Grade 10
Hell Followed With Us is an unapologetically queer story that tells a tale of lost
religion, betrayal, and finding family. Andrew Joseph White weaves a gorgeous
dystopian tale of humanity's last stand in a lawless land of corruption and
sickness. It is there he twists biology to redefine what it means to be a
monster.
The story opens
in the midst of an action-packed escape from the
religious stronghold of New Nazareth. Benji, a young trans teen is
fighting everything he’s ever known. With his escape he’s going to have to find
a new home in the desolate ruins of the world left by the flood. Taken in by
the ALC, a Queer Youth Group, he slowly learns to make a new life. However, New
Nazareth won’t let him go so easily and secrets and betrayal threaten to
destroy everything he’s built.
Hell Followed With
Us creates vivid imagery in its descriptions, though there are moments where
the images and metaphors were lost on me. Throughout the book several times
there is a depicted field with trees and scattered corpses from the Flood. It
was difficult to tell if these were dream sequences or memories due to the fact
that there seemed to be a metaphor involved that popped up at random points,
for example after a fight scene but also after Benji goes to sleep he recalls
the field. No other character seems to mention it, but it seems significant
because Benji has a final revelation there towards the end. However, every
other aspect of the book is incredibly detailed, from the monsters and church
to the easily distinguishable characters.
Consistently throughout the book there were no parts that stood out, because as
a whole it was a delightful read. It delivers exactly what it promises. It's
definitely worth a read. Andrew Joseph White promises a loudly queer novel with
monsters, apocalypse, and religious trauma and he delivers just that.
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