I literally couldn't put this book down because the brain worms crawled into my eyes and AAAHHH

Okay but seriously:

In an era when we're tempted to die inside so we can survive, to listen to the seductive whispers of respectability and stealth, this book goes full-frontal on monstrosity as life force. Crane is not "good representation" in the sense of Pride merch at Target, and I love him for it with my whole trans autistic perverted little heart.

AJW rubs our noses in the weirdness and grossness of having a physical body. In a sense, body horror is the human condition. It is the flip side of sensual ecstasy and tender intimacy...the condition of being porous to another. Trans and neurodivergent folks already understand this, but we don't always want to dwell on it. It's uncomfortable, and it potentially undercuts the story we have to tell in order to get our needs met in the normie world, the story that we would never feel bad again if only you would give us HRT and shirts with no itchy tags in them...please??

What I'm saying is, I love this novel's brutal honesty and the strange sweetness that can emerge when one is no longer masking. The scene where Stagger helps Crane take a bath got me right in the heart. We should all have such a good emotional-support zombie. The ending, while shocking, had an undeniable logic to it, as the epitome of the novel's exploration of blurred boundaries between violence and love.

Andrew Joseph White has a way of writing horror that is unique and enthralling to read. You Weren't Meant to Be Human is no exception, it is terrifying, poignant, and heart-wrenching all at the same time.

I’ve often used the word ‘unflinching’ to describe White’s previous body of work, which has consisted of all YA Horror. And I stand by that word; His writing is steady as as a surgeon’s hand, certain even in the most deeply troubled, unsettling moments.
But if his YA work is unflinching, his adult work is *unrelenting*.
YOU WEREN’T MEANT TO BE HUMAN is visceral, revolting, and gut-wrenching, leaving you stunned with disbelief for something that perhaps your subconscious knew, but you wouldn’t admit to yourself it was *actually* going to happen.
It’s heavy, and steeped in the ramifications of a post Roe v. Wade, conspiracy-addled America where a mute trans man desperate for permission to simply be ends up attached to a cult following a sentient swarm of insects. And when he ends up pregnant, the Hive refuses anything but Crane carrying the child to term, no matter how much he may trash against their wishes.
I don’t want to reveal too much because I think this book really shines the more blindly you go into it— but please, PLEASE do check the trigger warnings on this one!
I was uncertain just how much I would see the difference in White’s writing style for teens versus adults but I am FLOORED by the sheer lack of mercy in this story from start to finish. This is the beginnings of an incredible adult lineup for AJW and I cannot recommend it enough, as long as you can stomach it.

Perhaps the most visceral horror is the kind that touches both the mind and its captive: the body. "You Weren’t Meant to Be Human" excels here, delving deep into body horror where creation becomes violation and memory turns feral.

Set in alien-infested Appalachia, the novel follows Crane, a young trans man, as his loyalty to his hive is tested when he’s ordered to carry an unexpected and mind-fracturing pregnancy to term—one foisted on him by a man as desired as he is cruel.

Parasitic mechanisms form the gut of the story, from the predatory nature of pregnancy and certain relationships to cultish violence disguised as care. And yet, the novel is more contemplative than its premise might suggest.

We’re confined to airless rooms and trapped states of mind as Crane endures the blunt ravages of his body. We move with him through fragmented memories, which, woven into the horror of his present, reveal the uneasy but palpable desires that once convinced him he was unworthy of a life beyond the worm-like, creeping hive: a putrid entity that sees and exploits all that makes humans alien to themselves.

While this inward focus slows the plot and leaves much of the world dimly lit, it sharpens the emotional core: the anguished reality of having your body breached, disfigured, and fed on by something foreign. Wrapped as the story is in painful twists and ruthless deeds, the mind is never left unengaged.

More than anything, this is a meditation on the cruelties inflicted upon bodies capable of creation—cruelties that remain deeply embedded in today’s discourse. For that reason alone, "You Weren’t Meant to Be Human" should be required reading for every cis man—and cis woman, where trans identities are concerned—who legislates over bodies subject to unimaginable tortures, so unthinkable that they're dismissed with ease.

The novel offers a queasy, disquieting, sultry, and wholly consuming reflection on embodiment, exploring what it means to possess a body governed by you alone, as well as the lengths the mind will go to in order to survive that struggle.

It’s a brutal, challenging reality that invites horrified scrutiny. And for that alone, it demands a reckoning—at least once, if you can stomach it.

This was a trip. The writing style was really really good. It gave plenty of detail, backstory, and character development. I felt for crane the entire time and so desperately wanted for him to have a happy ending. I won’t spoil if he does or doesn’t. I also loved the side characters and their backstory’s as well. This was a full on trip and was an excellent story. If you like splatterpunk horror this is for you, but it also has some basic horror elements as well and isn’t too splatterpunk horror, so horror fans should enjoy this too.

Honestly I was pretty much loving this book right up until the ending when the main character cannibalizes his own baby. As someone who is very much pro-choice, I would not have minded so much if the baby had not been born when Crane decides to defy the hive and kill the fetus. I absolutely *know* what AJW was getting at when he made the decision---crane essentually getting back his agency from the hive while also getting his revenge for carrying a baby he did not want, this is AJW's roe v wade book after all---to have the baby be born and *then* kill it.

But also as someone who absolutely just does not fuck with the *instant murder* of a very young, innocent child that was absolutely innocent in the circumstance leading up to its birth, I just----AJW you make fantastic fucked-up books but this one was a little too personal for my tastes.

I love all of Andrew Joseph White’s books but am having to DNF this one at 25% due to triggers. I was so excited when I saw he had a new book coming out that I requested it on NetGalley without checking the TWs and am afraid I can’t continue. Of his books, I have to say this is easily the most frightening and hits so hard in our current world.

I’m still giving it 5 stars because I have to assign a rating and all his other books were 5 stars for me!

4.5 stars—As with any AJW book, be careful if you have any trigger at all.

This BOOK! ! Andrew I love you to the depth of the sea and back, your brilliance amazes me. I loved every second of this disgusting novel. I have never had someone put to words why pregnancy is the most vile thing I have ever heard of in my life so well before. I wish we could have gotten more of Stagger but I understand why it wasn’t included. Crane is one of Andrew’s best character work and I will die on that hill.

Wow, wow, wow and again, wow. What a story this was. A literally punch to the gut would've hurt less. It was haunting. White's writing was so evocative, the feelings and emotions bled through the pages. Absolutely devastating. In a good way.

Absolutely brutal. This book is dark, haunting and delivers on giving you an absolute gut punch. I went in expecting a gritty horror novel and it was that and more.

On the surface, it’s a horror novel about a young trans man Crane, who is a part of a small family of outcasts that do the bidding of the “Hive”. The hive is the collective term for this alien(?) organism(s) that many broken and misfit people have vowed to serve under the guise of having a better life.

While, yes, the hive itself is horrifying (hello parasitic alien entities), the true horror is Crane’s self loathing and the lengths he is willing to go to once he becomes pregnant to escape the horrors of having no control over his body.

It’s dark and haunting, as Crane navigates mental illness, being trans, crazy relationships, being pregnant against his will, oh and those pesky alien hive creatures.

I very much like the character development throughout the story, and not just of our boy, Crane. The characters are all damaged in some way, and you really are rooting for many of them (except Levi, he deserves all the hate).

Absolutely check trigger warnings before reading this book. It’s traumatic, gory and the themes unsettling. This book definitely gets under your skin (much like the worms) and shows you sometimes the monsters inside us are the scariest of all.

This was such a well written story. Really sucked me in front the first chapter and had me devouring every page. AJW has the talent to write such complex characters and stories. This book is so deep and emotional in many ways that I won’t say. This book is disturbing and upsetting but the way it is done and it moves the story can’t be matched. AJW does it again (while I now need a sappy lighthearted read to recover)

Anytime I start a novel by Andrew Joseph White, I just dive in and wait for my life to changed-- and his debut adult novel was no different. Visceral, powerful, and beautiful.

I received an e-ARC and am giving my honest review. Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for this opportunity!

You Weren't Meant to be Human follows Crane, a transman who is part of something of a hive mind of worms, something that found him in one of his lowest points in life, promising him better things. He finds out he's gotten pregnant by his "boyfriend," Levi, and wants to get rid of it immediately. But the hive has a different idea, and forces Crane to carry the child to term. Filled with Crane's rapidly declining mentality, the strangeness of the Hive and its followers, and the horror of being a man and pregnant, You Weren't Meant to be Human is a book that is going to stay with me for a long, long time.

This is the first book I've felt well and truly grossed-out while reading some of it. The worms themselves were fine until, you know, they weren't. As I was reading, I found myself attached to Stagger, and really ended up loving his character, and the support he provided Crane.

Crane's story hit scary close to home in a few places and reading this novel was really eye-opening for me, even if it completely shocked me to my core every other page. No one has the exact same experience of being trans, but this book included parts of it that aren't talked about, aren't discussed because they sound scary or weird. But the way this book didn't exactly normalize some of these topics, just brought them to light, was beautifully done.

This is the kind of book that a lot of people won't understand, but for those of us who do: thank you to AJW. Thank you for writing about the hard things, the parts of being trans that people refuse to discuss. And the parts of being human that are so feared by the very people who feel them.

I think this book is amazingly gruesome and horrifying in every way I wanted it to be. But I can not finish it due to recently dealing with my own pregnancy issues. It is no fault of the book, and I hadn’t expected my own issues to exist. I will not be able to finish the book but still wanted to submit a review.

From what I have read it is stellar. It speaks volumes and makes me uncomfortable and unsettled in the exact way it should. I wish I had the power to finish it right now.

*SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW*

My review for this book can be summed up in two points:

1) I read this whole book in one night because Andrew Joseph White's writing is addictive
2) This book is super fucked up. Like Alien meets Medea in a post Roe v. Wade world levels of fucked up. It's fantastic.

This book was just so viscerally uncomfortable that I felt trapped like a deer in the headlights and couldn't force myself to put it down... and it was absolutely beautiful. As a young person who is dealing with the aftereffects of Roe v. Wade, I've often had nightmares about this scenario myself: it's terrifying to think of how many people believe that my body does not truly belong to me. Crane experienced that dehumanization firsthand. Weird alien creatures were involved, but they only enabled the vileness of the human characters. I kept wondering if, somehow, he'd get away before it was too late. The book kept descending into chaos. I also think Andrew Joseph White has a particular way of describing transness that resonates viscerally with me - there were moments where I saw myself in Sophie, and by the time I put the book down, the only thing that I could think about was the line: "What she wanted was to set herself on fire." I've been wrestling with the idea of my own gender identity for some time, and when I finished this book, I lay there in the dark, and knew that it had induced another existential crisis. Again, in the best way possible. I've read all of Andrew Joseph White's other books and loved them lots (he's probably my favorite writer this decade, and I hope that someday I'll be able to write as well as him), but for me, this one was out of this world. I think I desperately needed to read this book at this time, and in this place.

4.5 / 5
Expected publication date: September 9, 2025

Extremely dark and visceral queer horror, with a lot to say.
This adult debut from Andrew Joseph White was a winner, in every way.
The horrors hit so close to the heart, especially within today's political climate. Stomach churning. Heart breaking. Extremely smart.

Allow this one to worm its way up to the top of your TBR.

(Warning: To anyone with sensitivities to pregnancy horrors, I'd highly recommend going into this one with triggers in mind.)

A very dark read that hooked me and wouldn't let go. It definitely scratches the unsettling horror itch and does not shy away from graphic descriptions of abuse and violence, which might be too much for some. But the extremes are tempered by the author's obvious love and deep care for the main character as he struggles through the absolute worst-case scenario. The result is an engaging story of human resilience that will leave the reader considering if there's such a thing as too far when the stakes are one's own survival.

I had to let my thoughts on this book marinate for a bit because... WOAH. I've read other AJW books but this was one extra gruesome due to the subject matter, but it honestly could not be more timely and appropriate given the current events. I so related to Crane in that his body was no longer his and his choice was taken away in the most violating way. I had to put this book down often due to how heavy the content was, but towards the end I kept going due to how the story ramped up. AJW has a unique way to write stories that are both gruesome and heartwarming, and the small moments between Crane and Jess were absolutely that. 1 million stars!

You Weren’t Meant to Be Human is such a strange book, revolting and almost uncomfortable to read at times. And yet I couldn’t put it down, for the raw and emotional way in which it masterfully explores the experience of a deeply unwanted pregnagncy through Crane’s story, an autistic trans man who comes to understand that not even the safe haven he thought he had finally found would allow him to keep his hard-gained body autonomy… which is the truly scary part in a horrow story filled with a carnivore hive of flies and worms.

I finished the book, set my kindle down and walked away from it for a few minutes so it could sit and think about what it had done. I came back to it about 5 mins later re-read the last few pages… and my kindle DID NOT learn its lesson! I am
Just sitting here with all of these feelings and questions. I seriously either need this to be a series or at the very least can I get a epilogue?

Andrew Joseph White can write YA and we all knew this. But what I didn’t expect was him to completely nail his first attempt at an Adult book. It is obvious to me that this book was definitely written after Roe V. Wade was overturned. And while I would have never thought of pregnancy as a choice weapon, it sure enough is.

This one is going to sit with me, for a VERY long time.