This was a DNF for me, it just wasn’t capturing me the way a book should. Great premise though. I did really love the way the author made us picture things though!

Hell Followed With Us is a visceral exploration of religious fanaticism and the trauma it creates. It's also incredibly queer and doesn't pull its punches.

We get a post-apocalyptic landscape and a trans teen, Benji, escaping a militarized Christian cult. He is saved by a band of queer kids and this would be a place where he could finally belong... except the cult had infected him with the same virus that had turned the world into what it is now. We get really visceral body horror as Benji slowly transforms into Seraph, the cult's deadliest weapon, all the while he's trying to hide it from his new people.

The book manages to both be fast-paced and take time to show the human things that are important. The premise is clear and the book delivers on it perfectly.

This book is beautifully written and the characters are so well formed that it's hard not to care for them from page one.

The main reason I didn't give it the full 5 stars is because I would have loved more world building. I understand the importance of focusing on Benji, Nick and the rest of the characters first, however I was confused for most of the first half of the book because little detail and background was given about the world they live in.

I usually don't mind reading horror and gore, but this book did have a lot of it. I actually got a little queasy in places. The descriptions were so visceral that I did have to step away from my kindle to get some nasty images out of my head a couple of times.

Overall, I really loved the concept. The main narrative of the dystopia, the monsters, the body horror etc. was very engaging and interesting. The thing I loved most though, was the aspect of found family... Like even in a post-apocalyptic hellscape, queer people are still there for each other and are still fighting assholes like the massive badasses they are!

I am going to start off by saying I really enjoyed this book. There were things that I was confused/not sure of, but I think this was the result of me having to read it over quite a long period of time just because of life. I think this meant there were stretches where I kind of forgot what was going on and then being a bit lost going back into it.

The plot was interesting and really unique which I enjoyed. I have read a lot of books lately where it’s felt like the book is like something I’ve read before but with this book it was more unique from the outside.

The dystopian world was interesting, if sometimes not that well explained or explored. I think because it was set in our world but in the future, there was some reliance on the reader knowing the world but I was fine with that. The political systems were interesting, but I found the religious aspects really confusing (I know next to nothing about religion which was a huge aspect in this book).

The characters were well written. I liked the this book focused on queer teens and lots of different types of queerness which was interesting to read about. I also liked that it did have an autistic character and that this was one of the POVs. I will say some of the side characters were a bit bland and felt like they were only there to drive the plot forwards.

The plot itself was pretty standard but the way it was executed was interesting. I think the plot was well paced and well explored. The end was really good and exciting to read. I personally liked that the end wasn’t all nearly wrapped up and that there were lots of things that were still kind of left open.

Overall, I’m giving this book 3.75 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and Daphne Press for giving me the opportunity to read this!

Now I first want to say, I don't know why I never got around to reading this when it was first published, because wow... what an amazing debut!
Usually I don't really read horror, but this book was absolutely captivating. It was still quite gory though...
The beginning of the book immediately pulled me into the story and made me want to keep reading. No wonder I finished this book in one day. One thing I would have liked though, is if some things about the world building had been explained in more detail. It still left me with some questions about the world the characters found themselves in.

All in all though, great book! Still not sure if horror is the genre for me, but I would definitely read more books from this author.

This is a book for those who like a gory horror and don't get squeamish, for sure. That's... not necessarily me. The book didn't lose my interest at any point. I thought it was an interesting exploration of religion and cults, and with members of the LGBTQIA+ community fighting back against the damage the 'Angels' were doing, this book definitely had a lot to say, through the medium of horror. I found it to be thought provoking and I enjoyed trying to understand the metaphors the author was drawing through this story. The more I think about it, the more powerful I think it is, and at its heart it feels to me like a story of acceptance and where you might go about finding that if only you be yourself, exactly as you are. That being said this is chock full of violence and Benji's transformation into a 'monster' gave me the heebie jeebies but I liked this weary group of teens, their heart, and their bravery. The whole thing was perhaps a little slow paced for me so there were some good and bad experiences from reading this but overall, I'd say give it a shot if you like a little gross with your horror!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

“Do you believe in God?
I do, please stop, there's so much blood”
5☆|5

Sometimes, I love a book so much that I can't put it down but am forced by life to do so. Sometimes, that book is so good that I do not know exactly how to put words on my thoughts to make others want to read it without spoiling them, because it is way too good to miss it. Hell followed with us is one of them. I received from Netgalley and Daphne Press an ARC for this book, and I would like to thank them for sending it to me. I am glad to finally talk to you about it because it was truly an amazing and surprising read.

