Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

351 reviews

ed_moore's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

“This is the quiet of the dead, the kind of quiet coloured by the creaking of rope and the rush of water and wind, all the things that aren’t the quiet that makes the quiet so loud it hurts”

The setting of Andrew Joseph White’s ‘Hell Followed With Us’ is simply incredible. The story follows a trans boy, Benji, who has been turned by a far right Christian extremist group who brought upon ‘the flood’ on judgement day and committed the genocide of nine billion ‘heretics’ into a monster called the Seraph that’ll bring them religious salvation. The dystopian backdrop to the story was so captivating and the world White creates around his band of rebel queer teenagers who try to exist in this reality against the force of The Angels is so harrowing yet fantastically crafted. It is however very unsettling and White does not hold back with the gore and body horror. Be warned this book is full of mutilation, disease, creatures that are made up from decaying corpses and general violence, but it does add to the horrifying religious apocalypse that White creates. 

The story is primarily told through the perspective of Benji as he battles with being accepted as a boy and the monster that is growing inside him, however there are occasional other perspectives that didn’t feel overly necessary. I would have been happy with a consistent story from Benji’s perspective. It also often shows only the aftermaths of violence and battles rather than the events themselves which I felt was a small loss. The story however was captivating and the dystopian worldbuilding some of the best I have ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

knittyreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-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

3.5

This book is more action-focused than the previous book I read from this author, which made it a bit harder for me to get into it. However, I love how this more fast paced, dystopian action is used to discuss heavy topics and character development in a more natural way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

in_love_with_him's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lulaabees's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-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

2.0

really strong concepts, poor execution. i get what the author was going for, but this book suffers from weak prose, messy pacing (i kept having to go back and reread previous paragraphs because the flow was frankly... bad), and gore that often feels more aesthetic than heartfelt. i would have liked more exploration of the themes and character, less blood and sinews flying around for what sometimes felt like the sake of it.
but it did make me feel something, as a trans (and autistic) person. of course it did. i just expected a LOT more, and a LOT better.
i will say as a final note though that the final fight (specifically, the moment where the interiority of the main character and what happens on the outside while fighting overlap) felt really cinematic and was pulled off pretty well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Ableism, Racism, and Sexual content

eliof's review against another edition

dark 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

5.0

What a beautiful gorgeous book. Holy shit. Visceral and angry and cathartic and gory and hopeful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

ewinnk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

aplemus's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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

3.75

this is surprisingly healing in a gay kid kicked out of church for being different and still has a holy kind of vengeful spite they needed to release kinda way

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, and Dysphoria

aspen_suxs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Vomit, Death of parent, Outing, and Dysphoria

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

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

aaabeegui's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail