Hell Followed With Us 
By Andrew Joseph White
[Review]

Print Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Peachtree Teen

Release date: June 7th, 2022

Purchase link here: Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph : 9781682633243 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

Synopsis

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.

A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.

My Review 

The very first thing I am going to write about this novel is how hard it is to write a review on a book as good as this, I am rightly afraid of not being able to do the story justice.

I'm going to put this out there, this is the BEST book I have read so far this year, in just 398 pages, Andrew has managed to build a whole dystopian earth filled with deeply thought-out characters with motives you can only guess at. This story has plenty of gore and violence but still manages to be brilliantly beautiful in its description. Right anyway, I'll get to the main part of the review.

The story is told from two different perspectives: Benjamin and Nicholas.

Benjamin and her father are running away from the religious cult that absolutely dominated the world. The Flood destroyed the past civilisation and now people are running towards whatever or whoever can save them. The very cult that Benji is running from is desperate to get him back, Benji is their ultimate weapon, and they will destroy anything or anyone to get Benji into their possession again.

This story whilst filled with blood, guts, monster and hate which is spread across these wonderful pages, also leaves you with a great sense of hope and Queer pride which poured into my very soul. You cannot deny the talent that Andrew possesses, he draws fantastic and terrifying parallels between this dystopian horror-filled world with the very one that we are currently living in.

This book provokes you to really think about what it is that makes a good person. It's not enough for a person to have done good things but it's also about imperfect people embracing the darkness that lurks within and using that very darkness for good. I have never read a book as gruesome as it is beautiful like this one and I cannot wait for Andrew's next book.

This is more than just an LGBTQ+ horror story, it's a story about humanity and all the horrors that are born and spread through us.

About The Author

Andrew Joseph White  is a queer, trans author from Virginia, where he grew up falling in love with monsters and wishing he could be one too. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University in 2022 and has a habit of cuddling random street cats. Andrew writes about trans kids with claws and fangs, and what happens when they bite back.

Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AJWhiteAuthor

Find out more about Andrew: www.andrewjosephwhite.com