Cover Image: Hell Followed with Us

Hell Followed with Us

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Member Reviews

This is an amazing book that I needed when I was a young LGBT teen about to come out in an unaccepting world. The plot was incredibly intriguing and the characterization was immaculate! Well done on all counts!

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i dont really have many thoughts on this book. the atmosphere was very good, the book was fast paced and really enjoyable, the main down sides was the predictablity of the plot and the flat side characters

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I am so excited to see a queer, trans, autistic YA novel get recognition and while I can see there’s much to admire about HELL FOLLOWED WITH US, the contents are more triggering than I expected so I’ve decided to put it aside.

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Wow!

This book reminded me of why I love horror books so much. Andrew Joseph White has written a truly special book. It is full of creepy, gruesome descriptions, contained within a world built around a fanatic religious cult that is creating monsters in order to take control, and the characters are complex and diverse.

I loved everything about this book and I can't wait to purchase my own copy.

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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.

I really like the premise of this book. It reminded me of the Fallout games with some LGBT+ and religious twists. Unfortunately, I just really didn't get along with the writing style and execution of this book. It seemed to focus too much on minor details (like gore descriptions) and miss big plot points. This made it both boring and chaotic at the same time.

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Once I got through the first two chapters, I was immediately hooked. The writing is fast and addictive, the world building is fascinating, and the characters are all extremely diverse, both in terms of personalities and identities. I found myself wanting to read a book just about the ideology and history of the religious cult at the centre, because while the story provides enough information, I j just found it so fascinating. The characters did act a bit juvenile for me at times, but seeing as they're teenagers that isn't really a criticism. Aside from a few minor things, I really enjoyed this book, and can't wait for the next one from the author!

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Perfectly horrific and queer in an inventive dystopian universe! I loved every moment of this. It's a gruesome story that comes with a slew of trigger warnings, so I highly recommend checking them out before you dive in. But if you're a horror fan that loves a universe with queer and trans identities seamlessly integrated, you'll love this book.

Hell Followed With Us follows Benji, a trans boy escaping the religious sect hell bent on turning him into a monster. I loved the commentary on religious extremism, and the found family elements were done so well. The friendships and relationships felt earned and dynamic. And the body horror is exquisitely done!

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I really wanted to love this one but for some reason it wasn't working for me. I love books with LGBTQ+ rep, I love scifi/fantasy, and I love unique world-building. On paper this should have been a new favorite, but I just couldn't click with the characters and the world building was unique but honestly pretty confusing. I can't figure out if I just read it at a bad time or if it just isn't for me. I might give this book or author another chance down the road but I'm not sure.

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So compelling and complex. i loved every second. this book kept me on the edge of my seat, i was so intrigued by the progression and the characters.

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A powerful deconstruction of faith and the long-term implications it can have on LGBT youth. Terrifying descriptions of an almost too real dystopian future and a scary allegory for the more profound emotions associated with transition and acceptance.

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An interesting queer-filled horror in a post apocalyptic setting, who knew I needed that? But it was a great read that left me thinking about it for quite a few days afterwards. Honestly great queer representation, intrigueing characters and interesting plot. Well worth anyone's time if you're into these kind of stories.

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"Trans kids fighting off religious zealots in a post-apocalyptic scenario" is a storyline I didn't know I needed so badly, but here we are.

Hell Followed With Us is a fantastic, fresh breath of air in the YA horror scene, mixing dystopian narratives with intense body horror, zombie-like monsters (and a protagonist who is becoming one), and the unpacking of religious trauma that so many queer kids and adults will find hitting all too close to home. I was amazed at the lengths the author was willing to go to, not only in the horror elements but also in calling out the mass amounts of bigotry so many people face from organized religion, and I couldn't help applauding Andrew Joseph White for his brutal honesty.

Of course, aside from the fantastic horror and religious themes, the representation in this book is just goddamn delightful. The trans main character, the endless queer side characters, the neurodiversity, and more—I was absolutely in love with this cast of lil' gay heretics. (My only complaint about the characters was that many of them felt a bit one-dimensional, but we're here for a gore-filled spooky time, not a long time.)

On a related note, my only major complaint about the book as a whole was the lack of development. It features this absolutely incredible dystopian civilization with this twisted, disgusting bioweapon-creating disease that literally rots people from the inside out, and it's over 400 pages long, yet I still never felt like I was getting enough backstory to satisfy me. (I would absolutely adore a prequel novella about the fall of society and how all of this mess came into being.) That said, there was so much to love in this story and so many memorable scenes that I can't bring myself to give it a lower rating than 4.5 stars—I highly recommend Hell Followed With Us to any and all queer horror fans, but especially those (like me) who sometimes just need to see a fictional religious zealot or two taken down a peg.

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Stunning! I have nothing negative to say about this book. It features incredible characters, a gripping and intriguing narrative, and a writing style that succeeds so often. The narrative's vivid description of how Benji transformed into a monster over time and how this affected him was maybe the most intriguing feature to me; I really liked these portions.
I also care deeply about Nick and Benji's relationship. We receive bobby pins, forehead touches, bead lizards, really wonderful correspondence, and much more.
I also adore how much of their plots and characters revolve on being transgender and having autism.

I can't wait to see where this author goes next!

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There's queer horror and then there's Hell Followed With Us. This book went above and beyond my expectations and was the perfect Halloween read. Good horror makes you think and reflect, and this book in particular gave me so much to chew on, I'm still thinking about it weeks later.

I do have to warn future readers though, that this book is heavy. It was unflinching and messy and I loved it, but definitely check the content warnings before dipping your toes into this story.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Peachtree for letting me read an e-ARC.

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I stayed up late reading this. Absolutely stunning book with propulsive pacing and angry teens you can't help but love and cheer for. I bought a hard copy!!

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** Thanks so much to NetGalley, Andrew Joseph White, and Peachtree Teen for this ARC! Hell Followed With Us is available now! **

The plot: Benji is a teenager who has just escaped the fundamentalist cult who raised him. Most of the world's population is dead, infected with The Flood, a bioweapon that kills and mutates. Benji himself has recently been turned into a bioweapon known as The Seraph - the ultimate weapon for cleansing the earth. Desperate to escape, Benji is rescued by members of a local LGBTQ center. He finds family and support while determining how he can embrace the monster he's become in order to use his powers for good.

Review: I'm not really sure why this book took me 4 months to read...I think maybe the plague/Christian cult hit a little too close to home at this point in America's history. This was a definite dystopian read with themes of trans empowerment and found family. A perfect October book!

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When I first heard about this book, I was immediately hyped for it. I’ve been reading a lot of happier queer books lately, and I’ve loved so many of them, but I also love books that feature queer rage, and it seemed like this book was going to do just that. I mean, the synopsis literally states “a furious, queer debut,” of course I was going to be excited about this!

While this book didn’t quite reach 5-star heights for me, it was still a fantastic read overall. It delivered on the anger and the queerness, and explored so many intense issues, often relating both religion and being queer. I think the amount of religion in this book made it harder for me to get into, as I’m personally quite distanced from religion as a whole and don’t have a personal connection to or experiences with religion. However, I did really enjoy how everything was interconnected, and the additional layers that religion gave to the apocalypse.

I think my favorite aspect of this book was the discussion around whether people saw Benji as a human or not still, even after he begins mutating into a monster. It made for some interesting conversations and moments, both between Benji and others, but also between Benji and other monsters. I also liked how it mirrored the conversation around Benji’s gender identity as well, since there was also a secondary debate over whether people saw Benji as a guy or not (it was largely religious cultists denying his transition). In the end, almost every aspect of this book felt extremely layered and well-thought-out.

Overall, I ended up really enjoying this book, and I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for future books by this author! I also really appreciated the author’s note and trigger warnings at the beginning of the book, especially for a book as heavy as this one.

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Weird and wonderful queer dark fantasy with lavish amounts of body horror (never used gratuitously and always asking underlying questions). Author has a very distinctive style and there are many layers to this. It’s going to repeat on me in the best way.

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Hell Followed With Us is a striking and graphic horror novel about a Benji, a trans teenager cursed as a bioweapon in a world of a evangelicical cult that has released a blight that has impacted the human population. If that doesn't convince you to at least consider this book for your reading list, the fact that it is unapollogetically queer at it's heart should. White proves he is a master of writing body horror, especially the fantastical kind. This is blended into a fanscinating landscape of eco-deterioation and disease, littered with an end-of-the-world type of warfare.

While the cast of this novel is filled to the brim with diverse identities, there is a lack of depth in their personalities. Similarly, while the world-building was vast and intriguing, it was lacking in detail about the Flood, the Armegeddon and the cult itself. Elements of the story lacked a feeling of being fully fleshed out, resulting in a story that felt like it could have gone much deeper. Overall this is a fast-paced and engaging story, unlike a lot of mainstream fantasy in modern publication.

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This is STUNNING. In the running for one of my favourite books this year. Not only will it stay with me but you can feel the passion and pain emanating through the page. Characters - exceptional.
Plot - fast paced and constantly endearing.
Cover - masterful.

I simply will not stop raving about this read. Brilliant example of how queer representation should be done as well.

Incredible.

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