I was really anticipating this book but i still didn't expect to love it as much as i did. It's like nothin i've ever read before from the ya genre/age range in the best way possible. The story of Benji and his experiences as a trans person described partly through body horror was amazing, it felt really authentic and i connected to this part of the book the most. I love how this book managed to describe dysphoria in a way that didn't feel preachy or like trauma porn for cis audiences without being strictly about trans experiences. It reached a perfect balance of plot, worldbuilding and descriptions of the trans experience. I loved Benji, Nick and Salvador especially (and the use of neopronouns!!). The writing style was delicious, showing the most gruesome things in such a beautiful, moving way. The only thing that bothered me were the POV changes which, yes, made sense, but were also not entirely necessary and sometimes felt underwhelming when they turned out to be really short. I'd prefer to read the entire book with changing POVs to actually see the book thru Nick and Theo's eyes instead of being unexpectidly pushed out from Benji's POV.

This YA horror is a must read!

The queer/trans representation is reminiscent of The Honeys and certainly will fail in the category of great LGBTQ reads in the same way.

The Darker but highly hopeful story unfolds in a breathtaking way. Leaving the reader changed and having a better understanding of real life horrors faced by those who choose to be who they are regardless of societal rules.

Be You Ti Ful. It is all I can say.

the imagery is so insane i absolutely loved it the messy, borderline incoherent plot kind of made sense to me given the characters are also messy teenagers. the trans anger and the horror and the eeriness, everything was just so absolutely wonderful.

Vi dico la verità: già dalle prime pagine si intuisce che la parte paranormale sarà solo un contorno sfuocato e confuso di quello che è semplicemente un'autobiografia romanzata che si concentra sulla propria identità queer e sui propri traumi infantili (genitoriali, affettivi e religiosi). Non fraintendetemi, ho amato l'inclusività del libro, ma per essere un buon libro non può esserci solo quello ecco. Un po' più di trama per coprire i buchi e della chiarezza narrativa sarebbero stati utili.

~ thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC
there are somehow too many words as well as not enough words to accurately describe this book and the pure abundance of emotions that it drew from me. this story is absolutely terrifying in the most beautiful and addicting way a horror book can be.

it features amazing lgbtq+ rep that doesn't at all shy away from exposing the struggles and nasty oppressive views that queer teens face all while set in a post-apocalyptic world fueled by fantastic yet horrifying imagery that i just couldn't get enough of. benji's story is heartbreaking and inspiring, and the author's writing is so raw that i felt truly connected to the characters and like i was right there alongside them in the most terrifying moments of their lives.

that being said, this book focuses HEAVILY on extremely religious themes. the realistic writing despite being in a different world can be uncomfortable and overwhelming for some, but that is what i found amazing about this author's writing. exposure of dangerous real-world oppressive views in this way is needed because sometimes wrapping it all up in a cute little bow doesn't work. overall i found this book to be haunting, captivating, and probably one of the darkest books i've ever read. an uncomfortable, yet inspiring read.

I would've killed to read something like "Hell Followed With Us" when I was 15, 16, 17 years old as a queer Catholic struggling with self-hatred and a desire to find community.
I am endlessly happy for queer teens who get to live in a world where fiction like this is available to them.
Andrew Joseph White has created such a beautifully diverse, fleshed-out cast of characters. When he places them in a disturbing situation, what ensues is equal parts angst and resilience.

Hell Followed with Us is the debut novel by Andrew Joseph White. We follow our protagonist Benji, a trans 16 year old boy who has recently escaped from a very cultish religious group that not only seemingly caused the apocalypse but is continuing it’s efforts through making Benji a bio weapon. Benji finds a safe harbor within the walls of the ALC, which was formerly somewhere LGBTQ+ teens could be themselves in a world that isn’t always accepting. The story continues on from there as Benji not only grapples with Armageddon but with his own identity.

This book is marketed as YA and while I think that is appropriate, it is very much on the darker side. The author has provided content warnings on his website, on the goodreads page for the book, as well as in the book itself. While this book covers the topic of being a trans teen very well, there are prejudices and conversations that could be hurtful to someone struggling with their identity. I think the author does an excellent job of making the book feel very authentic, especially with him being a trans man. Of course, this is my opinion as someone who is not trans though I did read some own voices reviews that seemed to believe the rep is well done.

This book deals with the horror of a post apocalyptic world while also being a coming of age novel and I think it will be a very impactful to the right audience. This book has so much representation in it. It also deals with the aftermath of religious trauma and how that can affect someone.

While I did enjoy most of the book, there were parts that seemed very muddled to me. You start the book right in the middle of the action and I don’t think some parts of the more religious stuff was thoroughly explained. I am interested to see what this author does next. He writes in a way that is both compulsively readable and also metaphorical.

