Um.

Did all of that just happen??

This is the book the Trump administration will burn first when that comes because this is the book that could spark revolution.

I LOVE Andrew’s YA titles. All of them. Masterpieces. This adult debut? Art. Premium living. Iconic. Horrible. Chef’s kiss.

NOT FOR THE:
-faint of heart
-squeamish
-weak stomached
-white supremacist
-transphobe
-MAGA cultist

This book rips. Buy it.

I could instantly tell from the first 3 pages that this book isn’t for me. The opening scene and the character description just instantly clued me in to the fact that I probably wouldn’t enjoy continuing to read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the arc.

Hooooooly shit. Am I even allowed to swear in these reviews? Oops.

I have read a lot of books involving body horror, but this was the most intense I've ever read. I love Andrew Joseph White’s YA books, but his adult debut is just total art. My skin was crawling, I was nauseated, yet I could not stop reading this book.

The only thing this book was missing was more lore involving the hive. Other than that, it was absolutely perfect.

[4.25⭐️] [ARC]

Holy. Fucking. Shit?!

This book was so disgusting, it made me sick to my stomach. And made me say “what the fuck” out loud more times than I can count. It’s amazing

“You Weren’t Meant to Be Human” is a disturbing story about being transgender and pregnant. Although the narrative has a horror/sci-fi undertone, the representation of real-world problems is handled splendidly.

The story begins with our main character, Crane, an autistic transgender man who ran away at eighteen. He is also hypersexual. Unlike stereotypical portrayals, his hypersexuality is shown in a raw, realistic way. People might call it disgusting, but it reflects the reality of having sexual thoughts that make you feel ashamed and unsettled. Crane is in a relationship with his “boyfriend,” Levi, who is manipulative, power hungry, and broadly abusive. When Crane discovers he is pregnant, he wants an abortion; but with abortion now illegal, he tries to leave. When the Hive (the cult ‘leader/alien thing’ that controls the community) finds out, they forbid him from terminating the pregnancy and force him to carry the child. Throughout the story, we experience Crane’s internal struggle as he is compelled to bear a child he never wanted.

The ending left me staring at a wall. This book is intense and gorily detailed. I understand why some readers find it hard to handle. If you plan to read it, please check the trigger warnings. I definitely need something lighthearted after this emotionally raw journey.

Thank you to Saga Press for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White is a gnarly horror story. Gnarly is absolutely the right word for this one—it’s equal parts disturbing, dread inducing, and unimaginably gory. In lieu of providing my own trigger warnings in the review, I would refer to the very artful list included by the author at the start of the book. I will give a general blanket statement-if virtually anything that would be on a standard list of triggers bothers you, this one isn’t for you.

I am of two minds about this book. On one hand, the body horror is exquisite. Every single thing is gross, shocking, and totally right for this dark near-future landscape. This books paints a dark, bleak, picture of the near future and then further drives it into oblivion.

Although I don’t know if it was the author’s main goal, I think that this book is a great story where the hive stands in for high control groups (religions, cults, life insurance sales schemes.) The longer Crane stays in the group you realize they aren’t being fully transparent to him, he isn’t really getting much back for their sacrifices and extended torture, and it’s made everyone blind to what’s going on. This was a really successful and exaggerated way of talking about cults in a way that departs from the usual compounds and hairdos style.

Where I felt like I had a different experience than my completely positive icky feelings was the world felt written in half measures. The mechanics of the worms and the hive are seemingly completely unknowable. How they “help” the group is sort of unknown, and it’s never explained what happens if they are in the light. How do they find people? Are they omniscient? Additionally, backstories are given in two sentence quips and give very little depth to the character. Even Crane felt at times like the explanations were somewhat ‘hand wave’ explanations.

It’s a great, transgressive horror book with especially great transmasc representation. The forced birth horror is topical. I wish the world building was a little more complete and dynamic, because then it would have been a 5/5 for me. For now I’m going to give it a satisfied 3.75/5 rounded to 4.

A disturbing, visceral, and extremely cathartic read. The story of Crane, a transgender man involved in a cult in West Virginia who realizes he's pregnant, and that the hive he belongs to will force him to carry it to term, You Weren't Meant to Be Human had me hooked from the very start.

Every character in this story is filled with depth, with those interesting human contradictions, and Crane most of all. I loved being inside his head, even when we were seeing the more disturbing side of it. I also loved the way that this book depicts its central cult; its a very small, intimate community of only four or five people and loosely connected to other small, intimate communities scattered across the east coast. Despite only being a short drive away from where he came from, Crane is isolated by the few people he knows, and that isolation is palpable. His pregnancy is claustrophobic. At every turn, I was just hoping for someone to be on his side.

If you're faint of heart to the kinds of subject matter that might come up in a story about an unwanted pregnancy, definitely proceed with caution, but as someone who is myself trans and with a fear of pregnancy, I found this book to be as cathartic as it was horrifying. It'll be on my mind for a long time.

First, I would like to thank Andrew Joseph White and Saga Press for allowing me to access an advance copy of this release in exchange for honest review!

I should preface this review by saying I don't get disturbed by books very easily. I've sat through several books from the splatterpunk genre and barely flinched. It takes a lot to make me set a book down and walk away. It is therefore the highest compliment I can bestow that I had to do so at LEAST twice with this.

The plot is disturbing not only because of the idea of a cult-hivemind of worms attempting to expand their reaches on humanity, but because underneath the surface, this is a study of the post-Roe world we have suddenly found ourselves in. It's genuinely heartwrenching watching the main character Crane attempt to navigate an unwanted pregnancy as a trans man while also having the shadow of the worm cult over him the whole time. It is just as visceral and disgusting as the author warned us it would be, and I'm here for it.

In short, this book is a masterpiece in every sense of the word, and I can't wait to see what else Andrew Joseph White has in store for us in the future. My physical copy of this book is on pre-order and I can't wait for it to arrive!

Wow…… this book just scarred me for life. I don’t think I’ve read a book before that evoked this many different emotions within one book. Which speaks for the authors ability to really pull you in to the story and the characters. This book is visceral and claustrophobic and disgusting. The writing was so personal and I loved how at its core it was about knowing your own worth. Will definitely be checking out this authors backlist!

4.5

All I can say right now is just...wow. This was a rough read but in all the right ways. There were times I just needed to set it down for a few moments due to the state of the world and the fact that some of this isn't outside of the realm of possibility. Further than that some of this is currently happening to real people that are alive right now and it just adds the fuel to that fire of pain.

I loved this story. I loved Crane and connected on his own struggles and self doubt, that struggle to find yourself and just wishing someone had told you early on what your path was or why you feel so uncomfortable in your own body hit real close to home.

There were a few pieces of the story I wish I had more of, or just that I needed a little bit more fleshed out, but overall this story is one that is going to stay with me and stick in my head.

5 ⭐ my god this book was horrifying. Not in a jump scare, the house is haunted type of way, but in a 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣 type of way. It was raw and visceral, and the imagery was so masterfully done that every time I close my eyes, I can't help but replay the horrors in my mind. When I first heard that Andrew Joseph White was making his adult horror debut, I knew it would be phenomenal and so wonderfully fucked up, and he did 𝙣𝙤𝙩 disappoint.

This book is about Crane, a 22 year-old autistic trans man who is also mute (not nonverbal), whose loyalty lies with the Hive that took him from his former life and gave him the permission to be himself, finally. The Hive is a collective of worm-and-fly creatures (aliens? no one knows) that are conscious and can communicate, who make it their business to rescue people from often traumatic or otherwise fucked up situations in exchange for their unquestioning loyalty and willingness to follow through on Hive business (which often involves unsavory tasks such as frequent murder, but hey, the worms gotta eat something, right?). But none of that matters to Crane, because the Hive 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙙 him, gave him the permission to be a man and to stop speaking and to finally, finally, finally be himself. Until the day he found out he was pregnant.

This is where are story truly becomes horrifying. What happens when, what you once perceived to be your bodily autonomy, is absolutely ripped from you and denied completely and irrevocably? What do you do, how do you survive? And even if you do, at what cost? Through Crane's experience, we see firsthand how these questions are answered.

This book is a gut-wrenching, visceral depiction of bodily horror. It is bloody, gory, and terrifying in the way that only reality can achieve. If you remove the fantastical elements of this book, you are left with a very real experience. And what is more horrifying than that?

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Saga Press for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review! I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

There’s a hive of insects that have offered acceptance to the marginalized and destitute. Crane who is a trans-man has joined the hive and used this opportunity to not speak since he never felt understood by people in his past. Crane has become pregnant and doesn’t want to go through with it, but the hive demands that Crane keep the baby. Crane has to do what the hive says or the hive will end him. Crane has no choice and the ramifications of going through with the pregnancy is against everything Crane identifies with.

This book was a wild ride. It’s well written and the characters have so much depth. It’s so easy to become invested in them. It’s so descriptive and gory at times, the feeling is incredibly ominous and the ending was insane. This book raises so many discussions about human rights especially to those who are born with a uterus. It shows how little control people have over their own health and wellbeing. I’ve never read this author before and I honestly couldn’t put it down. This book makes you think after traumatising you.

Thank you NetGalley and Saga Press for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion in this review is my own.

4.5 Stars

Has not left my brain since I finished it days ago. YWMTBH WIGGLES and CRAWLS it's way under your skin and does not leave..
This story is absolutely brutal and revolting, but not just for the sake of being so. Crane's story is so raw and personal, you have to experience that dread, and trust me you will. I was so immersed in this and could almost hear The Hive humming...
The ending is incredibly upsetting and disturbing. You Weren't Meant to Be Human is so important, especially now with the state of the world, but PLEASE, PLEASE check trigger warnings. This is not a book for the faint of heart.

If I see a worm on the street, it is on SITE.

Thank you to NetGalley and SAGA Press for the opportunity to read this early! All opinions are my own.

First off, a huge thank you to Andrew Joseph White and Netgalley for the early reader copy!!

As a life-long horror fan, l've watched and read quite a few things that scared me. This book though, has got to be hands-down the most skin-crawling, terrifying things that i've ever read.

Personally, the whole process of pregnancy already fundamentally scares me. When you add in an alien cult, a controlling boyfriend, and the visceral horror of watching your body go through something you don't want it to, the whole scenario becomes disturbing to a whole new level.

Andrew Joseph White's character writing has to be the most relatable, and *real* that l've read in a while.
Throughout the book, I really felt like I was in Crane's head, and saw his circumstances from his eyes.

Without spoiling much, this book was descriptive and vivid enough to give me nightmares the night after I finished.

You Weren't Meant To Be Human genuinely cemented White as my all-time favorite author, and I greatly look forward to every upcoming release!!

andrew joseph white's first adult horror. I absolutely adored all three of his previous books, each of whom was one of my favorite books of that year, and he has somehow made his already incredible work even more impressive. the protagonist is similarly tortured and detailed as the protagonist in, say, Hell Followed With Us, and the horror is taken up several notches. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Absolutely beautiful book. I honestly was expecting a bit more gore but I loved it either way!! This is the first time I’ve read this author and I enjoyed his work a lot. It took me a bit to get into the writing style but once I settled into it I sped through this work. So good

This book is a wild ride. Horror is not my usual genre and while I wouldn’t say this was scary in the way a thriller is, I had a pit in my stomach the whole time. In this gritty and terrible dystopian future, Crane is working through an unwanted pregnancy mandated by alien cult overlords.

If that and the book’s trigger warnings don’t scare you off, try out this chilling but amazing novel.

Holy shit holy shit holy shit!!!!! I DEVOURED this book in less than 24 hours and I absolutely loved it. The raw exposition of the main character and his struggles was heartbreaking and haunting. As usual, Andrew Joseph White has absolutely knocked it out of the park with “You Weren’t Meant to Be Human.” Would 1000% recommend this to everyone with the caveat that you be very careful with the trigger warnings, they are for a very good reason.

Visceral, read it in one sitting. With everything going on in the world, especially politically, this was very relevant. Main character deserved much better. The writing is phenomenal, the body horror is intense, and the last 10% messed me up. AJW is a force to be reckoned with and I always recommend his work.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book doesn't pull any punches, and it's going to hit dangerously close to the bone for anyone living in America right now. If you're trans (especially transmasc, but I'm quite sure the dysphoria alone will graft on for any of us), or if you're autistic or suffer intrusive thoughts or self-destructive urges, or been in a cult or abusive relationship, or ever had your bodily autonomy held ransom by an insatiable power, this is a nightmare specifically tailored to you. Also, the content warnings exist for a reason.

It's gory, it's gross, it's gut-wrenching. It will also break your heart, and light a fire in your chest. You might read this on your break at work and wonder if you're going to have an anxiety attack (put it down, get some water, pace around the break room if you can).

It's not perfect. Nothing is. I almost never give five star reviews for this reason. But this book is so very close, it gets that last star.

4.5⭐️

um. wow. ok.

this book was incredibly disturbing and at many times absolutely vile and disgusting. it was also really fucking good.

i spent a good portion of this book not really knowing how i felt about it. it’s very true that AJ does NOT hold back. i was uncomfortable (not necessarily in a bad way, we all should be a little uncomfortable sometimes) and frankly, despite plenty warning, was a little unprepared.

but the ending. THE ENDING.

the last 20% of this book is what made it for me. we really go from 0-100 and you are clenching and scared and hopeful and nervous and so so immersed in this terrifying situation. and then that one thing happens. that. one. thing. yea. no spoilers but damn. and it’s crazy but it doesn’t feel crazy. because Crane feels it’s right so you feel it’s right. and you’ve been in his head this whole time and you’re finally beginning to understand and now, despite the entire rest of the book, you feel hopeful. but also sad. and isn’t that just life sometimes?


i can’t give this book a complete 5 stars, i think it does have some faults. some of the violence at times feels like it’s there for shock value (especially some of the more sexual side of things) but i don’t think it takes too much away from the core messages of the story. and, as i said, the ending of this book is so phenomenal it got damn close to 5 stars.

read it. but be warned and be prepared. it’s not gonna be an easy ride.