maybe they can even grow up. its the least they deserve.

the small issues i have with this book - i felt the writing was a bit weak at points and i wish benjis time in the ALC was a longer portion of the book because i do feel that part was lacking; we dont get to know much of the other characters as much as i'd like - definitely dont retract from how much i enjoyed it because what the book does and the story it tells are much greater than any flaws it has. thank you Andrew Joseph White for this wonderful book 💖💖💖

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death

alexsartifacts's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

finntheknight's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Outing, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Classism

cnaccarato's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

grey_jayne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

I read this book for the Trans Rights Readathon and was barreling through it for the first 2/3. Granted, my life got busy so it's hard to know if I fell out of pacing or if the story slowed down but I definitely enjoyed things a little less as it was ending.

Holy Body Horror tho! The creature and mutation sequences are excellent. I think I honestly wanted more monsters than I got, but I am not sad about the abundance of body horror description. 

I do want to warn people that the hinge romantic edge of this story includes an abuser. This book is targeting messy emotions so I get why this is included but anyone looking for the romance may be appalled by this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic