Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

101 reviews

elfinafroghat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.75

 i . am pretty mixed about this book. i wish it was better, mostly. the storyline and concept is incredible and that part of the book is done so well but the characters are lacking and the discussion of queer, especially trans, and autistic characters felt weird to me. this is an own voices book so i don't want to critique that section of it too much - everyone's experience is their own - but i just, personally, wasn't a fan of how these traits were covered, as a queer autistic and trans individual myself. i am still interested in reading this author's second book out of curiosity but i was left wanting more from this one. the pacing was off, there was about 100 pages from roughly page 150-250 that felt really slow to me and almost made me want to stop reading all together, but i kept reading to see how everything concluded and it got better but not perfect still. the imagery was repetitive and unclear, there was a lot of metaphors and descriptive language that were said a lot but i struggled to picture what things looked like most of the time - which is not something that's usually a problem for me. overall, i'm not upset i read this book, im glad i did, i think i would even recommend it to certain people if i felt like they would enjoy it, but it wasn't really for me, and i just wish it was done a little better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

winterhartarts's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

Was a little slow for the first roughly half of the book, and most of the main characters felt slightly undeveloped at that point. However, once the halfway point happens, this really turn wild, and I was far more engaged until the very end. The world building kept me through the first half as well, so there’s a lot to be said for how the author fully actualized this kind of post-apocalyptic world filled with zombie amalgamations that all at once resembled ones from the games in The Last Of Us series and specifically the big blob from the game Inside. Imagery was always on point too, and I really felt engaged during times it was utilized. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

fozlandgirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.0

I enjoyed this a lot but I don't know if I was the target audience as it was really young. So much body horror. So much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

honeycrispychicken's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cursing, Deadnaming, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

wheelyautistic's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

Finishing this book felt bittersweet because I wanted to find out more about what happened but I am so glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Plot: 4★
Prose: 3★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 5★/4.5★
Characters: 3.75★
Worldbuilding: 4★
Ending: 3.5★

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Alcohol

justmehayleyb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

gwenynenbrenin's review against another edition

tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

TWs:
Graphic: Religious bigotry, apocalypse, death, injury/injury detail, transphobia, deadnaming/misgendering, vomit, blood, body horror
Moderate: Violence, gun violence, toxic relationship, murder, death of parent
Brief: Gaslighting

This book just fuels my 'I need to be a monster, I need to ruin my enemies', I feel so SEEN.

It feels quite slow at first, but it definitely vamped up the pace. I'm utterly in love with just the somewhat casual representation, and the fact there's not a major focus on the transphobia that the MC faces. The euphoria Benji experiences when gendered correctly and people use his real name, I still relate so much to it even now, after being out for 8 years.

The author's writing style is absolutely amazing, I'm constantly gripped and genuinely found it hard to put the book down

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Gaslighting

msradiosilence's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

micaelacccc's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Minor: Physical abuse