I have been waiting to read Andrew Joseph White's debut for months. Or perhaps even years, I cannot remember since when this book has been sitting in my wish list. I heard so much good about Andrew Joseph White's novels that as excited I was to discover this book, I was also a bit scared of reading it. And yet, while my expectations were so high, while I was terrified to actually *not* like this book because I do not read plenty of post-apocalyptic books because I do not read plenty of horror books. Yet, this book ended up being one of the best books I have read this year.

This book is going to make you uncomfortable. It is going to make you want to cry and scream. It is probably going to wake up the queer anger, the religious trauma. The author starts the book with content warnings (available at the end of this review) and an explanation of why he wrote this story. And while this book *is* disturbing, it has a reason to exist — a reason to be read. And that's so important. White wrote this book because he was angry. Because he wanted to show queer kids that they can walk in hell, come back, and still be worthy of love. It is so significant to me that this book exists, and I believe that it honours really well its purpose.

Here, we are following Benji, a 16-year-old trans boy who managed to escape a religious sect, the Angels, a cult that committed genocide on the entire human population on Judgement Day. But he managed to run away only after being injected with a bioweapon, turning him into Seraph. While on the run, he is going to be saved by the ALC, a group of queer teenagers and young adults only trying to survive in the apocalypse that became their world.

I love this book so much I think everyone should read it. It is dark, it is probably one of the darkest books I have ever read. It did make me want to cry, we can feel all across the book the rage, the anger. Benji is slowly changing, becoming this Seraph, something that he believes is a monster. His transformation across the book was terrific to read, but still managed to keep me hooked. The fact that we can link this transformation to dysphoria, as Adri from perpetualpages explained very well in his review, is remarkable.

The author's writing style is incredible. He managed to keep us hooked all across this book while writing his theme incredibly well. I would be interested in reading essays about this book. White's style is impressive and beautiful. When I started this book, I didn't want to put it down. I was totally in it, captivated by the author's words and not wanting to leave the characters. I was only putting down this book because I needed to because life forced me to do so. When I was not reading this book, I was thinking about it. The characters, especially Benji, Nick, and Salvador, were living rent-free in my mind. And the concept of this book is amazing. I am not religious, never have been. I do not believe that I can understand the feelings that religious traumas bring out. And yet, I have found the religious aspects and discussion so interesting here.

Talking about characters, they will stick with me for a while. I cannot stop thinking about Benji. This book has an element that I utterly adore seeing talked about as much as I am terrified of it, and I will use the following quote to introduce it:

“He was an Angel. He was made for war.”

I changed it slightly to avoid spoilers, but this sentence addresses one thing I truly liked in this book: Child soldiers. Those characters are just children. The oldest are maybe, I don't know, 20, 22? They were children when the Angels unclenched Armageddon, playing God and killing most of the human population to do what they thought to be God's will. They were forced to grow up way too fast, too soon. There is a brutal contrast between the horrific world those characters are living in and the fact that at times, they are just kids. They acted like teenagers sometimes and made me smile while doing so.

I loved them all. Even those that I wasn't supposed to love. I love queer lost kids just trying to survive, and I don't know what exactly it says about me. I loved Benji, his tragic fate, and how he acted throughout the story, even when making awful decisions. I loved Nick, and how we learned more about him while progressing in the book. I love the found family trope and the side characters. I even liked Theo a lot and his relationship with Benji, the toxicity of it and how the author wrote it. I am not the biggest fan of Benji and Nick's relationship, but it grows soft on me. All the characters in this book were so tragic, trying so hard to survive and keep going.

I love the concept, I love the execution. I love the writing, the characters, somehow I even like the end. I have definitely never read a book like that. It is unique. It is mind-blowing, the body horror is horrific, and it is gore. This book is truly incredible, and it is going to stick with me for a while, I even hope that it never leaves me. There's a high chance that I will buy a physical copy as soon as possible. I can only recommend this book to you. Please read it.

“Hell has followed us onto Earth, and I am the monster that has brought it forth.”

CW:
Violence (explicit gore, arson, murder and mass murder including children, 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 (including returning to an abusive partner and victim self-blame)
Self-injury (including attempted suicide of a side character)
Emetophobia (vomiting) warning throughout

Representation:
Gay and trans main character
Gay and autistic main character
Achillean side character
Trans and emby side characters
Queer side characters
Muslim side character
Black side characters

What a RIDE this book is. As gruesome as it is diverse, ‘Hell Followed With Us’ is a story that has burrowed deeply under my skin.

Benji is on the run from the religious cult that triggered the end of the world, by unleashing the ‘flood’, a virus meant to wipe clean the sins of the world, killing millions of people in the process, and transforming others into monsters known as ‘graces’. Benji, a young trans boy, has been injected with a special kind of this virus, one that’s meant to transform him into Seraph. It’s changing him slowly, liquidating his insides before turning him into the six winged angel. During his escape attempt, he runs into kids who had been at an LGBTQ+ centre when the end of the world came about, and who have banded together for survival reasons. After years of being mistreated, misgendered, and hurt, finally he’s found a group of kids who mostly accept him for who he is….he just needs to avoid recapture by the cult, and try and sort out the whole turning into Seraph situation.

This book begins with both trigger warnings and an explanation into why the author wrote this book, which I so appreciated. Both because this book is definitely not for the faint of heart (it’s stomach churningly disturbing) but, also, to help the reader see why he wrote it this way, as an allegory for the trans kids who walk through hell and back, but are still so deeply worthy of love.

The anger and fear practically reverberate across the pages, understandably so. The frustration that these characters feel, to be trapped in this hellscape of a world, because of a deeply indoctrinated cult, to be going through all this intense pain and suffering due to their actions, is palpable.

It is is heart in the mouth stuff. The stakes are shockingly high - the world is a mess, Benji is on a time frame before his transformation takes over, and there’s overlapping layers of loyalty and distrust between various characters. The urgency is hammered into every chapter, Benji constantly pushing forward without a chance to stop for breath - because what chances are there to take when your insides are liquidating?

This is a book that made me squirm. It made me uncomfortable. It is gripping, grim, and tragic. But, I completely understand why. I could tell it was a book that the author needed to write, and I think it’s a book that many will find catharsis in reading. It’s a gruesome, angry, bloody, love letter to the trans community, while also being a big middle finger to the sectors of religious communities that try to drag them down. A book that tells you to keep on going, despite the pain you might be feeling. It’s a story that’s going to stick with me for a long time.

Thank you to the publishers, and Netgalley, for the copy to review.

A deeply moving story. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

Thank you Daphne Press and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've heard great things about this book, and the cover art drew me in immediately. It did not disappoint. I devoured it, captivated by the post-apocalyptic setting, the body horror and the theme of found family, which is one of my favorites. This was a journey filled with rage and a reminder that everyone deserves to love and be loved. It gripped me from the very start. The representation was fantastic, featuring a diverse cast of characters that were wonderfully written.
The writing was beautiful, and the descriptions of horror and gore were so captivating that I couldn't put it down. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author!

A wildly visceral story, with religious trauma and dysmorphia being explored through a dystopian world that feels scarily close to our reality. Absolutely loved it, and the way the body horror tied into the dysmorphia Benji feels and how he embraces himself in the end.

Angel’s review 👼🏻👿
rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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.

I don’t know how to write this review without just spoiling the whole book for everyone. 😅 Throughout the book we follow Benji’s (our mc’s story) through his eyes and the eyes of Nick, a gay autistic boy who helps rescue our MC from the cult. A disease has been created by the cult and is used as a weapon against those deemed as heretics, bringing the world almost to its end. Benji with the help of Nick and his group come together to bring the cult to an end.
Have you ever loved an arc read so much you had to buy the paperback? Cause I did. 😅 I was 80% through this book when I purchased the paperback edition (in my defence, look how pretty it is (what’s not pictured is the sprayed edges that are also so pretty)) and I finished reading it on the physical book. For a not very religious person, this book hit the spot for me, it gripped me, it made me feel uncomfortable, turn my face away cringing from the more graphic parts, one of the darkest ya books I’ve ever read. All the lgbqta+, poc, autism representation really pulled through and made this book unique, I honestly loved seeing all the rep.
The concept was absolutely a 10/10, execution lost it a little at some parts but mostly cause I would’ve liked it to be a little more fast paced, more cohesive and the rest of the side characters to have had more depth besides the few that were mostly focused on, otherwise it would’ve been an easy 5 start read for me.

Thanks to netgalley for the arc. 🤗

Hell Followed with Us is an absolutely brutal and fabulous book. It was my first book by him and I am completely sold. I loved the characters and the world they live in. White writes a book that does exactly what horror should - I was fascinated, uncomfortable, and completely satisfied by the ending. Although Hell Followed with Us takes place in a dystopian landscape, it feels a little too close to our reality and this book felt so incredibly topical.

Major content warnings, especially for body horror. Would recommend looking them up before starting!

This book truly lives up to the blurb! It has SO much going on. I liked Benji as a character & could really feel their rage & religious trauma. I enjoyed the plot & all the characters.

However I did have a little trouble with elements of worldbuilding being glossed over & the pacing was a little hit and miss from time to time.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book.

Managed to actually finish it this time around! Still don't know if I fully like reading books this gory, but I liked the representation the book had! Definitely wanna read more books by this author!

I was initially really drawn to this book due to the gorgeous cover art! I’m also really pleased that I managed to finish this on the last day of LGBTQ+ History Month :)

This was certainly a very unique story - Benji, a 16-year-old trans boy, has run away from a religious cult that was responsible for releasing Armageddon, and is now living in a post-apocalyptic, fundamentalist world. Whilst the cult tracks him down for being their newest bioweapon, Seraph, he finds a group of teens hiding out at a local LGBTQ+ centre that take him in.

The diverse cast was probably one of the best things about this book - all of the supporting characters were super interesting to read about and I really appreciated such broad representation, as that’s something you very rarely see in media. However, I think that there were just too many characters introduced all at once, so I never really got the hang of who was who. It's a shame but I didn't really feel emotionally connected to anyone in the story.

In terms of the storytelling, I unfortunately didn’t really follow the flow of the actual story that well. I think this was because not too much happened in the moments between the action, and a lot of the story was broken up by hallucinations and internal monologue that didn’t quite work for me. The plot did eventually pick up about 75% through the book but I think this came way too late and I was somewhat uninvested by that point.

I will say, though, that the moments of action were definitely my favourite parts of this book - the body horror was amazing, it was so visceral and spine-chilling that I wanted to look away but couldn’t take my eyes off the page! I won’t give any spoilers, but what Benji went through throughout the book was horrific and made me wince.

I feel very torn on how to feel about this book - it's more of a 3.5-star rating. I’m only rating it slightly lower due to my personal experience reading it, but I can understand why it may connect much more with other readers. I definitely think this is worth reading if you connect with any of the characters or plot, but please look up the trigger warnings if any issues are upsetting to read about because, emotionally, this was not an easy book for me to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Sometimes, a book is so good I cannon contain my thoughts in a short, organised review. And some other times, a book is so good I am at loss for words. Don't know which case it is now, but one thing is sure: this book was incredible.

Andrew Joseph White's writing is spectacular. In every single one of his novels (and now I can say it: I read them all!), he manages to convey beautiful, heart shattering elements, while writing gory, shocking things that leave their marks. There is no explaining how much I love this writer, for his oh-so particular style, but also the life he infuses in his characters, the realness of it all. I can say with certitude that Hell Followed with us is a novel that should be studied (love the discussions points at the end of the book, brilliant add-on), for its story structure, its writing but above all for its story.

The thing I enjoy the most about this author's story is the way he manages to surprise me at every turn. The structure of his stories is always pretty simple and straight forward, but its content is unbelievably clever and doesn't fail to strike true - every single time. Hell Followed with Us is one of these novels you won't be able to put down, by curiosity, obsession, or simply because it is THIS good. When I reached the end, I felt so empty from leaving these amazing characters (Nick has my heart), but also so... Content, to have finished this story and be able to reflect on it.

The characters left their marks. Deep in my mind. When I wasn't reading, I was thinking about Benji and his horrific fate, about his tenacity and diligence in the face of everything. He is the embodiment of trauma and healing at the same time, and his story truly is an hyperbole of experiences a lot of trans people go through. I think the author did an amazing job writing such a tragic character (because, let's face the truth: Benji is having a crap time in this book) that we do not pity, but support. He might be the strongest, bravest, most no-bullshit character I've read.
Besides Benji, the rest of the characters is equally amazing. From the ALC leader Nick, an autistic late-teenager who goes through his daily life masking and trying to keep it together, to the rest of the group (all queer, all amazing) who welcome Benji like family and made for some of the most touching situations I've read in a horror post-apocalyptic book.

If you don't read this book for the post-apocalyptic vibes, for the gory and horrific details, for the characters or for the hint of romance, then please do so for it's incredible background. The discussion on religion is nuanced, extremely well made (respectful while making a point - extremism can very well destroy the planet) and really sets the tone for the book. You can be religious while not agreeing with things from your religion, you can realise you're atheist after being raised in Faith, you can experience religion differently than others do. Tuning it down, I found a lot of similarities between Benji's experience and mine and it felt refreshing to read of a characters who exposes the wrong doings of extremism in religion, while embracing the fact that it is far from being the only way to have Faith. Brilliant.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and the publisher (Daphne Press) for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. #HellFollowedWithUs #NetGalley

This was a very curious book, full of rage, teen drama, questions about faith and identity, but on top of all this, it is absolutely horror. It's been a while since I read a book this disgusting, full of gore, my stomach turned up all the time, but this all works great together! I don't often read horror, nor I am a big fan, however this book was exceptional, it kept the pressure on all the way and although it is a story it will stay with me, I don't think I would reread it. But don't let this deter you, if you are a horror fan, or you like Neon Genesis Evangelion, I wholeheartedly recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Daphne Press for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.75⭐️

I have no idea how to write a review for this book because it was absolutely wild. Whatever you go into this book thinking it will be, I can guarantee that is not the case. This book is truly unlike anything I've ever read, it's wacky and wild and I mean that as a compliment. This was my first foray into horror, and I'm not too sure how I feel about the genre. I will definitely be returning to read more of Andrew Joseph White's books, but I don't think I'll be exploring the genre much beyond that.

This book reads like a fever dream. It's dark and gritty and incredibly gory (please bear this in mind and approach this book with caution). It was a lot more serious than I was expecting, approaching topics such as religion, religious extremism, cults, genocide, alongside LGBTQ+ issues with such nuance and maturity. This book definitely falls into the upper side of YA literature, and borders on adult I think. I have great respect for the author in how he approached these heavy topics with such respect, and interwove them into this absolutely mad and complex story that was certainly hooking for beginning to end.

I do want to take a moment to discuss the representation in this book. Whilst it's obvious to me that the LGBTQ+ rep is incredibly well done, diverse, and intersectional, and Benji's story of self-discovery/acceptance (alongside becoming a biblically accurate angel, trust me when I say this book is wild), I want to focus on the autism rep, specifically Nick. I am autistic, and I find it so hard to find books that represent me in a positive light, or don't take the approach of trying to 'fix' the autistic character, but Nick was everything I wanted. I felt very seen in his character, and found it so heart-warming to see meltdowns and shutdowns and stimming and going non-verbal (among other aspects) depicted so accurately. The author did not shy away from Nick's autism, did not portray him as someone who needed to be fixed, and instead allowed him to be his true self (even when Nick perhaps didn't want to). It meant a lot for me to see an autistic character so wonderfully depicted, and this has made me excited to read more of Andrew Joseph White's work in the future.

For me, I did find much of this book too confusing. I felt that lots of the worldbuilding - particularly surrounding the Flood, Seraph, the dream-like world that Benji (and other characters??) enter some times - was too under-developed/explained. I spent too much of this book utterly confused and lost with what was happening, particularly in the second half, which unfortunately hindered my enjoyment. Even having finished the book now and looking back, I still do not understand any of it.

Overall, if you asked me to sum up this book, I would find it impossible. This book is a wild, yet dark, ride that I didn't entirely understand, but I had a lot of (albeit confused) fun whilst reading this and would recommend checking it out! Please make sure you know what you're getting into with the content warnings though!!

Thank you Daphne Press and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hell Followed With Us is a brilliant example of how how LGBTQ MC's can be found in varying genres. This is book is a horror dystopia where religious extremests have taken over to cleanse the earth. This includes turning people into monsters to do their bidding.

I felt really invested in the main character Benji (gay trans masc escaping the religious zealots) and his found family in the ALC gang. His relationship with Nick was well developed, however, I found the side characters a little bland.

As I'd already read The Spirit Bares it's Teeth I was prepared for the level of gore (not my usual thing) so I was able to concentrate more on the storyline.

Overall, it's a pretty solid yes from me.