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lim's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Vomit, and Transphobia
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Child death
Minor: Suicide attempt and Sexual assault
vulgarboy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.5
This was... a ride. A lot of internal struggles, which were fine in the beginning but quickly lost their magic and became more annoying as the book went on. The concept was interesting, but there wasn't enough of an explanation on how things had gotten so bad so fast. While I don't want to poorly summarize it as a "pseudo-zombie story," that's kind of what it is. Benji is immune and a more advanced form of grace/abomination/infected. There weren't times I was on the edge of my seat. I want to say I enjoyed this book, but I'm not so sure.
The handling of queer folks, POC, and neurodivergent folks was pretty spot on. Some things were a bit blunt, such as an autistic character having a stim toy being acknowledged for the first time, followed by an immediate "he's autistic" exxplanation. Neopronouns were used, which I haven't seen before. There's a clear amount of care with these characters, but it fell short a few times. Benji's deadname being in the book doesn't sit right with me (a transmasc person), as well as it being used approximately eight times. Yikes.
All in all, an excessive amount of vomit and gore aside (both of them happening Constantly), I didn't hate my experience. This story sure did happen.
The handling of queer folks, POC, and neurodivergent folks was pretty spot on. Some things were a bit blunt, such as an autistic character having a stim toy being acknowledged for the first time, followed by an immediate "he's autistic" exxplanation. Neopronouns were used, which I haven't seen before. There's a clear amount of care with these characters, but it fell short a few times. Benji's deadname being in the book doesn't sit right with me (a transmasc person), as well as it being used approximately eight times. Yikes.
All in all, an excessive amount of vomit and gore aside (both of them happening Constantly), I didn't hate my experience. This story sure did happen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Ableism, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Vomit, Child abuse, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Racism, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cannibalism
eternallyicarian's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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 like emerging from a room absolutely covered in blood but like in a good way. i love reading about trans anger and rage and catharsis and allowing yourself to be the monster everyone thought you were or is afraid of you being, and this was all of it. definitely read the content warnings though, this could very easily be triggering
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Murder, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Body horror, Gore, and Vomit
thearieslibrary's review against another edition
4.0
Even though this book took me a bit of time to get into (not anything to do with the writing or book but more to do with I haven’t read much sci-fi or horror before), I absolutely loved and enjoyed this book and it has my favourite trope in it - found family. However, there was one part of this story which to me was very predictable as I guessed what was going to happen.
I really loved how inclusive and diverse the characters were within this book - it made me so happy to see. The chapters were quite short and easy to get through fast. This book made me cry because there was one moment in particular that was absolutely beautiful and warmed my heart.
I quite liked how this book used multiple POVs (Benji, Nick and Theo), however one of them I didn’t see the point as to why it was there as we only heard from that character once - it didn’t feel like it added much.
I think this is the one time where I wish the book was longer because I would have loved the ending to be longer to see how certain things would play out as it felt unfinished.
Also, there was an error within this book - on page 359 it says “castinga” but it should be casting a.
⚠️ TWs: gun use, murder, transphobia, derogatory language, misgendering, domestic abuse, self-injury, attempted suicide, victim self blame, terrorism, religious abuse, abusive parents, forced detransition, threats of transphobic violence, deadnaming, profanity, vomiting, body horror, racism, physical assault, ritual of absolution, strangulation, ableism, hanging, blood, dysphoria, mentions capitalism, sexual situations, grief, genocide, homophobia, death, alcohol use, martyr and colonialism ⚠️
I really loved how inclusive and diverse the characters were within this book - it made me so happy to see. The chapters were quite short and easy to get through fast. This book made me cry because there was one moment in particular that was absolutely beautiful and warmed my heart.
I quite liked how this book used multiple POVs (Benji, Nick and Theo), however one of them I didn’t see the point as to why it was there as we only heard from that character once - it didn’t feel like it added much.
I think this is the one time where I wish the book was longer because I would have loved the ending to be longer to see how certain things would play out as it felt unfinished.
Also, there was an error within this book - on page 359 it says “castinga” but it should be casting a.
⚠️ TWs: gun use, murder, transphobia, derogatory language, misgendering, domestic abuse, self-injury, attempted suicide, victim self blame, terrorism, religious abuse, abusive parents, forced detransition, threats of transphobic violence, deadnaming, profanity, vomiting, body horror, racism, physical assault, ritual of absolution, strangulation, ableism, hanging, blood, dysphoria, mentions capitalism, sexual situations, grief, genocide, homophobia, death, alcohol use, martyr and colonialism ⚠️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gun violence, Murder, Slavery, Vomit, Body horror, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, and Transphobia
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War
Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Colonisation, Genocide, and Ableism
spooderman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexism, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Genocide, Child death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Hate crime, Grief, Medical trauma, Deadnaming, Gore, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Deportation, Misogyny, Body horror, Mental illness, Gun violence, Self harm, Transphobia, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, War, Ableism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Torture, Mass/school shootings, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Stalking, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Slavery, and Cannibalism
Minor: Terminal illness, Sexual content, Rape, Miscarriage, Lesbophobia, Eating disorder, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt
kimschouwenaar's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? No
4.0
check the content warnings before reading
THAT’S IT?! AJW, please give me more. Hell Followed with us is 100% justified queer rage and I absolutely adored it.
this would’ve been great as a duology. there is so much more to tell. I want to know more about Benji, about Nick, about the rest of the survivors, about what happens next.
“It’s harder for someone to pin you down as a girl when they need a moment to pin you down as human.”
honestly, Benji has my whole heart. the only reason this doesn’t have a five-star rating, is the lack of coherence in the writing, the dissatisfying unveiling of some secrets, and the rushed ending. the final showdown is crammed in less than 50 pages. as I wrote, this would’ve been great as a duology, or with the addition of an epilogue.
THAT’S IT?! AJW, please give me more. Hell Followed with us is 100% justified queer rage and I absolutely adored it.
this would’ve been great as a duology. there is so much more to tell. I want to know more about Benji, about Nick, about the rest of the survivors, about what happens next.
“It’s harder for someone to pin you down as a girl when they need a moment to pin you down as human.”
honestly, Benji has my whole heart. the only reason this doesn’t have a five-star rating, is the lack of coherence in the writing, the dissatisfying unveiling of some secrets, and the rushed ending. the final showdown is crammed in less than 50 pages. as I wrote, this would’ve been great as a duology, or with the addition of an epilogue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Vomit, Gore, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Death, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, and Suicide attempt
mxbluet18's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
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? No
5.0
Trigger warnings for Hell Followed With Us include: transphobia, deadnaming (on-page); misgendering, dysphoria and forced detransition; child abuse,
abusive relationship; attempted suicide and self-injury (self harm); blood and gore depiction; body horror, graphic emesis (vomit); death of a parent (recounted and off-page); death of a friend (on-page); murder and mass murder; gun and knife violence; kidnapping; arson and a building fire and cults.
☆
☆
This book has a fairly diverse cast of characters, with people who believe in religion and those who don't. Cisgender people, and transgender males and females, people who use binary sets of pronouns, and people who use neopronouns. There's also an autistic character, and it talks about stimming and the way shutdowns can feel. Personally, I think, in terms of the variety of representation in this book, it's one of the best I've come across so far.
~
This book follows the stories of Benji: a trans gay boy; Theo: Benji's boyfriend, fiancé and eventual husband (they're literal teenagers though); and Nick: a gay boy who is the appointed leader of a ragtag group of queer teenage survivors of the Flood.
~
As a basic summary, Benji tries to escape the abusive relationships involved with the religious cult he was put into, and the story evolves from there.
abusive relationship; attempted suicide and self-injury (self harm); blood and gore depiction; body horror, graphic emesis (vomit); death of a parent (recounted and off-page); death of a friend (on-page); murder and mass murder; gun and knife violence; kidnapping; arson and a building fire and cults.
☆
☆
This book has a fairly diverse cast of characters, with people who believe in religion and those who don't. Cisgender people, and transgender males and females, people who use binary sets of pronouns, and people who use neopronouns. There's also an autistic character, and it talks about stimming and the way shutdowns can feel. Personally, I think, in terms of the variety of representation in this book, it's one of the best I've come across so far.
~
This book follows the stories of Benji: a trans gay boy; Theo: Benji's boyfriend, fiancé and eventual husband (they're literal teenagers though); and Nick: a gay boy who is the appointed leader of a ragtag group of queer teenage survivors of the Flood.
~
As a basic summary, Benji tries to escape the abusive relationships involved with the religious cult he was put into, and the story evolves from there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, War, Vomit, Deadnaming, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Transphobia
defenestrated_before_god's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
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
4.5
Sometimes you gotta turn into an eldritch horror and start eating people. It is what it is.
A trans boy named Benji grows up in an evangelical cult responsible for starting the apocalypse, eventually escaping with a bio weapon inside him that is slowly turning him into a monster. Queer rage, found family, religious trauma, biblically accurate angel imagery, and nice characters going apeshit. This book has it all.
also there’s a character whose sole purpose is to make digs at Kalvin Garrah so that’s cool
A trans boy named Benji grows up in an evangelical cult responsible for starting the apocalypse, eventually escaping with a bio weapon inside him that is slowly turning him into a monster. Queer rage, found family, religious trauma, biblically accurate angel imagery, and nice characters going apeshit. This book has it all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gore, Body horror, Transphobia, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
booksthatburn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
5.0
HELL FOLLOWED WITH US is the story of a trans boy during the apocalypse, trying to avoid turning into a biblically accurate angel; a creature of such mind-bending grotesquery and body horror that any conversation is required to start with “be not afraid” so that the other person hopefully doesn't run away screaming.
For some people there is body horror inherent in transness or in dysphoria, in the inexorable change of flesh into a form you’ve seen elsewhere but are utterly unable to recognize as yours. HELL FOLLOWED WITH US deals with themes of monstrosity and transness by embracing their connections during an apocalypse launched by evangelical Christians (a horrifyingly effective homophobic/transphobic/misogynistic death cult). It stars Benji, a teenage trans boy who is uninterested in most of the superficial trappings of masculinity because he’s going to be a decaying monster within a month anyway, his form utterly distorted beyond anything even the best binder could contain.
There are strong themes of religious abuse, body horror, transphobia, and dysphoria. The short version is I love how HELL FOLLOWED WITH US engages with these topics, but please take care of yourselves.
The worldbuilding is a little fuzzy on how exactly this plague started, waiting until late in the book to make explicit what happened. I'm fine with this, I love this immersive style of worldbuilding which assumes the reader has at least some baseline knowledge of the setting. Some readers might want a bit more clarity on how this all started, but I think an early reveal would have taken away from the urgency of Benji's current problems. The cult used the plague to kill most of the world, and now the survivors have to figure out how to get through what's next.
Benji is making the most of his final days by helping his newly-found companions from the ALC (a queer community center) fight off the Angels and try to get enough food to survive, all while trying to hide the changes in his body. Nick is a co-leader of the ALC, an infrequent narrator in the story but a consistent presence in Benji's thoughts. Nick is one of the few people outside the cult who knows what's been done to Benji and what he's turning into. Theo is the fiancé Benji left behind, kicked out of the Angels (the cult's warriors/enforcers) after the rest of his squad was killed. Benji is still in love with him even after fleeing, not yet ready to leave this one (usually) good part of his life behind.
I love the way this engages with body horror and transness without shying away from either, or from the way they can blur into each other. It's about Benji's relationship to his body and a loss of control over what it's doing and what people think when they see him. He needs people to see that he's a boy and a person, no matter what his flesh is doing.
There’s a subtle detail which I appreciate, where even though (broadly speaking) the death cult Benji escaped is transphobic and sexist as an institution, whereas the kids at the ALC are queer and accepting that’s not a hard and fast distinction for every individual member of either group. It allows for something more nuanced, messier and realistic. In a book with a trans main character it would have been easy (and boring) to make all the villains (and only the villains) be transphobic. This doesn’t do that, and it’s glorious.
The story begins with Benji escaping, his father's blood on his face and terror in his heart while he's pursued by the Angels. Once he starts living in the ALC, Benji has to learn new terms for referring to the plague, the monsters, and the cult he left behind. Part of being in the cult for so long is that they have their own vocabulary for the terms which are important to them, most of which are meant to convey how amazing and good the destruction of the world and the genocide of most humans on the planet truly is. Many of the terms are pulled from the Bible, internally reinforcing the idea that everything that's happening is God-ordained and therefore, axiomatically, must be good (no matter how murderous). Conversely, the ALC's spin, such as it is, is that contagious abominations get called monsters, and that they don't want to die of the body-altering plague that the cult unleashed. Even though Benji has left the cult, the chapters begin with quotes from their speeches, writings, and their holy text texts. These help to immerse the reader in Benji's former headspace, the one which Theo still occupies.
If "trans boy is turning into a biblically accurate angel" didn't hook you, I don't know what will, but this book is amazing and you should read it.
For some people there is body horror inherent in transness or in dysphoria, in the inexorable change of flesh into a form you’ve seen elsewhere but are utterly unable to recognize as yours. HELL FOLLOWED WITH US deals with themes of monstrosity and transness by embracing their connections during an apocalypse launched by evangelical Christians (a horrifyingly effective homophobic/transphobic/misogynistic death cult). It stars Benji, a teenage trans boy who is uninterested in most of the superficial trappings of masculinity because he’s going to be a decaying monster within a month anyway, his form utterly distorted beyond anything even the best binder could contain.
There are strong themes of religious abuse, body horror, transphobia, and dysphoria. The short version is I love how HELL FOLLOWED WITH US engages with these topics, but please take care of yourselves.
The worldbuilding is a little fuzzy on how exactly this plague started, waiting until late in the book to make explicit what happened. I'm fine with this, I love this immersive style of worldbuilding which assumes the reader has at least some baseline knowledge of the setting. Some readers might want a bit more clarity on how this all started, but I think an early reveal would have taken away from the urgency of Benji's current problems. The cult used the plague to kill most of the world, and now the survivors have to figure out how to get through what's next.
Benji is making the most of his final days by helping his newly-found companions from the ALC (a queer community center) fight off the Angels and try to get enough food to survive, all while trying to hide the changes in his body. Nick is a co-leader of the ALC, an infrequent narrator in the story but a consistent presence in Benji's thoughts. Nick is one of the few people outside the cult who knows what's been done to Benji and what he's turning into. Theo is the fiancé Benji left behind, kicked out of the Angels (the cult's warriors/enforcers) after the rest of his squad was killed. Benji is still in love with him even after fleeing, not yet ready to leave this one (usually) good part of his life behind.
I love the way this engages with body horror and transness without shying away from either, or from the way they can blur into each other. It's about Benji's relationship to his body and a loss of control over what it's doing and what people think when they see him. He needs people to see that he's a boy and a person, no matter what his flesh is doing.
There’s a subtle detail which I appreciate, where even though (broadly speaking) the death cult Benji escaped is transphobic and sexist as an institution, whereas the kids at the ALC are queer and accepting that’s not a hard and fast distinction for every individual member of either group. It allows for something more nuanced, messier and realistic. In a book with a trans main character it would have been easy (and boring) to make all the villains (and only the villains) be transphobic. This doesn’t do that, and it’s glorious.
The story begins with Benji escaping, his father's blood on his face and terror in his heart while he's pursued by the Angels. Once he starts living in the ALC, Benji has to learn new terms for referring to the plague, the monsters, and the cult he left behind. Part of being in the cult for so long is that they have their own vocabulary for the terms which are important to them, most of which are meant to convey how amazing and good the destruction of the world and the genocide of most humans on the planet truly is. Many of the terms are pulled from the Bible, internally reinforcing the idea that everything that's happening is God-ordained and therefore, axiomatically, must be good (no matter how murderous). Conversely, the ALC's spin, such as it is, is that contagious abominations get called monsters, and that they don't want to die of the body-altering plague that the cult unleashed. Even though Benji has left the cult, the chapters begin with quotes from their speeches, writings, and their holy text texts. These help to immerse the reader in Benji's former headspace, the one which Theo still occupies.
If "trans boy is turning into a biblically accurate angel" didn't hook you, I don't know what will, but this book is amazing and you should read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Body horror, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Blood, Death, Gore, Deadnaming, Murder, and Child death
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Gun violence, Grief, Cursing, Sexism, Dysphoria, Ableism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Genocide, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual content and Pregnancy
CW for misgendering (graphic).cajesp's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
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
5.0
this book is my new favourite book of all time, i genuinely did not expect to love this book with all the fire in me like i did, i just thought hey, i’d love a queer horror read for halloween but what i came out of the book with was a fire, not to get sappy but this book made me feel so heard and seen and i love it with all my heart. andrew joseph white, i owe you my life, truly. the queer conversation, the found family and the way anger is portrayed as power rather than something to fear? beautiful. wish it went on for 500 more pages, would love a sequel just because i’ve fallen in love with these characters but the ending was just… it was perfect.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Gore, Vomit, Violence, and Body horror
Moderate: Self harm and Domestic abuse
Minor: Suicide attempt