This was a difficult read for sure, but well worth it. Young, angry queer kids fighting against an evangelical cult post-apocalypse sounded like a great romp, but I found that while reading, my chest was tight and I would end up holding my breath. I wouldn't call it a pleasant or enjoyable read, but it was an important one. The author certainly crafted a horrific experience with this book, and while it was a little too real for me, it was masterfully done; a painfully direct analogy of what queer kids are facing in the world, particularly trans kids.
Please do read the content warnings at the beginning carefully if you choose to read this. It is very graphic, very heavy, and not for the faint of heart. I got strong Far Cry 5 vibes, and a bit of Angel Sanctuary (Kaori Yuki) vibes, too.
I'll certainly be following this author very closely.
This eARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Peachtree Teen, and Andrew Joseph White.

For starters, I'd like to think NetGalley & Peachtree Teen for the e-ARC.

3.5⭐

This book is like Resident Evil if Umbrella Corp was an evangelical cult instead. It was a tough read but the characters were likeable. It felt a little outlandish that they were *just* teens but to be fair, it's not a realistic book in any regard.

I would have enjoyed more world building and back story on the Angels, The Flood and Judgement Day. These things are constantly referenced but we aren't given much in regards to how they came to be.

I've heard so many good things about this book and the representation is wonderful! But I felt myself more interested in the religious extremists than the gang of rag tag kids trying to take them down.

I received an e-ARC of Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Overall, this book is probably one of my favorite ones of the year so far. It has everything one could ask for in a dystopian novel without having it feel too similar to the rest of them. There's a cult that takes over the world and a badass group of queer kids that work together to better their current situation. The main character, Benji fits perfectly into that category of morally gray in the best way. Furthermore, the cast of characters within the LGBTQ+ center is diverse and dynamic with at least a bit of character shining through for more than one character. Additionally, there are neopronouns used for one of the characters, which is refreshing and not seen too often. Plus, there's an autistic character who's allowed to exist without his autism being treated like a character flaw. There's also that aspect of religious trauma and coming to terms with how a religious upbringing both affects and fits into one's identity.
I will say that this book does have an unbelievably long list of trigger warnings and is filled with a lot of gore. It truly fits into the genre of horror and as such does get very dark at times.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

This is one of the most beautiful and brutal things I’ve ever read. Honestly, if this description of the premise got you interested, you’re going to love the book. It’s everything that it promises and more. Look, I’m from an age where we had three books about Homosexuality and two of them were by David Leviathan and one of them was The Geography Club. I am so lucky to live in this time and so lucky that things have changed so much so that Andrew Joseph White could write this book that is suffused with horror and trauma and love. Also there is so much fucking gore in this book. Which I normally don’t read a lot of so it was really Intense to me. Holy fuck I think this is the best book I’ve ever read. Incredibly lived up to its promise.

The main message of this book: They tried to kill us, and they failed. [And we made them suffer.]

Five stars.

e-arc provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

"be good. make them suffer."

as a queer kid with an incredible amount of rage, this book means so much to me it's hard to put into words. let's just say if i'd read this when i was around 14 i would've made it my entire personality for at least a year.

i was literally hooked from the author's note at the very beginning. the writing is beautiful, the plot is immaculate, and that makes for one addicting story. there is a lot going on here, and many details to keep track of, so it's not exactly an easy afternoon read, but it's one that you will think about for a looong time afterward.

however, it's not a book i'd recommend to just everyone. the very first page holds a long list of trigger warnings for things present in this book, and while none of that bothered me initially, there were some scenes i found difficult to read. gore and body horror are featured heavily, with detailed descriptions. it actually teetered on overbearing at some parts, but an apocalypse caused by a bioweapon can't possibly be pretty (all the time) (the found family aspect made me so immeasurably happy) (also the lizard made it)

First of all I want to say, this book is really unique; I've never read anything like it. I LOVED it. The doomsday/end of the world vibes, the body-horror, the gore, the queerness of it all. I wholeheartedly rooted for Benji, Nick and the rest of the ALC people. We get to see this whole queer environment, and it included queer people having prejudices about other queer people, which is the sad reality no matter how strange it might seem. I also really appreciated the autistic representation. There is also plenty of different ethnicities and religions represented, and there is one character who uses neo-pronouns.

this book was so brutal, it was disgusting, absolutely revolting but in the end, so good. i really enjoyed reading it, the body horror was just so well done and the representation was natural and it just added to it all. I think in terms of what i liked, it was the horror, the body horror, all the gruesomeness of the book. In terms of what I didnt like, i thought the romance was underdeveloped and the backstory for the angels and what the flood really is just wasn’t touched on enough. i also felt as though the ending was rushed, it didnt give me the conclusion i felt was needed, too many questions left unanswered. i think this is a really great read though, one with great representation as well as an interesting plot.

This book is wild and incredible, and I've legitimately never read anything else like it. The cover is so striking, I probably won't have to do much to get it in teens' hands, but I'll definitely be raving about it all summer.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me an arc of this book. I really really really wanted to love this book. I am NOT a horror fan at all though. So I read it, didn’t love it, but I think there are still parts of it to love. I understand what the author was going for here as a survivor of religious trauma myself but it just kind of fell flat with me? Maybe it was the mixture of the disease and the unexpected love triangle that threw me out of it. I’m not sure. But I did love their portrayal of a young trans boy that had escaped religious trauma. I also loved the autistic love interest although it did feel a little … forced? I’m not sure how to word that correctly. For me this book was disjointed and disconnected, but it came from a very promising place. I’m rating it 4 stars even though for me it was more of a 3.5.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

And my honest review is that this book is amazing, breathtaking and very different from anything else I read in this period.

[This review is spoilers and triggers free, but please read the content warning list that the author made available https://andrewjosephwhite.com/content-warnings%3A-hfwu]

I don't usually read horror, but I would probably read more of them if they were more like this, because while the world around the protagonist is definitely horrific and you can feel the dread of the Apocalypse, the main source of body horror and the awareness that the setting is only a few steps away, a slightly exaggerated version of our reality.
But that is its beauty because, for the same reason, the characters feel realistic and relatable. I mean, take away the apocalyptic setting and it's a story of found family, escaping a cult and being queer (and queer found family).

Let's start with the only ""critique"" I can find with this book: it should have been longer, but not in an "it needs more development" but in "I need more of it" kind of way. So yeah, I have no negative comments about it.
And I would have liked more Nick chapters. Please?

Talking about what I liked I could go on for hours but a couple of my favourites were:
- The weirder/oniric-like scenes to translate how becoming a completely different creature/monster isn't good for your human brain.
- Teeth. Monster teeth are cool
- NICK. I love him so much. Even when he's a little shit. (He's a sharpshooter and I'm weak)
- I'm weak for Christian imaginary used for horror aesthetics (and themes)
- Even with the less important side characters you can feel their personalities, and they aren't there just to serve the protagonist's plot.
- SO QUEER. If you want to ask there is X? The answer is yes, and there is at least a secondary character for that. The main ones are Trans and MlM (achillean).
- The ending. Perfection.

So yeah, now I just have to wait because I NEED to buy it...

This book is grotesque and obscene and most of all this book is angry. This book burns with the righteous fury of children just barely old enough to grasp the enormity of how they have been wronged. A horror show and a spectacle in the most engrossing and triumphant way. Though the ever present body-horror dominates the strong imagery the prose provokes, it's the underlying horror of the reality of the harm caused by churches such as the barely-exaggerated evangelical cult described in the book. Real world religious trauma meets near-future queer kids reclaiming their power from the institution that devastated their world. Reading this book I was sad, hopeless, and angry with a country - a world, really - that is uncomfortably tolerant of Christian extremism, and considers its victims (whether they are queer, belonging to a minority religion, non-white, etc) as not worth protecting. I felt that this book was deeply uncomfortable to read but worth every line. The story moved well, almost too quickly in places, but was easy to follow. The characters truly felt like a group of teenagers who interacted and reacted as such. I enjoyed this book.

Benji is a 16 year old Trans boy who is escaping the cult that released a virus (codename ‘The Flood’) to decimate the worlds population, all in the name of God. Benji is their latest experiment in annihilating what is left of humanity by injecting him with a mutated version of the Flood which will turn him into the ultimate monster, only Benji & his Father decided to escape before the final plan could be completed. While on the run Benji meets up with a small band of survivors from a centre for LGBTQI Youth, & all of a sudden Benji doesn’t feel so alone anymore. Together they decide the ‘Angels’ need to face justice for the horrors they have inflicted on the world.

This was a really interesting read. The story starts off at a run & doesn’t really slow down. It’s written in a first person, present tense narrative which can be incredibly difficult to maintain but the author did well in the continuity of the story.
The worldbuilding in the story itself was immersive & impressive, given it is a standalone novel, however I feel it could have benefitted from a prologue explaining how the virus swept across the world & the beginnings of the cult. The author leaned hard into the Christian apocalypse theme but gave it its own twist with humans creating ‘The Flood’, it was believable, gruesome & intense. The villains were believable & honestly not far off from some of the more zealoted evangelicals that currently exist in our world.
I really liked Benji, he was a character it was easy to have empathy & cheer for. The side characters were great, especially Nick who was not only gay but Autistic, & he was written incredibly well. There was a lot going on throughout, constant chaos, monsters, teen angst, discussions around body dysmorphia, abuse, transphobia, elitism, the list goes on. The author handled a lot of rough topics with care & sensitivity, but without feeling like he was preaching or pushing an agenda. All in all an enjoyable read. Be warned there are a lot of potentially triggering moments in this book for many people.

The premise was interesting but didn't deliver. The story opens in the middle of an action scene, so you are immediately sucked into this strange world with tons of questions. I just couldn't get into it, although I tried. It didn't hold my interest. DNF

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.