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snowydaze'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? It's complicated
5.0
I received an e-ARC of Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Overall, this book is probably one of my favorite ones of the year so far. It has everything one could ask for in a dystopian novel without having it feel too similar to the rest of them. There's a cult that takes over the world and a badass group of queer kids that work together to better their current situation. The main character, Benji fits perfectly into that category of morally gray in the best way. Furthermore, the cast of characters within the LGBTQ+ center is diverse and dynamic with at least a bit of character shining through for more than one character. Additionally, there are neopronouns used for one of the characters, which is refreshing and not seen too often. Plus, there's an autistic character who's allowed to exist without his autism being treated like a character flaw. There's also that aspect of religious trauma and coming to terms with how a religious upbringing both affects and fits into one's identity.
I will say that this book does have an unbelievably long list of trigger warnings and is filled with a lot of gore. It truly fits into the genre of horror and as such does get very dark at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
booksteastories's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
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
Bear with me, it's a five star which means that it might be difficult for me to express my thoughts. So.
The world ended 2 years ago due to a Christian eco-terrorist cult unleashing a deadly, monstrous virus on the world. Most people have died, but not all, as had been their goal. In order to fix that, (kill more people), they have been trying to create Seraph, a bio-weapon to wield against the survivors. Unfortunately, Benji, a trans boy, is the one carrying the successful strain of it and he does not want to a part of it at all, which is made clear by him escaping into the city of Acheson, where he is taken in by the ALC, where he badly want to belong. All he has to do to accomplish that is control Seraph and get revenge on the people who hurt him and killed his father. Easy! Not.
Okay, awkward attempt at a blurb over.
The writing is wonderful. Here's a quote(non-spoiler):
"I tried to feel it. I did, I swear. I reached for it, squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could and begged for it. I pretended I was stretching mu hands out into the darkness behind my eyelids, fingers splayed wide, trying to find even the barest touch of something out there in the abyss. To feel the warmth Mom always assured me was waiting once I accepted God into my heart.
There was nothing. Always nothing."
Speaking of God. This book is very, very heavy with Christianity and the damage it can do. As sapphic woman who has been exposed to a similar kind of rhetoric, to people spitting Bible verses in your face as an excuse for telling you that you were "unnatural" and "going to hell", a lot of it resonated with me in a dull-clang-in-your-chest-and-suddenly-you're-about-to-cry kind of way.
The plot progression is a combination of slow and fast paced -- lots of minor events happening constantly and slow progression of the main development. I don't know if that made sense, but that is the best kind of pace.
We mostly follow Benji's point of view with the occasional (declared) switch to Nick or another character's (I'd say out of 36 chapters only 3 or 4 are not from Benji), which was pretty cool.
The characters. Lots and lots of representation. This is the first book I've ever read where neo-pronouns are used freely, which is great! Everyone deserves to see themselves in the books they read. Nick's autism is well written. The characters all feel very real, by which I mean not every "good" person was likeable and not every "bad" person was irredeemably terrible.
The world was developed well enough for us to focus on the plot and character development. We mostly stay in the now and how things are now, post-apocalypse, but we get little glimpses of what might have led up to this genocide happening through little excerpts from speeches and articles at the beginning of every chapter (also a lot of Bible verses) and Benji's recallings of what it was like before. The Flood is described in enough detail for us to understand what Benji was going through.
Love certainly plays a part in this story but I wouldn't say that it was the focus. There is a toxic relationship involved within the plot, which I feel was well done. Also, the themes of morality, grief and recovery are brilliantly explored here.
Like the author says in the note at the start of the book (that's actually when I knew I'd definitely greatly enjoy the book, actually) this is a story of survival. It's not doom and gloom, despite being post-apocalyptic. It's hopeful.
Overall, read it. Especially if you enjoyed Wilder Girls and/or Gideon The Ninth. Also, I did warn y'all about incomprehensibility but even so, I hope I made sense. Please be aware that Benji does get misgendered and deadnamed on paper and there's a lot of gore (from The Flood) and pandemic terminology used throughout the book.
The world ended 2 years ago due to a Christian eco-terrorist cult unleashing a deadly, monstrous virus on the world. Most people have died, but not all, as had been their goal. In order to fix that, (kill more people), they have been trying to create Seraph, a bio-weapon to wield against the survivors. Unfortunately, Benji, a trans boy, is the one carrying the successful strain of it and he does not want to a part of it at all, which is made clear by him escaping into the city of Acheson, where he is taken in by the ALC, where he badly want to belong. All he has to do to accomplish that is control Seraph and get revenge on the people who hurt him and killed his father. Easy! Not.
Okay, awkward attempt at a blurb over.
