Scan barcode
A review by rachelditty
Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.25
This was way, way more intense than I was expecting it to be, and I loved it! From the opening letter from the author to the readers, I was hooked on the language and writing style of Andrew Joseph White. I'd been trying to read this since it came out and finally got my hands on a copy, and man was it worth the wait. Gory, terrifying, and everything I wanted it to be but nothing I expected. The only gripe I have with it is how fast the ending came along, and that the ending came so abruptly, but I don't have any way to rectify that; I don't really think there's any other satisfying way it could have happened. Otherwise I thought it was awesome.
Quotes that I like, and by "like" I mean shook me to my core at times:
"The second thing Dad told me... was that if the Angels want to get their hands on me, I have to make them suffer for it," (p. 5).
"I'm begging the same way I pray," (p. 22).
"If grief gets caught in my body like it's tangled up with burrs, the least I can do is support the people who can actually feel something. The least I can do is help the people who are helping me. That's what it means to be good," (p. 49).
"You could have cracked open his chest and read the gospels in his entrails," (p. 63).
"Mom's voice, hissing behind my shoulder the way the Devil spoke through the fangs of a snake in Eden," (p. 68).
"I understood how the Angels could radicalize somebody. Eternal life and a sky like this could convince a lot of people to join their cause. But that beauty is always dragged down by the desperate hands of the billions of people who were slaughtered to make it," (p. 83).
"Revelation 21:1 -- And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.
No, the first heaven and the first earth were murdered," (p. 122).
"Do you believe in God?
--I do, please stop, there's so much blood," (p. 295).
"Their smiles don't look right anymore. Or maybe they've always been this wrong," (p. 316).
"I'll live up to the name and lay it at an honored resting place at their graves... If they want me to be a monster one step closer to God, that's fine. In what world was their God ever a benevolent one?" (p. 354-355).
"You'd burn the world down if you thought it'd finally make you happy with what you're supposed to be in this life," (p. 385).
Quotes that I like, and by "like" I mean shook me to my core at times:
"The second thing Dad told me... was that if the Angels want to get their hands on me, I have to make them suffer for it," (p. 5).
"I'm begging the same way I pray," (p. 22).
"If grief gets caught in my body like it's tangled up with burrs, the least I can do is support the people who can actually feel something. The least I can do is help the people who are helping me. That's what it means to be good," (p. 49).
"You could have cracked open his chest and read the gospels in his entrails," (p. 63).
"Mom's voice, hissing behind my shoulder the way the Devil spoke through the fangs of a snake in Eden," (p. 68).
"I understood how the Angels could radicalize somebody. Eternal life and a sky like this could convince a lot of people to join their cause. But that beauty is always dragged down by the desperate hands of the billions of people who were slaughtered to make it," (p. 83).
"Revelation 21:1 -- And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.
No, the first heaven and the first earth were murdered," (p. 122).
"Do you believe in God?
--I do, please stop, there's so much blood," (p. 295).
"Their smiles don't look right anymore. Or maybe they've always been this wrong," (p. 316).
"I'll live up to the name and lay it at an honored resting place at their graves... If they want me to be a monster one step closer to God, that's fine. In what world was their God ever a benevolent one?" (p. 354-355).
"You'd burn the world down if you thought it'd finally make you happy with what you're supposed to be in this life," (p. 385).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Body horror, Deadnaming, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Animal death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Child abuse, and Cursing
Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Child death, Genocide, and Sexual content