Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

33 reviews

sal_the_cat's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Medical content, and Alcohol

twinkielinkie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Really interesting concept and extremely compelling. Not for the squeamish or faint of heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body horror, Transphobia, and Blood

Minor: Deadnaming and Eating disorder

spacememories's review against another edition

dark reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Loved the imagery, very religious tones there. Very queer which was nice. Wish it was more in-depth/ had more of an exploration of the world. I find it very interesting but wish there was more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

tifftastic87's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.75

Content Warnings: death of a parent, abuse, blood, gore, body horror, death, general violence, gun violence, transphobia, dead naming, religious bigotry, and genocide

Two years ago a religious eco-terrorist group released a bioweapon called The Flood and killed 9 billion people. They founded New Nazareth and infected Benji with a variant of the virus to create the Saraph. This variant will mutate him and allow him to lead the church's militia and flood abominations to bring everyone to heaven. 

I feel like this needed a bit more time curing before it was released to the world. Benji oscillated between guilt, which didn't use the religious trauma enough to make it feel real, and lusting over the Nick. Nick, the leader of the rebellion group that saves Benji, was very 2D. He was much more of a plot element than a character. I needed more between them than Nicke giving orders and Benji being like "damn he's cute."

The body horror was there, and probably at a good level for YA but somethings were not explained very well and I really couldn't tell what was happening. The story was in firsf person, so perhaps it was intentional, but it was not clear it was intentional. 

I have a lot more opinions on the world building and the lack of justification for the relationship between Benji and Nick (other than it's YA and they have to). But I'll leave it at there were a lot of inconsistencies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

abies's review against another edition

3.5

this one was a great read. in terms of structure, its not very plot heavy and focuses mainly on the main character's exploration of who he is and what he wants to be, and becoming himself in the precence of the people he loves. the depiction of autism and the variation of gender and expression was nice too.

the only reson i dont rate it a little higher is that something was missing for me personally character or story-wise. absolutely would recommend to teens / young adults who enjoy body horror and exploration of religious trauma. and those that just think it would be cool to be a beast as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Minor: Eating disorder

ezwolf's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.0

I want to say that I can understand why this book has done so well and so many people have spoken highly of this book. But it really just wasn't amazing for me. I think part of it is because I'm not really a huge fan of post apocalyptic stories that are set so close to the actual event, plus I have been avoiding stories about pandemics for obvious reasons. A friend highly recommended I read this so I decided to give it a shot, but I just wasn't as enthused as I had hoped. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol and Classism

milliyum's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Before i get into my issues with the book ill praise it for being a fun book full of gore and with the most diverse cast of characters I've read.
It was fun and I'm glad i tried it, i would definitely reccomend it.

Now my issues aren't major, more that it felt lacking in some areas (of course maybe the author had a word limit or I'  too dyslexic to realise i skipped parts of the plot).

I felt like the Flood should of been explained more. If their religion doesn't exist then how was it made? How are the Graces controlled by them in the first place?

I wish there was more character arcs and closeness,

the chapter before Benji revealed Seraph to The Watch felt sudden? That their closeness suddenly felt rushed

the final battle felt a bit rushed and especially the ending of that fight

It even at times felt like i was reading a fanfic of the book.

But either way i loved it, the characters were all enjoyable (even the evil ones) and i loved every scene with Benji's

transformation

especially as the last stage felt like a trans allegory for being fully transitioned and people not accepting that part of you still.
Also do yourself a favor and look at the sick fanart of Benji once you finish the book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Minor: Child death, Deadnaming, and Panic attacks/disorders

peroxide_princes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

5.0

I had the pleasure of reading this book shortly after it came out, and I am so glad it jumped off the shelf at me. This book is so powerful and fast-paced, and speaks not only to my trans trauma but my catholic trauma as well. A disgusting and epic story of survival in the very darkest of times. This book truly made me fall in love with AJW’s writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Chronic illness, and Cursing

beanaroni's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

5.0

one of those books that I kept wishing I'd written the entire time I was reading it. andrew joseph white gets it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Eating disorder

this is a book that heeds a general body horror warning for its entire length, but please be cautious if you're particular about teeth (as I am).

there is an entire passage dedicated to the MC taking pliers to try to remove one of his monster teeth and it was pretty brutal to read.

hemlockbabe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was disgusting in a visceral, gore-y way. If I had read literally any trigger warnings online, I would have been prepared, but as is it was a pretty interesting thing to discover as I read this book in the hours that the game store I was managing was completely and consistently dead.
I adored this book. I picked it up entirely on a whim during pride month on the wall of recommended reading at a small bookstore. I read (more like skimmed) the blurb on why the shop employee recommended it so highly. I love reading religious trauma inspired books, so I pretty much was sold immediately. 
I devoured this book during the span of one six hour shift at my workplace. I've always been a fast reader- it's my attention span that ruins my ability to read books. This book sucked me in hard enough that occasionally I had to be prompted multiple times by customers to buy their stuff. 
I don't know if I would have had a different experience with it if I had known of the trigger warnings, especially the violence, purposeful misgendering, and body horror. I've always loved zombie books, and I read those curled up in chairs in the library of my high school, so I didn't think much of the location I would be reading this book.
Public crying, for me, is the highest form of torture, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the pages of this book. The pacing, the content, the plight of the main character- all of it kept me hooked until the very end. I'm just glad I didn't snap at a kid for interrupting my reading time with a craving for Pokémon cards.
My review doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of public opinion- I have a history of really liking books and movies that had piss poor reviews and ratings- but I loved this book so much. As I've gotten older and more mentally ill, I don't get sucked into the pages of a book like a used to as a kid. I miss the ability to be absorbed in a story until it's done, and this book brought that back for me.
This book is definitely not for everyone, and all readers should be mindful of their triggers to disturbing content. But I definitely enjoyed myself, hence the five star rating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Outing, Cultural appropriation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Zombie apocalypse, and a religious cult worshipping it as the rapture. Or God's work to cleanse this Earth and remake it anew.