Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

89 reviews

pjlovesyou's review

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Vomit, Violence, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Murder, Hate crime, Grief, Blood, Medical trauma, Gore, Genocide, Deadnaming, Body horror, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Death, Suicide, Self harm, Torture, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

kb_icarus3's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Genocide, Body horror, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Abandonment, Death, War, Torture, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Gore, and Blood

religious trauma

cnaccarato's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Blood, Murder, Sexism, Dysphoria, Police brutality, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Torture, and Toxic relationship

tlaynejones's review against another edition

Either bleak graphic body horror, or oppressive oppressing right wing evangelical Christianity but not both. I can’t do both. The destruction of Benji’s body is so difficult to sit with, and the absolute BS of the endless bible verses and sanctimonious Christian hate has worn away my ability to keep reading. 
I am torn about whether I’ll try another book by Andrew Joseph White. I could tell that I actually really like his writing and storytelling, but if the topics/ themes are similar I may not…. 
I will add that I want to give Andrew Joseph White the biggest hug and offer to fight next to him against the torrential abuse of Christianity I fear he has experienced. ♥️♥️♥️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Misogyny, Body horror, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Transphobia, Violence, and Child abuse

tea_coffee_sam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Violence, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Cursing, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, War, Body horror, and Classism

Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Ableism

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

birdieex's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

Wow. I can't even find the words right now. Trans joy; trans rage; a queer kid finding his community; queer kids in general, banding together to destroy their oppressors. As someone with religious trauma, this hit deeply. I had to stop reading several times because it dug into the deepest parts of my soul and ripped everything to the surface again.

The gore was excellently written. I could imagine every horrifying little detail. And I loved the plot twists throughout. I almost wish it was longer, simply because I loved the characters so much. I was pleasantly surprised at the representation of the mixed emotions that can come with abusive relationships. Love and revulsion often go hand in hand, and it's often ignored that we can feel both at the same time, especially while healing from trauma.

I loved this book with my entire heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Child death, Sexism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content, Classism, and Dysphoria

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

ashlitas's review

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Body horror, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Torture, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

coralinejones's review

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

3.75

There's something about religion, body horror, cults, and being trans that just gets me. I did cry while reading this, I did come to understand parts of myself while reading this, but something was still missing for me?

Hm. I don't know. The writing style was just a little clunky, through, very flowery and poetic. Reminded me of the roleplay community that takes place on Tumblr. That is neither a complaint nor a compliment. I absolutely enjoyed every character in this book, including the villains; the representation is an understatement. I don't think I've read a book yet with as many characters that reflect people I actually know and talk to in real life in a long time. They were all well written and made complete sense. Not to mention, Nick being autistic like me?! And it wasn't gimmicky and poking fun at what we go through?! Loved it.

It's just the way the plot unfolded, the smaller details that really fell apart for me, especially as we got closer to the end of the novel. Some of the body horror descriptions got repetitive and tired me out and it was a bit hard to follow everything that was going on (Because A LOT was going on).

But I overall enjoyed this book. Read it in about 3 days on my e-reader. If you enjoy Silent Hill, Resident Evil, zombie media, The Troop by Nick Cutter, and Evil Dead I think this would be a great fit for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Body horror, Transphobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Torture, Gore, and Physical abuse