Hell Followed with Us

By: Andrew Joseph White

Narrated by: Shaan Dasani, Graham Halstead, Avi Roque

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors.

"A long, sustained scream to the various strains of anti-transgender legislation multiplying around the world like, well, a virus." —The New York Times

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. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A William C. Morris Award Finalist
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A YAVA Award Nominee!
A Booklist Editors' Choice Selection
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
Named to the ALA Rainbow Roundtable's Rainbow Book List

©2022 Andrew Joseph White (P)2022 Listening Library

Leaves me searching

For a new sense of self. A good book can change you, but only a great book can transform you, can twist you up bit by bit and build a new self for you. I will be searching for a new trans self that processes anger and allows myself to be angry. A self that does not shy away from my bigness or my monstrousness and frees others from the confines of religion that I was raised in. A self that fights for a better tomorrow so no one has to wind up in the one described by White. The imagery is incredible, characters well developed, plot just convoluted enough to make sense without being light years ahead of it. A beautiful read.

Incredible work through and through

This story was equal parts relatable, terrifying and beautiful. The performance makes me so glad I choose an audio book! Great to see representation where our suffering is also our salvation.

might be better as a physical book?

some of the action scenes are hard to follow and I had to relisten to them to fully comprehend what was happening in the plot.
otherwise, it's an awesome tale for anyone looking to see the trans experience so beautiful put to words (albeit within a dystopian, hell-like future)

Excellent

I felt so represented. Autistic characters, queer characters, and a healthy helping of fighting religious trauma. Everything is so interconnected between the main character's situation with their trauma and accepting their own queerness in the midst of the apocalypse. I will definitely be listening to it again!

So powerful!

I do not have words to describe how powerful this book is. How much beautiful and love came through despite the gore, horror, and death. The language itself has a cadence to it, like poem. I love the narrators and the author!!!

I love it!!

This is amazing I loved it I have the physical book and it’s good to follow along

excellent

One of the best I've listened to this year. Fascinating and original. Narration was equally well done.

trans rage!!

as an autistic trans person, I really liked how they displayed the experienced emotions
and also very nice to listen to the "blasphemous" talking!

WHAT WAS THAT ENDINGGGG

ughhh it doesn't even feel like a cliffhanger just incomplete. 😭 but it was a cool story.

An great queer horror story!

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Hell Followed with Us. It has great representation and I enjoyed listening and relating to Benji’s story and how he was able to overcome his trials with religion and identity. The gore and the descriptions of the deaths were dark, but I did enjoy it!

The pacing is weird, one moment things would pick up, and then the slower moments were just not really interesting/didn’t hold my engagement. The love story isn’t really fleshed out well honestly, I would have preferred Benji and Nicholas to be just good friends honestly.

Some people also argue that the apocalypse aspect of the story didn’t make much sense, but that’s not a critique I’d give it. If anything I’d love to learn more about how earth came to what it is in the story.

Overall, I enjoyed my time despite some hiccups.