Hi everyone!
Today I'm so, so, so absolutely thrilled and related to be talking about a book that has become a new favorite, Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White.
Okay, to be very honest, I couldn't stop reading this book. I finished it in just two sittings and even that break was out of necessity. SO, I didn't really pause to note down my reactions as I read because I just didn't wanna stop reading.
But I bookmarked quite a few moments and took screenshots of certain quotes here and there, and went back to them to recall my thoughts.
Just wanted to put this out there as a disclaimer that these are not my immediate reactions while reading the book. But I still hope you enjoy it. So with that out of the way, let's continue with this post!
Table of Contents
Book Info
Synopsis + CWs
15 Reactions While Reading
Overall Thoughts
About the Author
Time to Chat!
Book Info:
Hell Followed Us by Andrew Joseph White
Genre: Young Adult Horror
Publishing Date: June 7, 2022
ARC received via NetGalley. Thanks to the publisher and TBRBeyondTours for the opportunity. All opinions are my own.
Book Links- Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository |
Synopsis:
Prepare to die.
His kingdom is near.
Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.
But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.
Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms...until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.
A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors.
Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.
Content Warning: parental death, graphic death, body horror, violence, religious abuse, discussions of genocide; instances of homophobia, transphobia, misgendering, and deadnaming
RATING- ⭐⭐ ⭐⭐⭐
Reactions While Reading
Authors Letter: Best freakin' author's note ever. This itself is such a strong lunch.
"If you set a fire, you’re going to inhale some smoke. I’m all for setting fires
and burning whatever will catch flame, but I encourage you to be careful
when you pour the kerosene."
"Sharpen your teeth, take up your fire, and let’s do this."
A book that is so unapologetic with its rage and fury as much as it is about acceptance and community, Hell Followed With Us is an incredible, heart-wrenching story that dogs its class I from the first page.
Chapter 1-
Woah. Okay. So nothing says it's going a book is going to blow your mind is when you read about brains splattering on the very first page.
I love- okay I get this scene is supposed to be incredibly tragic and tense, but I love how the author just cuts to the chase without any long wait for the take-off.
Chapter 3- "He fires." Oh this doesn't look good.
But the good thing is, we know a good but about the world now. It's a very interesting genre-bending story. Because it's set in the near-future, sort of theological dystopia and horror as well. There are monsters and a plague called the Flood that destroyed almost all of the Earth's population and infested other people to turn into cannibalistic monsters.
The monsters are called Graces, and the way they're described and how they attack, I'm certain is why they're is the body horror aspect of the book comes in.
It is enough to make you uncomfortable if you're a person generally who doesn't read about any gore or body horror.
Chapter 10-
"It doesn’t matter. I’m betrothed. I’m an Angel, I am Seraph, I am the avatar of the Flood. Crushes are a waste of time when I’m just weeks away from being God’s wrath incarnate. Besides, cis gays are the worst."
Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that dude. We both know the truth.
As they say in Urdu, Dil ko behlaane ko ghalib, khayal accha he.
This is the worst time to have a crush but also I really ship these two. The other guy can rot in hell.
Chapter 17-
OH NO PLS DON'T FIGHT. I will sob. I am sobbing (just a little bit) (internally) (my eyes are a little watery).
This is so painful. I wanna scream "DON'T DO THIS. BE NICE. COMMUNICATE."
Benji is hurting so much. His world and his is turning upside down. It's unfathomable how he keeps going after his identity, his body, his family- everything has just fallen apart.
"Here’s the thing about being raised an Angel: You don’t process grief."
Chapter 19-
NOTHING IS FINE. EVERYONE IS BLEEDING.
But I've got to say that the action scenes and the trauma and the chaos is so realistic. It's not exaggerated. This is a bunch of queer teens our on their own in a world where the people want to kill them. They barely have the necessary resources to survive another month and they're helpless and they're terrified. They're not calm and composed genius superheroes with a plan. They're salvaging and it's so realistic.
Chapter 23-
"The rustle of debris, the flutter of robes, his own breath. It’s him and Benji now."
Ohhhhhh, I love this scene. It's all blood and carnage and vengeance. And this chapter being from Nick's perspective means so much. THIS is what we needed to heal. Even drowned in blood and claws and fangs, this moment is so sweet and full of trust.
Chapter 27-
Shit is about to go down, LET'S GO! My hero Benji is so savage i love him.
Chapter 29-
I cannot admire this character than I do now. He is a the ultimate 'fuck you' the bigoted system. He is their weapon turned against them instead. He is so fierce and strong in this scene.
He's truly like, "I am a man, and I fought for it, and nobody can take that from me. If these sons of bitches want to get their hands on me, I will make them suffer for it. And I will be good, I will be good, I will be good."
Chapter 34-
Another NICHOLAS chapter! Yah! But the action scenes are so intense and absolutely merciless. How are they supposed to get out of this mess in one piece. It's all-out war.
Chapter 36-
"The carnage.
God. The carnage."
FINALLY. IT'S OVER. OH GOD.
What a ride. What a ride.
I didn't breath throughout the entirety of these last 100 pages. They were explosive. The author really knows how to keep you hooked.
(Slightly more) coherent Thoughts
Another aspect that I really liked that I didn't touch on much before was the themes of friendship and a supportive queer community. The side characters have such diverse identities, in terms of not only sexuality but race and class (or what version of class there was before the Flood). It's a wonderful thing thing to read about.
The world-building is also really cool. I admit that it's isn't the most focused on element or explained too much, but i feel that we are given enough information to get a basic understanding.
Excessive focus on that would've not fit with the fast pace of this story.
About the Author:
Andrew Joseph White is a queer, trans author from Virginia, where he grew up falling in love with monsters and wishing he could be one too. He is a graduate student in George Mason University’s Creative Writing program and has a habit of cuddling random street cats.
Andrew writes about transkids with claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back. He is represented by Zabé Ellor of the Jennifer de Chiara Literary Agency.
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