Hell Followed with Us

Product Information

for a day. two. a week. several weeks. then i took it off my currently reading shelf and decided to give it another go in the new year. Rippling with righteous fury. . . . Ultimately a story of both queer survival and queer perseverance. . . . Hell Followed With Us is, truly, like nothing else you’ll read this summer, and its deft balance of destruction and rebirth offers a satisfying, if far from saccharine, end.”—Paste Being transgender is who you are, and the pain is what the outside does to you. The pain is what happens when you and the world go for each other's throats. In the ALC, I almost forget that being trans can hurt." Like others i was so excited for this book and wanted to like it so bad, but I was left fairly disappointed. The premise of the book was so catching, the idea of a boy turned monster getting revenge on those who created him is what drew me to the book. However the poor pacing, religious overload, and one dimensional characters drew me out of it.

I’ll be the first to say I don’t read a lot of post-apocalyptic stories, it’s not a genre Im usually drawn to, but what I really liked about this is that it’s an end of the world story not necessarily about the end, it’s about the people. Yes there are...vivid descriptions of guts and rot and disease that brought the world down, but at its heart it’s a story driven by humanity and the resilience of people. All the characters were forced to grow up to fast, to make soldiers out of children, and the fact that there are times in the story where despite everything going on they still manage to laugh and be KIDS? That contrast with all the brutality of the worldbuilding, and the fact that those aspects blend and contrast so well together? I love that so much.However, while these aspects are horrific in their own right, I had the strongest reaction to all the world-building around a fictional pandemic. Descriptions of dead and mangled bodies? No problem! Mentions of masks? No thank you. Encountering my lived reality of existing in a pandemic in a fictional story was somehow scarier than anything else. Burning It All Down with Queer Rage We’re not going to hurt you. The ALC was built to help queer teenagers, and that’s what it’s always done. It’s just that the specifics have changed in the past few years.” This book was STUNNING. It was horrific. It was brutal and twisted and made me want to throw up and claw my hair and cry... and I loved it so much. It was horror, but not jump-scare, there's-someone-in-the-house horror - oh no, this was pure gore and body horror, combined with some of the best LGBTQ+ rep I've read in a while. Everyone was so incredibly queer and messy and traumatised... I'm obsessed!

it's always the books i buy a physical copy of without reading them in another medium first. why is that. why does the book god hate me that much. A chimera of horror, romance, and something stranger. Hell Followed with Us won me over to its vision of a grotesque future where we're still here, still queer, and more monstrous than ever."— Rose Szabo, author of What Big Teeth Audrey Rose Wadsworth, 17, would rather perform autopsies in her uncle’s dark laboratory than find a suitable husband, as is the socially acceptable rite of passage for a young, white British lady in the late 1800s. Achimera of horror, romance, and something stranger. Hell Followed with Us won me over to its vision of a grotesque future where we’re still here, still queer, and more monstrous than ever.”— Rose Szabo, author of What Big Teeth i do wish i hadn't though, so there's that. i don't think anyone gained anything from me doing this.i also didn't mind the gore and violence. the main thing that triggered any kind of reaction in me was when Benji was dead-named and forced into a dress. that scene made me nearly throw up for very personal reasons :) Of course, aside from the fantastic horror and religious themes, the representation in this book is just goddamn delightful. The trans main character, the endless queer side characters, the neurodiversity, and more—I was absolutely in love with this cast of lil' gay heretics. (My only complaint about the characters was that many of them felt a bit one-dimensional, but we're here for a gore-filled spooky time, not a long time.) This would be a perfect read for the readathon I’m hosting in October (#Rainboween) but I can’t wait any longer. Well, at least I’ll hopefully be able to recommend it to other readers.

I will be good. I will make them suffer. And I will take the Angel’s created weapon and turn it against them. Considering he has a presence put inside his body, by a neo-fascist, extremist & warped Christian CULT, called Seraph—a six winged, clawed, flesh-deteriorating beast thought to be holy, that is supposed to bring about the end of times—but never stops fighting to LIVE, is so very inspiring… which despite all of the beyond awful, hellish things (when I say hellish, I mean HELLISH; the erm, terrifying AF images portrayed through the author’s vivid prose are something that probably will haunt me forever, in the best way possible, if that makes sense?) that this kid has to go through bring me to a theme that stands out in this novel— perseverance. Rep: Trans boy, autism, mental health, mlm, characters who use neopronouns, side POC, nonbinary, sapphic, aromantic, trans fem Hell Followed with Us is a phenomenal YA horror novel full of anger, found family and excellent body horror. It’s one of my favourite books I’ve read this year and I can’t wait to read more from this author! This book is for you if… Now to the pacing and religious overload. The pacing is all over the place. Some parts drone on and on while other seem to skip to something entirely new leaving the reader confused as to how we got there. The repetition of phrases (typically in 3s) got old real fast. I understand the purpose, repetition can build suspense and engage the reader, but it’s wildly over used in this book. The interjections of religious script - sometimes mid sentence - doesn’t help the matter. I understood going into this book that religion was a massive part of it but the constant bible verses was overwhelming and off putting.CW: evangelical cult so like anything phobic, especially transphobia. Graphic depictions of body horror. An] astounding and exhilarating debut. . . . This fast-paced adventure is chaotic in the best way, featuring diverse and relatable characters that readers will fall in love with, despite their flaws, and a heartrending love story that reminds us that humanity seeks comfort even in the most painful of times.” — Booklist, Starred Review An] astounding and exhilarating debut. . . . This fast-paced adventure is chaotic in the best way, featuring diverse and relatable characters that readers will fall in love with, despite their flaws, and a heartrending love story that reminds us that humanity seeks comfort even in the most painful of times." — Booklist, Starred Review