Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

52 reviews

hatchetbat's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

If you want to understand trans rage: Read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Transphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Dysphoria, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Classism, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

sunflower7skull's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

I LOVE THIS BOOK

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Abandonment, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Vomit, War, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Body horror, Deadnaming, Bullying, and Genocide

nikoops's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

This book is absolutely amazing. The author is a fantastic writer, and the worlds he creates are richly detailed and leave you longing for more. Hell Followed with Us is emotionally devastating yet still carries just enough hope that these characters you come to love will be as okay as they can be in this hellscape of a world they are forced to exist in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Torture, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Deadnaming, Physical abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Transphobia, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Body horror, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Suicidal thoughts

Main character experiences a horrific transformation of his body against his will

hazelwood's review

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

idiot_witch's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Death, Transphobia, Murder, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, and Hate crime

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Outing, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Blood, Vomit, Biphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Deadnaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Xenophobia, and Grief

itsatyepo's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Transphobia, Alcohol, Body shaming, Child abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Violence, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Deadnaming, Gaslighting, Genocide, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Hate crime, Homophobia, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Child death, Death, and Dysphoria

peroxide_princes's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

I had the pleasure of reading this book shortly after it came out, and I am so glad it jumped off the shelf at me. This book is so powerful and fast-paced, and speaks not only to my trans trauma but my catholic trauma as well. A disgusting and epic story of survival in the very darkest of times. This book truly made me fall in love with AJW’s writing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gore, Sexism, Transphobia, Grief, Violence, Blood, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Body horror

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Chronic illness, and Cursing

ronjaorsomething's review

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Vomit, Gore, Body horror, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Grief, Deadnaming, and Mental illness

lil_goblin's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Moderate: Kidnapping

hemlockbabe's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• 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

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Outing, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Child death, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Pandemic/Epidemic, Homophobia, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and Self harm

Moderate: Ableism, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse

Zombie apocalypse, and a religious cult worshipping it as the rapture. Or God's work to cleanse this Earth and remake it anew.