I found this book to be an enjoyable read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish and had some moments that really stood out. Overall, it offered an entertaining reading experience.

I honestly don't even know where to start, I'm still shocked by the ending. My jaw literally dropped.

You Weren't Meant to be Human is dark, and gorey and so heavy that I had take a breather a few times. Crane is an autisic trans man who is forced to carry an pregnancy to term buy an alien creature called the hive. The forced pregnancy and abusive relationship in this makes it so hard to read and heart wrenching and I just wanted to go rescue Crane through all of it.

The writing is as amazing as all of Andrew Jospeh White's other books and while I had to take breaks, I always wanted to come back to see where Crane's story went. Basically, take all the darkness of his YA novels and make it 100% more adult and just more.

Before reading this please be sure to read all the warnings, this is so much darker and harder to read than any of his other books.

This one wasn’t for me and that’s okay. I wanted to like it but sometimes just doesn’t click. Writing was very good tho

I am trying to read more diversely, both thematically and for characters with very different lived experiences to my own…which led me to You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew J. White., and it delivered hard.

Crane, a neurodivergent trans man living in West Virginia, has found a haven in a community of followers of the Hive - a parasitic alien organism (or collective?) that allows its followers to eke out an existence in exchange for loyalty and food (spoiler: like the classic Soylent Green, it’s people.)

Even when he was a girl, Crane knew he did not want kids and is devastated when he gets pregnant - especially since he lives in a state where abortion is legally considered murder. On top of that, the Hive wants the baby and has demanded that he carry it to term.

Part folk horror, bigger part body horror, You Weren’t Meant to Be Human is a beautiful, brutal read. I was uncomfortable almost immediately as blurred (or non-existent?) consent lines were crossed in the opening paragraphs (see note on content warnings below) - and that feeling never totally left.

Sometimes my spouse will ask me if I’m “enjoying” a movie or book, and I will say to him, “I don’t know if enjoy is the right word, but I am glad I’m watching (or reading) it.” You Weren’t Meant to Be Human is a deeply emotional story about being othered, about trying to find your place and your people and your self, about having not only your world but also your body being taken over against your will. Even without the intentional visceral violence of varied sorts, it doesn’t make for a comfortable read - but, boy, is it an effective one.

Content warnings: Thank you to the author for including clear, specific content warnings on his website and other places where the book is referenced. https://andrewjosephwhite.com/content-warnings%3A-ywmtbh

Words I liked: “even the worms won’t contradict an Appalachian granny.”

Note: Can we just talk about the book’s title for a second? Heartbreaking.

TL;DR You Weren’t Meant to Be Human, Andrew J. White’s adult debut? I hated it. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ When are we getting the next one?

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

"You Weren't Meant to Be Human" is the kind of horror that drags the reader into the depths of darkness. The storytelling feels very claustrophobic as we are stuck in the POV of a character living in a secluded cult. Crane has exchanged many of his freedoms for a chance to live a fully transitioned, nonverbal autistic life.

The way Andrew Joesph White explores the difficult and terrifying aspects of existing in a world that is not meant for your natural, default settings as a LGBTQIA+ or neurodivergent person is nothing short of brilliant. As an autistic person, there are so many moments in this book that feel like a knife-twisting because I felt so seen.

That said, it's a bleak read, and it's not going to be for everyone. I definitely recommend it, but I'd suggest making sure you are in the right headspace to enter the void.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

holy shit. this was gore and body horror but written in a way many writers can't achieve anymore. it was crazy, and while i know how heavy and sociopolitical it's supposed to be, it was so distracting. good god

I will be thinking about this book probably forever. Andrew Jospeh White is one of my favorite writers and his adult debut (I would not recommend this for a YA audience) crawls under the skin as effectively as the worms and the flys and the societal rot he creates in this book. Do not approach before reading the TWs, but if you can handle pregnancy horror (REAL pregnancy horror) and a not-so-distant future that feels very much like a real possibility, you won’t regret picking this up.

thank you saga press and netgalley for the early copy in exchange for a honest review!

i will start by saying, once more, AJW has crafted something truly horrific and beautifully written. that being said, i was talking with a friend, and we agreed it was likely to be hit or miss due to how heavy it was on the pregnancy commentary. unfortunately, it was a miss for me. i love and applaud AJW for speaking on his biggest fear and publishing the fictionalization of it for the world to see, but i found myself wanting more; the hive, the cult, the experiments - i wish there would have been more elaboration and detail here. the balance merely felt off.

all in all, i think many people will absolutely devour this, and i hope they do. it just wasn't my favorite of AJW's.

Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC!

An absolutely phenomenal adult debut from Andrew Joseph White. Gritty, visceral, and downright disturbing. If you tend to gloss over trigger warnings, I’d considering taking them into account this time.

This books takes place in a near future West Virginia, where “hives” of sentient flies and worms crop up across the Appalachian region. These hives offer safety and support to humans in crisis in exchange for offerings of human flesh and their strict loyalty.

Crane, an autistic trans man, is one of the hive’s dutiful followers. Among the opportunities he has been granted by the hive is the ability to transition and the permission to stop speaking. He is truly grateful for the life he has been allowed to live under the hive. But everything starts to collapse around Crane when he discovers he is pregnant.

While alien masses of bugs and worms are unsettling in their own right, the true horror of this novel is Crane’s loss of bodily autonomy. This manifests in many ways, but perhaps the most frightening being the very real and very current threat of being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. It is horrifying and heartbreaking to see Crane’s decline as he has to endure the pain, dysphoria, and betrayal that comes from this.

To avoid spoiling anything, instead of going into further detail, I will share one aspect of this book and of Andrew Joseph White’s work in general that is very important to me. Having explicitly autistic characters featured is so appreciated and needed. As an autist myself, I see so much of myself in the description of these characters’ autistic experiences. Even though I am completely unlike Crane in most ways, I still found myself highlighting lines that I deeply resonated with.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys body horror, sci-fi, cult-like groups, and has a strong stomach. This is truly a fantastic read that is unfortunately also incredibly timely.

I have loved everything that Andrew Joseph White has previously published in the YA space, so I was especially excited to see Andrew's first novel for adults coming out. And this novel did not disappoint! It was a super-fast read, as I did not want to put it down. Lots of trigger warnings at the beginning of the book, so folks who have certain triggers may want to tread lightly, but I found this to be a 5-star book and will recommend it to everyone I know.

I picked this book up for the promise of Appalachian centric horror and sci-fi. It delivered, but not in the way I was expecting. This is a really difficult, disturbing read, but from a horror perspective, it’s good and provides a poignant perspective and representation especially in a time where rights and freedoms are actively stripped away and individuals are criminalized for their identities. The themes are hard, visceral, predatory, real horror within humanity, cultivated under the sci-fi cult elements. Despite its dystopian sci-fi premise after an infiltration of alien “worm” hives and their murderous cults, the horror is centered on a suicidal trans autistic teen, Crane, who is forced to carry a baby he doesn’t want. Crane is mute (not non-verbal, he *chooses* not to talk) and so you spend a lot of time in his head. You see through his perspective what he experiences from the world for being autistic and the callousness and cruelty with which he is treated, especially by those he’s “close” with. He is also masochistic, and enjoys being twisted up in a graphic S&M relationship that is more abusive, toxic, and manipulative than an actual safe & respectful S&M relationship. There are persistent thoughts of self-harm, suicide and details flashbacks to suicide attempts, as well as constant thoughts of wanting to end the pregnancy (chapters of this). The dread and horror escalates in the fall out, in what it means to have community, how much you are really willing to risk for your community, being forced to lose/sacrifice it and sinking into isolation, imprisonment. This loss of autonomy and subsequent isolation, essentially forced detransition, and the resulting unrelenting desire for suicide, the struggle to operate in a world not meant for or supportive of him in many ways (being trans, being autistic) is really the core horror in You Weren’t Meant To Be Human.

The themes were challenging, graphic, burrowing under your skin and crawling around much in the same way the hive bugs did. it peels open the very real horror of teen and young adult trauma and suicide within the LGBTQIA+ community, and weaves in the additional intersectional layer of the experience of a person with a developmental disability. It was tough read for me. It felt a bit like a shotgun blast to the face with the number of difficult themes pushed through 238pages. I put it down several times before picking it back up and I barely got through it, but it achieves its intention within the horror/sci fi landscape.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for the ARC of You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White in exchange for my honest review.

This is an immaculately crafted, strange strange story, It will definitely not be for everyone, and will definitely piss a lot of people off. And I think that's fantastic.

GOOD FUCKING GOD.

This book is disturbing and gruesome and sick and NECESSARY. “Zee, why are you using all caps no need to yell” YES THERE IS I AM CRYING SCREAMING PULLING MY HAIR OUT over this book.

Crane is a trans man who is mute, and is in an abusive relationship with a man and a cult of sentient…bugs...who force him against his will, wishes, everything to have a baby. But at the same time this book is a deep look into gender dysphoria.

So that’s the plot, now my analysis. I am a cis woman with kids that I planned for and wanted. But in reading this book I saw, I FELT how terrible a pregnancy forced upon you could feel. I knew Andrew Joseph White was an excellent writer so I was thrilled to be able to get a copy of his first adult book, but I never could have believed it would be this good. A good book makes you think and feel things you never could from your own point of view. It is the only way to truly walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Books like this are necessary to our humanity. They help us truly empathize with people with different life experiences from our own. I am in awe of this book, this author, and his ability to make me experience something so wholly different from my own path.

And that ENDING!!! I am simultaneously horrified but also I understand it, and am shocked that I could receive such a deep understanding of another human…I am having a hard time putting it into words. But definitely READ THE DAMN TRIGGERS!

Absolutely disgusting, in the best of ways. YOU WEREN'T MEANT TO BE HUMAN is Andrew Joseph White's first foray into adult fiction, and boy does he knock it out of the park.

Visceral, in every sense of the word. I can’t remember the last time a book made me angry and disgusted and still not able to get enough.

This was a dark, wild ride. I would probably read this again to understand what happened. How much of this is literal hive, literal bugs, and how much is a personal, internal feeling of bugs and external forces driving choices. It reminds me quite a bit of Metamorphosis, actually. It's not easy to follow, but it's fascinating and one that you could study in all its complexity.

This book was absolutely not for me but it will absolutely be for somebody. I think I went into this expecting it to be something it isn't, which is a me thing. I expected Horror, but I didn't expect bleak to the point of hopeless. I expected messy, but I didn't expect a lack of nuance. I expected to be shocked, but I didn't expect to squint at my iPad and wonder what the point was. In the end, this is a grim, nasty, obviously personal story about a transgender man who doesn't bend to the will of the power at hand. It has a distinct voice, and Crane is easy to love, but I think this is almost a bit too over-the-top for me to consider good. Granted, what's not for me will be for someone else. I think the content note at the beginning of the book is a bit too modest. And while I do think this is an interesting story, I'm not sure if it's actually a good book. It's gritty, polarizing, blatant, buggy, brutal, ostracizing, and morbid. I wouldn't call it political, despite the author marketing it as such, and I personally don't think the author should be publishing this under the same name as his Young Adult titles.

This wasn't for me. But it's for someone. As a Horror title? As a squick title? As a "oh, you really went there, huh" title? You might enjoy it.

EDIT: After sitting with my thoughts about this book and reading other reviews, I did come back to edit my star rating. I personally just did not vibe with this or find it all that thought provoking or generally appealing. It's ultra-personal on a level that should not have been published without refinement and deep-dives into the meaning of the overall story, in my opinion. As a transmasc person myself, I just kinda sighed at this book and said to myself "this should've been kept in Andrew's diary".

Uff. I don’t think I was prepared for just how gruesome this book is. I loved Hell Followed With Us and was expecting a similar vibe from this, but White made the jump into adult horror from YA and held absolutely nothing back. If you read this, I recommend an empty stomach.

I’ve never read an ending that was simultaneously so viscerally horrible and yet hopeful. I think the mental images are permanently scarred on the insides of my eyelids. Part of me would like to forget that I ever read this. It’s gross and heavy and I do not feel good having read it... but I think that’s exactly what you’re meant to feel.

I cannot bring myself to give this five stars because of the mental state it’s left me in and the fact that there wasn’t ever a point where I enjoyed what I was reading; however, I do think White accomplished exactly what he intended, so in being unapologetically and perfectly what it is, it may deserve that fifth star.

The horror aspects of this were HORRORING which is exactly what I was wanting and I loved them. The autistic and trans representation and exploration is so needed rn as well.

However, this fell flat for me in many places. I think worldbuilding could’ve been explored more, and many times I felt the main character was a little flat—maybe that’s the point though?

Overall, 3 stars. I enjoyed a lot of aspects of this but ultimately isn’t a fav! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC ✨

I don’t even know where to begin on a review for this one. Saying I “enjoyed” it doesn’t feel appropriate, but it is definitely going to stick with me for a long time. So incredibly timely, visceral, and painfully well-written! I will eagerly read anything Andrew Joseph White writes.