Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Hell Followed with Us

This book was disgusting in a visceral, gore-y way. If I had read literally any trigger warnings online, I would have been prepared, but as is it was a pretty interesting thing to discover as I read this book in the hours that the game store I was managing was completely and consistently dead.
I adored this book. I picked it up entirely on a whim during pride month on the wall of recommended reading at a small bookstore. I read (more like skimmed) the blurb on why the shop employee recommended it so highly. I love reading religious trauma inspired books, so I pretty much was sold immediately.
I devoured this book during the span of one six hour shift at my workplace. I've always been a fast reader- it's my attention span that ruins my ability to read books. This book sucked me in hard enough that occasionally I had to be prompted multiple times by customers to buy their stuff.
I don't know if I would have had a different experience with it if I had known of the trigger warnings, especially the violence, purposeful misgendering, and body horror. I've always loved zombie books, and I read those curled up in chairs in the library of my high school, so I didn't think much of the location I would be reading this book.
Public crying, for me, is the highest form of torture, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the pages of this book. The pacing, the content, the plight of the main character- all of it kept me hooked until the very end. I'm just glad I didn't snap at a kid for interrupting my reading time with a craving for Pokémon cards.
My review doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of public opinion- I have a history of really liking books and movies that had piss poor reviews and ratings- but I loved this book so much. As I've gotten older and more mentally ill, I don't get sucked into the pages of a book like a used to as a kid. I miss the ability to be absorbed in a story until it's done, and this book brought that back for me.
This book is definitely not for everyone, and all readers should be mindful of their triggers to disturbing content. But I definitely enjoyed myself, hence the five star rating.

Content Warnings

jillianh25's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.5

A very good book with lots of gore and interesting reflections on religion.

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winterhartarts's review against another edition

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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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alannah_maree's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely my fav book ever, really captures the trans experience

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erebus53's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Not sure how this one ended up on my TBR but it's likely that it's because of other authors I heave read this year. This is a story that's steeped in twisted Christian doctrine and its clash with real life. It ended up feeling like some sort of mad fever dream something like Berserk, Neon Genesis, Locked Tomb (by Tamsyn Muir), The Walking Dead, Seanan McGuire, and a smidgen of Rick Riordan... o.O it's gory and messy and queer A.F.
Yay!

Set in a world where an Apocalypse cult has pretty much succeeded, and weird virus sculpted monsters

This is a horror story in a lot of ways, not the least of which is body horror, and dysphoria. The main character is AFAB, trans- and a gay boy. Having been raised in a zealot community this leads to some serious baggage, and a lot of emotional unpacking. Other major characters include NB, Ace, POC, Autistic, and folk with a smattering of different faiths or lack thereof. This may seem weird but this is what happens when a community centre for queer kids becomes a survivalist enclave in a the end-times.

So there's a little bit of sexual content, and an anime-horror level of once-human, virus-twisted, flesh-eating demons, gun violence, and existential angst. I thank the author for the overt content warnings at the start of the book, especially all the deadnaming and misgendering.

Entertaining read, if very full-on.

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