A review by hazelwood
Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

5.0

I really, really enjoyed this book.  Benji was very relatable with his anger at the religion and the hatred that turned his world into hell. It gets messy when the people who raised you and loved you all your life are also the ones who want to watch the rest of the world burn. Sometimes you just want to turn into a monster and rip their throats out. Especially when they threaten your friends. And Benji gets his vengeance for every bit of disrespect they hurled at him and his friends in terrifying monsterous glory. So this was incredibly satisfying in that way, even though I personally prefer restorative justice rather than violent retribution as the solution to human conflicts. It was also very nice to watch Benji find solace in a found family of other queer kids. I will be reading any more books in this series or by this author, because wow I felt so seen here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic