Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2022
416 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
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.
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.
"In the aftermath of a plague, a furious transgender boy seeks to end the movement that plans to wield him for their genocide in the name of salvation...The resistance truthfully depicts diversity within queerness while also holding White queer people accountable for gatekeeping and upholding White supremacy...A restorative, hopeful resolution brings the story to a satisfying close without turning Benji into a savior. A gloriously ferocious and scorching blaze." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"White delivers a transformative depiction of apocalypse through a queer lens. This debut is a moving and timely tale of queer perseverance, offering hope for those fighting for the right to exist without apology. Supporting characters are racially diverse and variously queer." - Publishers Weekly (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)
"This book made me feel as understood and validated as I was unsettled and pissed off. With vivid prose and a mirror held up to the ugliest parts of ourselves, Andrew Joseph White is poised to become a defining voice of our generation." - H.E. Edgmon, author of The Witch King
"Gloriously dark and immersive, Hell Followed with Us cuts straight to the core. With its endearing cast, detailed worldbuilding, and breathtaking horror, this novel kept me at the edge of my seat. Hands down the best YA horror book I've read." - Aden Polydoros, author of The City Beautiful
"A timely and riveting tale of queer teens surviving and resisting fundamentalism any way they can. Andrew Joseph White holds a mirror up to the monstrosities within all of us, and I couldn't look away." - Ray Stoeve, author of Between Perfect and Real
"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
This information about Hell Followed with Us was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
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 earned his MFA in creative writing from George Mason University's Creative Writing program 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.
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