The writing is wonderful. Here's a quote(non-spoiler):
"I tried to feel it. I did, I swear. I reached for it, squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could and begged for it. I pretended I was stretching mu hands out into the darkness behind my eyelids, fingers splayed wide, trying to find even the barest touch of something out there in the abyss. To feel the warmth Mom always assured me was waiting once I accepted God into my heart.
There was nothing. Always nothing."
Speaking of God. This book is very, very heavy with Christianity and the damage it can do. As sapphic woman who has been exposed to a similar kind of rhetoric, to people spitting Bible verses in your face as an excuse for telling you that you were "unnatural" and "going to hell", a lot of it resonated with me in a dull-clang-in-your-chest-and-suddenly-you're-about-to-cry kind of way.
The plot progression is a combination of slow and fast paced -- lots of minor events happening constantly and slow progression of the main development. I don't know if that made sense, but that is the best kind of pace.
We mostly follow Benji's point of view with the occasional (declared) switch to Nick or another character's (I'd say out of 36 chapters only 3 or 4 are not from Benji), which was pretty cool.
The characters. Lots and lots of representation. This is the first book I've ever read where neo-pronouns are used freely, which is great! Everyone deserves to see themselves in the books they read. Nick's autism is well written. The characters all feel very real, by which I mean not every "good" person was likeable and not every "bad" person was irredeemably terrible.
The world was developed well enough for us to focus on the plot and character development. We mostly stay in the now and how things are now, post-apocalypse, but we get little glimpses of what might have led up to this genocide happening through little excerpts from speeches and articles at the beginning of every chapter (also a lot of Bible verses) and Benji's recallings of what it was like before. The Flood is described in enough detail for us to understand what Benji was going through.
Love certainly plays a part in this story but I wouldn't say that it was the focus. There is a toxic relationship involved within the plot, which I feel was well done. Also, the themes of morality, grief and recovery are brilliantly explored here.
Like the author says in the note at the start of the book (that's actually when I knew I'd definitely greatly enjoy the book, actually) this is a story of survival. It's not doom and gloom, despite being post-apocalyptic. It's hopeful.
Overall, read it. Especially if you enjoyed Wilder Girls and/or Gideon The Ninth. Also, I did warn y'all about incomprehensibility but even so, I hope I made sense. Please be aware that Benji does get misgendered and deadnamed on paper and there's a lot of gore (from The Flood) and pandemic terminology used throughout the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Deadnaming, Torture, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Misogyny, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt
theodenreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? Yes
5.0
I knew from the moment I started reading Hell Followed with Us that this book would be like a sucker punch to the gut.
It's bloody, it's brutal, but it's so much more than that. This book is about queer kids working together to uplift each other and carve their own place into a world that seems rigged against them every step of the way.
I would heavily advise anyone interested in this book to check out content warnings before hand, because apart from the violence and gore, it deals with a lot of other very heavy topics. This is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year, but readers should be careful and take the time to read the author's letter at the start (which includes content warnings)!
This book was wonderful in its depiction of queerness and I loved that it didn't shy away from giving the side and minor characters their own complex problems and personalities. It was also super meaningful to see the spectrum of ways that characters experienced their queerness, rather than them all just being reduced to one specific type.
The writing style flowed also really well. You don't always see YA that gets this disgustingly descriptive in its gore, but White didn't shy away from any of the horrifying experiences the characters dealt with at all.
Hell Followed with Us is a must read for anyone who wants a cast of unapologetically queer characters who continue to persist no matter the odds. As I said earlier, it's definitely one of my favorite reads already, and I'm sure it'll continue to hold a special place in my heart.
It's bloody, it's brutal, but it's so much more than that. This book is about queer kids working together to uplift each other and carve their own place into a world that seems rigged against them every step of the way.
I would heavily advise anyone interested in this book to check out content warnings before hand, because apart from the violence and gore, it deals with a lot of other very heavy topics. This is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year, but readers should be careful and take the time to read the author's letter at the start (which includes content warnings)!
This book was wonderful in its depiction of queerness and I loved that it didn't shy away from giving the side and minor characters their own complex problems and personalities. It was also super meaningful to see the spectrum of ways that characters experienced their queerness, rather than them all just being reduced to one specific type.
The writing style flowed also really well. You don't always see YA that gets this disgustingly descriptive in its gore, but White didn't shy away from any of the horrifying experiences the characters dealt with at all.
Hell Followed with Us is a must read for anyone who wants a cast of unapologetically queer characters who continue to persist no matter the odds. As I said earlier, it's definitely one of my favorite reads already, and I'm sure it'll continue to hold a special place in my heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail