Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

30 reviews

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

bottleofink's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Dysphoria, Abandonment, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Deadnaming, War, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Violence, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Gore, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Torture, Murder, and Transphobia

thesunghost's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense

• 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: Body horror, Death, Gore, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Violence, Self harm, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

Minor: Vomit and Suicide attempt

fozlandgirl's review

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.0

I enjoyed this a lot but I don't know if I was the target audience as it was really young. So much body horror. So much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Stalking, Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Classism, Vomit, Genocide, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Plot: 4★
Prose: 3★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 5★/4.5★
Characters: 3.75★
Worldbuilding: 4★
Ending: 3.5★

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Violence, Deadnaming, and Vomit

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Murder, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Self harm, Cursing, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Outing, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Genocide, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Racism

runes_reads's review

challenging dark 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? Yes

5.0

I loved all of the themes and ideas explored in this book! What it means to be good, what it means to be a monster, trans anger, righteousness, all of it! The main character is a trans boy, 16 years old. There's a TW at the beginning, which is always lovely. One of the main characters, Nick is confirmed autistic (page 64 and also on the blurb in the dust jacket). I didn't even realize that when I started reading, but his character is done so well- and that's coming from an autistic person. I do wish we got to see more of his POV, but that's completely subjective, because I love his character. The rest of the main cast is also made up of teenagers, and there's some major queer found family, one of my favorite tropes. I finished this book in two days, and did end up crying during it. It's not for the queasy or faint of heart. I will say, there are a lot of side characters, and I kept getting them mixed up. That might've been on purpose, because they are all teenagers. They're not going to act in entirely complex ways in this sort of situation. They should be in high school worrying about their next test. It was really a devastating book, I gave it a full 5/5.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Gore, Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, War, Grief, Violence, Vomit, Death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual content

punchofwishes's review

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

This book feels like a mix of The Last of Us, Wilder Girls, and religious symbolism with even more openly queer characters. The body horror was really well done and I enjoyed the writing style quite a lot. The queer rep was diverse, with multiple trans and nonbinary characters including neopronoun users, and the world building pretty well done. Some parts were a little drawn out and some plot twists predictable, but overall this anger-fuelled story was ravishing in all the right ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Genocide, Deadnaming, Gore, Religious bigotry, War, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Transphobia, Death of parent, Death, and Body horror

fromthefoxhole's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

WHEW what a fuckin book!!! Hell Followed With Us is a fucking triumph, and I absolutely loved it. 

We watch as Benji, our trans masc main character, escapes a Doomsday cult committed to seeing the end of days through any means necessary. He's been fighting his entire life, though, so it's no surprise the fight is what pushes him forward. 
He finds a home with ALC, a rag-tag group of queer kids who found themselves together when the world ended, and he sees himself in Nick, the autistic boy leading their battle party. He wrestles God, he wrestles the Flood, the sickness that rots away at him from the inside out, and he wrestles himself. What hope is there for absolution amongst the carnage?

I'm not kidding when I say this book is everything to me. I highlighted massive swaths of text, whole chapters even, captured by how relatable Benji is to my own history of fundamental religion being at odds with my queerness. Benji's victories became my own, his failures that much more painful. 

White's prose is relentless, interwoven with twisted scripture and teachings, filled to the brim with references and callbacks. Everything within the story is connected, joined together at odd angles and dripping with sick. It's disgusting, it's visceral, it's stunning. A perfect match to those same things within Benji. 

I'm never going to stop thinking about this book, and none of you can stop me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Transphobia, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Genocide, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Body horror, Vomit, and War

simplythegirl's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Vomit, Violence, Suicide attempt, Gore, Torture, Medical trauma, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Dysphoria, Grief, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Animal death and Gun violence

lim's review

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

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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