I really wanted to like this book. It has such a strong premise, Queer apocalyptic horror with teenage angst.

I found the core concept and the plot very hard to understand. The world building is confusing. I thought if I kept reading I would understand the Flood and Seraph, but I was just confused most the time I was reading. I found myself skimming most of the book trying to understand what was going on.

I thought it started really strong but the book never came together for me.

5/5 Stars

I went into this book with pretty high expectations. The concept sounded extremely interesting and the promise of a super diverse cast of characters with a trans main character made me even more excited to read it. And the book delivered on every point, I don’t even know where to start. The characters, the writing style, the worldbuilding, the plot, everything just fit so perfectly together and delivered a story that had me hooked from first to last page.

One of my favorite parts were probably the relationships between the different characters, especially the found family aspect. The characters didn’t always get along and sometimes things got a bit messy but they always pulled themselves back together again, having each other’s backs when it’s necessary.
I also loved the worldbuilding, though I have to say it took me a while to wrap my mind around and fully understand what was going on. After that initial confusion though, it truly was like nothing I’d ever read before.

Weirdly enough this book felt like a warm hug to me, even with the gore and the heavy topics that are dealt with. There’s something about this book that’s just unlike anything else I’ve read lately, if not ever. So I cannot recommend it enough, go read Hell Followed With Us, and I’ll go back to staring into the void and thinking about this book now.

4 stars
Loved this! the worldbuilding was amazing. It's the kind of book 14-year-old me would have loved to read. Dystopia with great rep!
The themes of gender dysphoria were brilliantly handled. The main character slowly coming into their gender was something that really made me cry, and would be great for trans kids to read about.
I felt like the gore was a bit unnecessary. For a book marketed as YA, I was a bit iffy about it. So if you want to pick this book up, do check out the trigger warnings in advance.
Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Peachtree Teen for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.3/5

I really enjoyed this book!

Hell Followed With Us picked my attention because it’s queer, and has a very interesting concept and world. It’s a YA dystopian horror novel that follows a trans boy Benji as he escapes from a religious cult that murdered majority of Earth’s population and infected him with a bio weapon that will turn him into a monster capable of destroying the rest of the human population. Benji joins teens from an LGBTQ center to defeat the cult.

I liked the characters, and especially character development throughout the book. Benji is a likable MC :) There’s also a ton of representation, which I loved! One of the characters is using neopronouns, which we rarely see in books.

The plot was very interesting, and I was unsure of where it was going. The ending was very good too! The pacing was a little bit off at the 30% mark, but it quickly picked up, and I finished the majority of the book in a day.

The world is very unique, but I can say that it wasn’t really explained and I’m sure of what exactly happened that made it what it was. But this only adds to the story)

I am a person who is not easily disturbed by horror books, but if you are, this one is not for you. Here are the content warnings taken from author’s website: explicit gore, arson, murder and mass murder, warfare, terrorism; Body horror; Transphobia (misgendering, dead-naming with name written out repeatedly, threats of transphobic violence, forced detransition); Religious abuse/Christian terrorism, combined with elements of eco-fascism;
Abusive parents and domestic partner violence; Self-injury (including attempted suicide of a side character);
Emetophobia (vomiting).

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0

Came into this book with already high expectations and by god they were met. The prose was phenomenal, and almost every paragraph sank its teeth into my brain. It took me a while to get through this because I was afraid of finishing it. And now that I have, I'll have to busy myself with re-reading and waiting for the physical copies to drop.

It was so cathartic to have to read - to experience - about a character who near-paralleled my experience with faith. Benji did the one thing I could not: get even.

I highly recommend this to every single person who had to swallow their anger to survive, to everyone who had to keep their head down and submit, to everyone who has the fury of hell tucked away in their chest. (Though, please heed the content/trigger warnings. Keep yourself safe)

With all that, I'd like to thank the author, Andrew Joseph White, for unleashing this book into the world.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing me this ARC via NetGalley. This does not in any shape or form influence my review on this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Violence, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, and Transphobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Grief, Child abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content

I received an early copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

Reps: trans gay MC, autistic gay li, gay li, enby sc, trans sc, lesbian sc, black sc, muslim sc, latin sc
Warnings: gore, transphobia, homophobia, misgender, death, panic attack, anxiety, suicide, blood, christian related talk, aggression, mutilation, self harm, abuse, toxic relationships, abusive relationships, torture

I wasn't expecting what this book gave me. First of all, Benji is absolutely relatable, everything he feels and the way he acts, we can understand why he does the things he does, why he's afraid, why he's running.
The toxic relationships in this book? The way they're portrait? Amazing job.
The allegories used to express the transition that Benji's going through and how the cult saw everyone as a monster and tried to change people to fit on their mold?
I loved how the founded family wasn't perfect and at the same time when shit gets real they all have each other's backs.
This review is almost a week late and I still can't find the words to describe how much this book made me think and cry. I loved and can't wait to see it being launched so everyone can read it.

ARC provided by NetGalley <333

~~~

As a non-binary person with transmasc tendencies who also grew up mostly in the Pentecostal religion…I saw myself more in Benji than I probably should have. The yearning to be the person he wanted, the pain of not feeling comfortable outside of unknowing what to expect from others, and, especially, the religious trauma that he dealt with as he blossomed into his own person.

The plot was beautiful. Religious trauma mixed with gender identity was really something that spoke to me on a personal level. It was refreshing to feel the same emotions as Benji as he battled with his own personal convictions and eventually finding his way through the madness.

The characters were amazing, I could see myself falling in love with the queer characters as they shone in their own spotlights. Their flaws and their strengths made them hard to not love, especially in the difficult situations they found themselves tangled up in. As for Theo…he can go fuck himself.

~~~

This book, in my eyes, deserves more stars than 5…so much is that I deeply wish there was an option for that.

This was absolutely stunning. It reflects the rage I feel as a queer and trans person in this world, but it does so among this found family in a way that is messy and ugly and beautiful all at once. I could have read another 200 pages, because I want to know more about who the characters become.

Heed the content warnings at the beginning, please! Just due to violence and graphic content, I would not recommend for young teens at all. Older teens (16+) can no doubt handle the queer and trans content, but use discretion when recommending to teens.

I loved this writing but this book was just not it for me. It may just be me. It just wasn't something I enjoyed. I do plan on getting it in physical form and that may be better. Sometimes if I don't like something I will come back to it later on and I will love it. So I do plan on buying it and trying again in the future because I love this style of writing.

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! This was the first ARC I've read and it was completely worth it--a brilliant story of queer strength and anger.

Hell Followed With Us is the story of Benji, a 16-year-old trans boy escaping a Christian terrorist cult during an apocalypse. The book launches into action right away with Benji fleeing the Angels and fighting the disease that's beginning to take control of his body. The first 50 pages are a blur of confusing terms--Seraph, Angels, Flood, Judgment Day--but the fast pace keeps the plot moving along. I very quickly grew to love the central characters, especially Benji and Nick, though I wish the Watch had more page time.

I loved the parallels between Benji's transitioning gender and his physical transformation into Seraph. White's descriptions of body horror and Benji learning to defend his identity were fantastically written. Benji's anger felt cathartic and surprisingly relatable--White did an amazing job of capturing how it feels to exist as a queer person in a world that constrains us. I appreciated that not all of the characters were "perfect" or even good people just because they were diverse. Benji didn't have to be gentle and palatable to be accepted for who he was, and neither should minorities in the real world.

The most unsettling part of this book, beyond the graphic violence, was that it's set only a few decades in the future. The terror of Angels and the Flood felt disturbingly possible. I was surprised how much I needed to see themes of found family and overcoming toxicity reflected in a novel, and Hell Followed With Us executes it incredibly.

”I am a monster standing among the living, a boy made of raw meat and dying flesh”

I’m conflicted about this book. At first, I was enjoying this book a lot, then i kind off lost interest but made myself continue in hopes of gathering it back but I only kind off succeeded. I was starting to enjoy it but it was still kind of tedious idk but lets get into my more detailed opinions:

I really enjoyed the representation in this. There were even neopronouns used and i also really appreciate that the mc (who is a trans queer boy) doesn’t necessarily have a problem with his body. He doesn’t feel the need to bind his chest or anything. He explained that disphoria goes way deeper than just the outside and that having those physical parts doesn’t make him any less male. Overall, the way the author handled the representation for lgbtq+ and the way they talked about disphoria was very well done and relatable.
But something that bothered me here is that the mc Benji referred to his old self sometimes with female nouns or pronouns. The author should’ve still just used male ones or at least just worded it differently.
Another thing that bothered me was that this one trans character was transphobic towards the mc and then he was then making transphobic jokes about that person in return. Someone being transphobic doesnt mean u as a trans person should make transphobic jokes about them!

I also really appreciate the letter in the beginning of the novel and that it includes trigger warnings.

I don’t know how I feel about the writing, cuz sometimes i loved the dark horror of it. However, sometimes it just felt cringey or trying to hard:/
Then i have to mention something that bothered me: We mostly got chapters in 1st person from Benji’s pov, but then out of nowhere there were some chapters of other characters in 3rd person? It really threw me off.

Overall, I see the appeal but it just had a lot of stuff that bothered me which made it unable for me to enjoy as much as others seem too.

(thank u, netgalley, for the e-arc!)

When the horror novel feels like a tight hug. I don't know what to make of that, but it's the truth.

Ugh, just give me all of the angry trans and autistic characters. There's something about books like this that makes me feel the most seen, hence the hug feeling, because it just lets these characters fully *be*, not just their acceptable sides.

I would comp this as The Witch King meets Wilder Girls, and I absolutely adored everything about it. I'm not a huge horror reader at all, so I'm not an expert on the genre, but I absolutely loved the way it was done here. These characters are my babies and I would do anything to protect them, but the truth is I'd be useless, because these kids have sharper teeth than I do.

yeah the best i can come up with is “JESUS FUCKING CHRIST”

this book about an apocalyptic queer found family centering a vengeful trans boy was so so very good

(there is also a wonderfully angry gay autistic love interest and he gets a couple pov chapters that are GREAT)

if you were raised in a strict christian household, especially of an evangelical variety, you are going to want to rip this book to shreds and set everything on fire

(and i do mean that in a good way. pretty sure)

PLEASE be careful going in, there’s a lot of graphic body horror and bible verses are used aggressively on,uh yeah, just about every page

other content warnings include: graphic violence and death on & off the page, arson, misgendering, dead naming, transphobia, homophobia, racism, evangelical christians, abusive parents & romantic partner

I really enjoyed reading this book. As someone whose a fan of another queer horror like the Magnus Archives, this was a very enjoyable book to read! This story follows a teen trans boy named Benji and details his experience with trying to escape the religious cult he was raised in.

The author did an incredible job of fleshing out the personalities of each of the characters of this book and made each of their internal and external conflicts feel real and easy to connect with.

I lived for all the gross descriptions of body horror and trauma that left me shivering in disgust(in a good way!) The diverse cast of this book was a pleasant and refreshing sight to see as well.
This is certainly a book that fans of horror and YA will not want to miss out on.

What a BOOK. I absolutely devoured this!!! It took a little while for me to fully understand what was going on world building-wise since it opens with us dropped into the action (not a complaint, I actually love when books start off like this even though it requires a little extra attention on the reader's part) - but once I did, it was hard to stop reading. I think this book is really important and is going to resonate with a lot of people. I wish I had something like it when I was younger. Thank you so much to the publisher for this ARC.

the first thing i want to talk about before i even start talking about the book itself is the cover. hell followed with us said sorry to the ugly cover community but that ain’t me.

hell followed with him us is a queer post- apocalyptic where a fundamentalist christian cult think it’s in god’s word to bring the end days. the main character benji was chosen to be god’s holy messenger, but essentially escapes.

i read this book in less than a day, so i’m going to try to make this review as coherent as possible while also collecting my thoughts.

i could not praise the rep in this book ENOUGH. the mc is trans, his love interest is autistic, along with a ton of other queer representation including neopronouns (which this is also one of the few books i’ve read that’s included them). the book itself is horrific, and that’s the thing that always irks me when it comes to dystopian books, because they’re so real and so close to our reality, but what got to me the most was one of the villain’s theo. to me, he was so fleshed out, and every time he came on a page, i found myself needed to take a deep breath to prepare. i think he was the true proof of just what corruption could do to a person.. but also like, fuck him lol

i think this book is great for people who suffer from religious trauma, because as someone who grew up in church, i found myself relating a lot to some of benji’s internal monologue. i highlighted so much because i would read some of it and be like wait, is this me?

my only issues (and there’s very little) was i felt like nick didn’t get as much page time (i got very excited the couple of times we got his pov) and wasn’t as fleshed out as he could be, given his backstory. i would’ve loved to see more of him and the alc group in general. another thing was i found the world hard to follow at times, but that could just be my lack of understanding rather than the author’s fault. i also felt that the ending needed a bit more, but that also could be the beauty of it, leaving you with wanting more.

i will definitely be picking up more books andrew writes.

Andrew Joseph White’s debut novel Hell Followed With Us is just as, if not more, beautiful than its amazing cover. The book opens with a dedication, “For all the kids who sharpen their teeth and bite”, which sets the tone of the rest of the novel and sent literal chills down my spine. Hell Followed follows Benji, a trans boy, as he tries to escape the extremist-Christian eco-terrorist cult that his family is a part of. He joins up with a small resistance group made of queer young adults and teens and vows to help them destroy the “Angels” that have turned him into something monstrous. He just has to do it before they find out how real the monster is.

I’m here for any book with kids dealing with their religious trauma and turning on the systems that hurt them so this was just right up my alley. The realities of leaving a toxic environment/belief system are not shied away from in any way in this novel. There are moments when Benji thinks it would just be easier to give in or accidentally falls back into old harmful thought patterns. It makes it so clear that trauma isn’t logical, it lies in our bones and whispers to us when we’re vulnerable, even after years of distance. Apart from the religious trauma, this book feels incredibly timely with all the commentary on how multiple adult groups are trying to make children fight their battles for them, as well as references to discussions that were happening at the beginning of the pandemic about how humans are hurting the planet and the benefits to wildlife when everyone was quarantining. Despite all of this, none of White’s writing felt preachy or heavy-handed, these were just facts of life for Benji.

There was a wonderful amount of representation throughout the book, this is actually the first time I’ve read about a character using neopronouns (xe/xem in this case) and White handled it so well, making it clear that this is a normal thing to do but slipping a little more info in for people that have not encountered this before. All the teenagers in this book are queer but it’s more than that, Nick, the de-facto co-leader of the teens, is autistic and is struggling because the apocalypse is not exactly accessible, there are many characters of color, and at least one of the side characters is Muslim. None of it felt forced, awkward, or tokenized, they were just a bunch of kids trying to keep living their lives after a series of horrific events. One of my favorite moments was just a description of a character when Benji meets her, “There isn’t a shred of black in [Erin’s] clothing. I can’t imagine it on her, not with the flowers on her mask and salvaged pastel eyeshadow”. This exchange stood out to me because I remembered a Tumblr post from a few years ago about how characters in a post-apocalyptic world (especially women) wouldn’t be held to the same beauty standards that we have now, but it also sparked an interesting discussion about women holding onto beauty rituals in order to feel some control over their situation. Erin is the perfect example of this, as the other co-leader she is trying so hard to hold everything together and part of that is making herself feel better by doing her make-up and wearing nice masks. I just loved seeing this concept put to use!

The only issue that I really had with the book was how quickly the ending was resolved but the longer I sit with it the more I realize that I can’t come up with any other way to end it that would have felt as genuine. Overall I’d give this book a 4-star rating!

I'm not sure where to start with "Hell Followed with Us", I gravitated to this book solely because of the cover because holy crap is it gorgeous. Once this was in my library it took me a while to crack it open, just because the concept isn't something I usually read. Thank god for Texas tornadoes, I was trapped with just my iPad and devoured this novel in a day and a half. Not much to say besides, I wish I had this book when I was younger!!! Everything about this... The plot, characters, romance, action- It was all so well done, and I can't wait to pick up more from White in the future.

This is a book that younger me would have adored. Not in the sense that it's YA, because I'm definitely still in the age demographic for that; but, I think that any kids who are grappling with their religious identity or struggling with the intersection between that and other facets of their identity would love and maybe need this book.

Hell Followed With Us, follows a trans young man, Benji, who has escaped from a religious cult which is run by his mother and currently heralds him as some sort of messiah due to the experiments performed on him which will cause him to turn into some sort of horrific biblical monster who will herald in the end-times. Benji escapes to the city nearby where he finds a haven with a group of queer kids trying to survive the dystopian world which the cult has brought about. Did I mention this was a dystopia? It's one of the most nostalgic genres for myself and White builds his futuristic horrifying world beautifully. His writing is also fantastic, like I found myself physically feeling the tension or the disgust of certain moments. This is by no means a comfort read by the way, it's graphic, it's gross, and I think that's part of what makes it so compelling

The character work is also immensely done when it comes to our main character Benji, and being in his shoes makes the world all the more interesting. If there was one thing, I wish we had seen more from the group of people around him and the interactions after having life permeated by a religious cult. I adore found family, and the people he found were incredibly diverse and lovely (there's a shit ton of representation in this book btw) but I wish we got to see them just the littlest bit more.

However, I would still wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone looking for a more graphic YA read and an incredibly well-done dystopia. It's for the queer kids who wanted desperately to rebel against the church, who are tempted to burn it all down something, and who needed a story like this to know that they were valid and okay in feeling the way they did. Also with this recommendation comes a firm note to check the trigger warnings which are included on the author's website and in the book itself.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for n honest review.

This book was so good. I liked the apocalyptic society with extremist Christians. I also liked the dichotomy of extremist Christians versus queer kids. The book does a good job of exploring the experience of transness. It was so good, so heartbreaking. It also has the aspects of a coming-of-age story and found-family that's pretty common in YA. I wish I would've had this book when I was a teenager. I will definitely be looking for more works by Andrew Joseph White in the future.