DNF at 40%.

What I read of this book was super compelling. I picked up the book because the concept outlined in the blurb seemed really interesting and unique. I haven’t previously read any works by this author so I didn’t know what to expect.

I don’t tend to read books that are heavy on gore, there is a hefty list of content warnings prior to reading. Whilst the world building and characters were interesting, I didn’t enjoy reading the gory sections.

If you enjoy reading gory horror books, with political sub contexts, then you’d absolutely enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley UK for an advanced copy!

'You Weren't Meant to Be Human' was one of my most anticipated reads this year. Andrew J. White has a stunning record of YA horror books, and I was very interested to see how he made the transition (pun intended) to adult writing. I devoured this book in one sitting and couldn't look away.

One thing White does exceptionally well is to sketch out a sci-fi/horror world as the background for the character's narrative arc, that is not solved at the end of the book - readers of The Spirit Bares Its Teeth will know what I mean. Foregrounding the main character rather than having them as a chosen one that solves the world's problems is particularly effective here. Crane's struggle is visceral, grinding, devastating. It deserves to be the main event.

White's authorial voice is very strong - you can certainly tell this is a Andrew J. White book - but this sometimes inhibits a change in tone to adult writing. At points, it is YA writing for adult material (and the semi-deus-ex-machina at the end stretched the imagination and could have done with greater justification). This can partly be explained by the main character, Crane, a 21 (then 22) year old whose time with the Hive seems to have held him in a state of suspended emotional development that puts him closer in emotional age to some of White's YA protagonists. (This also reminded me of autistic skills regression which... mood) It also becomes understandable in light of the personal Acknowledgments section which, like the book, was beautiful and heart-breaking (does this book count as some kind of autofiction now??? much to consider...)

I've been thinking recently about 'difficult' protagonists, protagonists which often seem to abandon their agency, struggle against their narrative arc, hide themselves from themselves and by extension, the reader. The cult situation and the general Horrors of the World at the moment are a really compelling context for one of these difficult protagonists. And oddly comforting for anyone who feels like they are a 'difficult' protagonist in their own life. It is really noticeable that every AJW book has greater depth and layers. - you can see how White's research and experience of Appalachia informed this book, without being even close to the main theme. It is amazing to see an author grow, and I am so excited to read everything he writes next.

Hooooooooo boy. Gosh, Andrew Joseph White is such an incredibly talented author. I inhaled this book in a day, it is so compelling and perfectly paced. It feels almost wrong to say I enjoyed this so much because the subject matter is not meant to be enjoyable, but I did not want to put this down.
I'm a marshmallow when it comes to horror, having only been brave enough to delve into it last year (2024) and I've found I'm much stronger than I think, because I didn't squirm at this once. Yeah, it's graphic but maybe my brain just blocks it out lmao. But that's not to say that it's not super graphic and gross because IT IS.
I shed tears a couple of times, but not because of the grossness, because of the deeper underlying themes - but towards the end, they weren't tears of sorrow. This book is all despair and bloodshed, but I came away from it feeling morbidly...hopeful.