Hell Followed with Us
Ratings53
Average rating4
15
Ratings53
Average rating4
An instant New York Times bestseller, this furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors is perfect for fans of Cemetery Boys. Prepare to die. His kingdom is near. Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world's population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can't get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC's leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji's darkest secret: the cult's bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick's terms...until he discovers the ALC's mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.
Reviews with the most likes.
I wanted to love this book so bad. But I really didn't. I mean it was fine in the beginning, although I usually prefer topics of queerness to be discussed without modern language. This might be a personal flaw though. I really like the ALC members and their group dynamic.
However, it was a little too gory for my taste. I wouldn't even say this was horror really. It was just gross but nothing about it was scary. Especially in the end when the final showdown basically became Godzilla vs kong style. Only now it was Seraph and Dominion. It was very underwhelming. Plus how Benji moves and what he looks like is generally badly described. He is meant to be this monster now with a massive body but his friends can still casually put their arms around his neck? Fucking how.
I was disappointed in the execution and ending and the gross descriptions aren't my kind of horror. I honestly wouldn't even describe this as dark.
Got me hooked till the end. The writing is both magnificent and haunting. Didn't love the secondary characters
the gist of this story in the words of AJ white himself: “A trans boy has religious trauma and does murder about it”
DNF @ 25%. It wasn't for me. I wanted more horror and more monsters. But it's mostly focused on these LGBT teens surviving the apocalypse and their interpersonal relationships with each other. Just wasn't what I was looking for. Great premise though.
