Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

105 reviews

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

bleidddrwg'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

kenzieparker's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Vomit, Gaslighting, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual content

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

With much inspiration taken from the ancient horror stories of the Bible, Hell Followed with Us is a post-apocalyptic adventure featuring queer teens as the heroes.  A new plague has been released upon the world by an evangelical cult, The Angels.  Benji’s mother is one of their leaders, his father his greatest ally, and he: a trans boy trapped inside their compound, slowly transforming into a monster, a “savior” of their own creation.  Benji escapes—at a great cost—and joins a group of queer teens hiding out in an LGBTQ+ center, a place beyond his wildest dreams.  This primal scream of a novel is, at its heart, about survival.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Sexual content, Vomit, and Alcohol

eli_like_a_lie's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

I liked the book thematically, despite the warnings was unprepared by just how gross the descriptions were. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

graphic descriptions of death, main character is on a regular basis vomiting up literal organs, very detailed descriptions of this

nicolescottwv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Minor: Misogyny and Gaslighting

satsumaorange'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? Yes

3.5

Great book! Well-written and impactful, even the very heavy-handed parts were not overdone. Very overly dramatic at times, but you can kinda understand why when you remember that the narrator is a teenage trans boy with deep religious trauma. 
It was a good read to get me out of my comfort zone, but ultimately, not the perfect book for me. Enjoyed it though! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cursing, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

This book is FULL OF GORE. And violence. And death. There's a whole opening note from the author warning about potential triggers. Reader beware. Dead dove do not eat.

fromthefoxhole's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

WHEW what a fuckin book!!! Hell Followed With Us is a fucking triumph, and I absolutely loved it. 

We watch as Benji, our trans masc main character, escapes a Doomsday cult committed to seeing the end of days through any means necessary. He's been fighting his entire life, though, so it's no surprise the fight is what pushes him forward. 
He finds a home with ALC, a rag-tag group of queer kids who found themselves together when the world ended, and he sees himself in Nick, the autistic boy leading their battle party. He wrestles God, he wrestles the Flood, the sickness that rots away at him from the inside out, and he wrestles himself. What hope is there for absolution amongst the carnage?

I'm not kidding when I say this book is everything to me. I highlighted massive swaths of text, whole chapters even, captured by how relatable Benji is to my own history of fundamental religion being at odds with my queerness. Benji's victories became my own, his failures that much more painful. 

White's prose is relentless, interwoven with twisted scripture and teachings, filled to the brim with references and callbacks. Everything within the story is connected, joined together at odd angles and dripping with sick. It's disgusting, it's visceral, it's stunning. A perfect match to those same things within Benji. 

I'm never going to stop thinking about this book, and none of you can stop me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Deadnaming, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic