11-12 12 Adult Fiction Narrative

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

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Published: 2023
Author: Andrew Joseph White
Genres: Dystopian, Horror, Queer, Fantasy, LGBT, Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction, Transgender, Gay
Audience (Grade Levels): 11-12, Adult
Number of Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5 Stars)
Goodreads Link: Hell Followed With Us
Triggers: Violence, gore, swearing, misgendering, religious extremists, deadnaming, death of a parent, domestic abuse, transphobia, self-injury, and attempted suicide
Review By: Gina Iorio

Publisher’s Summary:

Goodreads Choice Award: Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Young Adult Fiction (2022)
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.

Review:

This book packs a punch from the first page to the last. The basic premise of this story is queer teenagers fight against a cult of religious extremists. This story jumps right into the action and is a violent, gory ride for the entire book. Benji is a trans teen running from the cult that changed him into a monster. They don’t accept him because he is trans, but they want him because he will turn into a deadly weapon. He finds friends with the ALC, a group of queer teenagers that are fighting against the cult.

Anyone with religious trauma may have difficulty reading this book. Throughout the novel, there are Bible verses and extreme Christian ideology. While I was reading this novel, I kept thinking to myself, this is a story that needs to be told. We need queer characters, and we need to understand the prejudices they face. Yes, it’s a violent book about religious extremists killing people that don’t succumb to their will, but it has to be violent to make an impact. That being said, those wanting to read this book should look at the trigger warnings.

I have two criticisms. I wish the author had done a better job of world building. This is an apocalyptic story, and there were times I did not understand his references. He used the terms Angels, Sephins, Flood and Grace frequently, but without explanation. This slowed me down as a reader. I also did not like the chapters that focused on Nick, and I thought it took away from Benji’s story. Despite my criticisms, I would still recommend this book to students.

Strap in because Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White is an action packed, gore and violently filled ride with a diverse cast of queer characters. Some students will enjoy this novel, while I think the endless trigger warnings may have others putting it back on the shelf.

Classroom & Curricular Connections:

  • Social Studies & Current Events: Serves as a contemporary case study for high schoolers analyzing the mechanics of radicalization, systemic discrimination, religious extremism, and the marginalization of LGBTQ+ youths.
  • English Language Arts / Literature Analysis: Offers a rich opportunity to analyze subgenre conventions, specifically body horror, dystopian fiction, and the classic literary motif of “embracing the monster within” as an allegory for self-acceptance.
  • Creative Writing & Narrative Mechanics: Highly useful for advanced creative writing critique modules regarding structural world-building, evaluating how unexplained jargon (e.g., Angels, Sephins, Flood, Grace) affects reader comprehension and narrative pacing.

Extension Activity / Library Application:

  • “World-Building & Glossary” Creative Workshop: Addressing the reviewer’s critique regarding the unexplained terminology throughout the apocalypse, have students look closely at context clues surrounding terms like Angels or Sephins. Prompt them to design an illustrated mini-encyclopedia or a glossary appendix that retroactively defines these concepts for future readers.
  • Format & Perspective Panel: Invite students to debate the structural choice of alternating viewpoints within a novel. Have them evaluate whether shifting perspective focus away from the main protagonist (such as the chapters centering on Nick) enriches the surrounding narrative landscape or detracts from the central character’s journey.

Diversity & Representation Note:

This ownvoices debut novel provides essential intersectional representation for marginalized youth by centering entirely on an expansive, diverse cast of queer teenagers. It addresses trans identity, neurodiversity (featuring an autistic co-protagonist), and the realities of institutional transphobia and religious trauma. Ultimately, the story subverts typical victim tropes by empowering its queer cast to fiercely fight back, claiming agency over their bodies, identities, and collective survival.

Readalikes:

  • Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
  • Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
  • The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

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