I absolutely adore this book, it’s incredible and horrific and visceral. I really feel for Benji with all the trauma he’s been through and the changes he goes through as he becomes the Seraph. The descriptions of him vomiting up his guts and losing parts of his face are really disgusting, but descriptive so I can do thoroughly imagine what is happening to him. I’m glad that he found his place and his people in the end. I also thought it was a really interesting writing dynamic that Benji’s chapters are in first person, and the Nick and Theo ones were in third person.

Phenomenal! I love Andrew White, he is one of my all-time favourite authors! This book is grimey, creepy, and all-around amazing. Queer normalized/queer-centric worlds are the perfect read, and this one uses gore to take it to the next level. Loved this!

A violent, harrowing, and beautiful story about religious trauma and acceptance.

Benji is trans, sort of an angel, and an unwilling weapon in the making for the cult that raised him. Said cult is responsible for the apocalypse, which made a former LGBTQ+ youth community turn into a group of angel killers. Nick, the autistic leader of this group, allows Benji to take refuge among them – if he uses the monster he’s becoming to help.

Hell Followed With Us shines a light on injustice, but at the heart of the story is the connections and relationships we still find and make. There is hope, there is love, and there is a future.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Daphne Press for a free e-arc in exchange of an honest review.

What a book! The characters journies in finding themselves, the Armaggedon and the religious trauma didn't let me put down the book. There were parts where I got confused due to the writing, but that didn't take from my enjoyment

This was so good. This was my second book by the author and I've really enjoyed both that i've read this year.

The thing I think I like most is the queernormativity. That might sound strange considering both books so far have featured characters who for various reasons haven't been allowed to transition or are struggling with homophobia/transphobia. But I mean this more in the sense of seeing queer people interacting with each other on page. You really get a sense of the community and all the different facets and ways of being queer. In this book especially since a lot of it takes place in a LGBTQ+ youth center.

There's good people there and people who aren't at all likable. Just like in real life and I think the setting was a really good way to explore that because it felt very natural. Queer people aren't a monolith. It would have been very easy to just have all of the kids in this book getting along but that wouldn't have had as much of an impact. It's a subtle way of letting us into the way the main character defines himself within that setting as well (the conversation around what dysmorphia means to him specifically and the fact another trans man doesn't understand why Benji doesn't want to wear a binder was particularly well done and not something I've read before.)

In this book Benji has escaped from a religious cult called the angels who have introduced a plague to mankind. I think this plot point honestly really worked. The Angels were frightening because in some ways this could plausibly happen. I'm not American but from an outside perspective, the way religion, especially Christianity and evangelicalism is used to control people even to the extent it affects the way the country is run is a real and frightening prospect. Like there are many religious sects that believe the rhetoric that the cult in this book does. This book examines that through the lens of the supernatural, but there's a lot to be said for the allegory of what it means to be a non believer or a queer person within a cult like that. Benji's eventual transformation and the rage of the virus inside him and what that does to him and what it does to characters like Theo. Honeslty it was just so clever.

Nick as a character was very interesting and I was glad we got some chapters from his perspective as some of the things he does in the beginning of the book are decidedly not great. I can't speak to the representation of autism in the book but I think it was well handled and again, flowed seamlessly through the book in a way that made sense.

I will say there were moments that got a bit confusing for me. There are dream like visions but you often don't realize till like half way through the scene that that's what's happening. Especially during the last part of the book. And visualizing Benji at the end was a bit difficult as well. I think I would have liked maybe an extra chapter to just show more of how he navigates the world in the body he eventually inhabits, because the book ends at sort of an abrupt point.

But overall this was a really good read. Lots of queer rage which we love to see. I'm going to be on the look out for the authors next book which sounds great.

This book was everything I hoped it would be—gritty, dark, rage-inducing. The characters were loveable, the story was amazing, and that cover is perfection. It also rekindled my love of making beaded lizards. 😂 I can't figure out if I love this one or A Spirit Bares Its Teeth more.

Andrew Joseph White has my utmost respect for the sorts of YA books that they write. They do not condescend to young people and water down the content to make it more palatable; they present the horror, gore and pain of existing in a world that you don’t feel you fit into in a way that is nearly visceral. I’m not a particularly squeamish person when I’m reading, but both of AJW books have been the closest I’ve come to throwing up in my mouth a little.

For my reading experience, this book is a perfect example of why ‘own voice’ stories are so critical to sharing the understanding of the challenges another person experiences in their lives. As someone who is neither trans, nor religious, I do not have the life experiences to truly understanding the impact of navigating the process of discovering and understanding that you are trans, nor unpacking the complicated relationship with religious trauma. But through reading this I feel like it allows a small window of understanding to that fear and anger as well as the importance of finding people who accept and love you.

That being said, having read ‘Hell Followed With Us’ after ‘The Spirit Bares its Teeth’ it’s clear to see the improvements in AJWs writing craft. I did find that there were times where the story dragged a little and the interspersed bits of scripture could at times be distracting.
Queer horror stories are just the greatest.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this eARC

I didn't like the writing style. I also found the writing very repetitive. I don't see the reason for the hype. I couldn't get through it

This book has such a cool concept and I really really enjoyed it. It was a great mix dystopia and horror (body horror). I also liked the way the element of religion and religious trauma was applied. Additionally it was just a a very beautiful story about found family and queerness.
I would have liked to get to know the characters a bit better, because so many were introduced and then just not really elaborated on further, but overall I had a great time with this book. You really need to be okay reading about gore and violence though.

This was well timed for approval, as I read it for one of my selections for the trans rights readathon. It was my first book for the readathon, and what an incredible start. This book is so visceral and angry and alive. Truly, truly a work of art. It reignited my love for post-apocalyptic settings, and was a masterpiece of worldbuilding, with an utterly believable landscape. Benji, the MC, feels so utterly real and utterly human that you can’t help but become emotionally invested.

However I cannot stress enough the need to be aware of content warnings. I love horror and am not particularly bothered by body horror but there are some scenes that had me shutting my eyes to try and escape the imagery.

If you can cope with that, I cannot recommend this book enough.

Hell Followed With Us is a story ultimately about the trauma that follows queerness and fundamentalism that rejects it. When you are forced to grow one way, into a shape that does not fit or describe you. But it is also about love, loss and found family - and bead lizards. This was a hard and uncomfortable read at points as Benji describes the post-Armageddon landscape and the changes that they are going through as a consequence of it. I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be thinking about it long afterwards.

This book was fantastic I found the whole storyline great, and it was well wrapped up. I quite liked the representation and benji was a fabulous main character. As someone who doesn’t love horror or gore all to much, I adored this book. Looking forward to more from this author