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cynthony 's review for:
Hell Followed with Us
by Andrew Joseph White
⭐️⭐️ 2 stars
I couldn’t get into it. The book throws you into action at page one in a bizarre dystopian world without the “obligatory” 50-100 boring pages fantasy books tend to have in order to ease you into the world and its setting. It would’ve been a lot easier to get into (and had a more of a contrasting impact) had we seen what Benji’s day to day life looked like at New Nazareth before he joined ALC. It would’ve given us time to get to know and care about our protagonist instead of attempting to get us to care and pity him by having Benji immediately lose his dad (who we also do not care about as we have not read about him before his death)
Another thing is that we didn’t spend enough time with the side characters for me to properly develop any attachment to them, which is a massive downfall considering how deeply Benji cares for these people we do not know the names of nor see him talking or interacting with. I did enjoy Salvador’s character, though. Xe was very fun and it made me glad to see another person with neopronouns (same with Lex, who appeared in all of one paragraph)
The descriptions of violence and gore were often read as repetitive and nonchalant in a way that left me feeling bored rather than horrified. The book’s bodily horror descriptions did get more interesting toward the end, though!
All in all, it was the rapid pacing that did it for me. I would’ve enjoyed it so much more had the story taken its time developing the world and its people more
I couldn’t get into it. The book throws you into action at page one in a bizarre dystopian world without the “obligatory” 50-100 boring pages fantasy books tend to have in order to ease you into the world and its setting. It would’ve been a lot easier to get into (and had a more of a contrasting impact) had we seen what Benji’s day to day life looked like at New Nazareth before he joined ALC. It would’ve given us time to get to know and care about our protagonist instead of attempting to get us to care and pity him by having Benji immediately lose his dad (who we also do not care about as we have not read about him before his death)
Another thing is that we didn’t spend enough time with the side characters for me to properly develop any attachment to them, which is a massive downfall considering how deeply Benji cares for these people we do not know the names of nor see him talking or interacting with. I did enjoy Salvador’s character, though. Xe was very fun and it made me glad to see another person with neopronouns (same with Lex, who appeared in all of one paragraph)
The descriptions of violence and gore were often read as repetitive and nonchalant in a way that left me feeling bored rather than horrified. The book’s bodily horror descriptions did get more interesting toward the end, though!
All in all, it was the rapid pacing that did it for me. I would’ve enjoyed it so much more had the story taken its time developing the world and its people more