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Book Review: Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

Cover art for Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White.

Peachtree Teen, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1682633243

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

Hell Followed with Us is an incredible and original book, but it is not an easy read. It is a scream of rage. Make sure to read the author’s content warnings at the beginning of the book.

 

Benji is a trans boy injected with a virus that will turn him into a genocidal monster, a Seraph, for a doomsday cult, the Angels. He tries running away but is captured by the cult’s death squad. A group called the Watch, queer teens inhabiting their destroyed teen center for LGBTQ+ youth, attacks and kills everyone in the death squad except Benji, who is offered refuge by the leader, Nick, an autistic gay boy. Nick knows Benji is the Seraph, but hides it to protect him, believing that his powers will allow him to control the Graces, monstrous creatures made from infected bodies trained by the Angels to attack nonbelievers.

 

The Watch successfully attacks a church with Benji’s help. Benji discovers his fiance, Theo, is hiding in the church, and visits him there, only to find that the visit was used by the Angels as an opportunity to burn down the home of the Watch. As Benji continues to physically disintegrate into the Seraph, he makes a plan with Nick to pretend to return and cooperate with the Angels, despite their murder of his father, transphobia, and religious extremism. While the first plan is botched and Benji turns fully into a Seraph, a second plan unleashes a bloodbath on the Angels and frees the Watch from fear and persecution..

 

Andrew Joseph White wrote this for trans kids facing a hostile world, to give them a mirror of a trans boy who fights back. But it’s not necessary to be trans or queer to be wowed by it.  So many of the major characters were queer that I got to see many different aspects of how they characters experienced their queerness, and it also didn’t become the only factor defining their identities. I loved the found family feeling of the members of the Watch, looking out for each other in a hostile world.

 

It’s difficult to imagine how hard-right evangelical Christianity in this country could get more repressive and violent than it currently is, but somehow White takes it to an even more terrifying extreme. Highly recommended.

 

 

Contains: transphobia, deadnaming, misgendering, graphic violence, domestic, child, and religious abuse, body horror

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on December 18, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: Ember of Night by Molly E. Lee

cover art for Ember of Night by Molly E. Lee

Ember of Night by Molly E. Lee

Entangled Teen, 2021

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1649370310

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org |   Amazon.com )

Harley is just about to turn eighteen and escape her abusive father with her younger sister Ray when Draven comes into her life. There’s a chemistry between them she can’t deny, but her life is already full between work and taking care of Ray, and she doesn’t have time for a guy in her life. Her best friend, Kai, warns her against Draven, but Harley doesn’t like being told what to do, and when Kai goes out of town, she discovers that she’s developing a friendship with Draven, who has also befriended Ray.  Unfortunately, the day she turns eighteen, demons attack her while she’s with Draven, and they have to fight them off.  Harley learns she’s not quite human– there’s something special about her blood– and Draven is watching her to see what she becomes. Despite anger, fear, and mistrust poisoning the situation, Harley and Draven are drawn to each other magnetically as they work to solve the mystery of who is behind the attacks, and what exactly Harley is.

Harley is a strongly-drawn character with intense emotions, unafraid to face anyone who challenges her, who has a force of personality that pulls the reader along. The chemistry between her and Draven is powerful. The way she sees herself and others is distorted, though: Ray is pure and must be protected, while Harley is a monster who deserves to be in pain. Author Lee uses vivid imagery to describe demons and villains and create atmosphere.

The physical abuse, trauma, and betrayal Harley endures during this story is difficult to read, more so than any of the attacks by supernatural elements. Although the story doesn’t quite make sense in places, Ember of Night is a compelling read that ratchets up the suspense and sensuality to the very last page and leaves you impatiently waiting for the sequel.

 

Contains: emotional and physical abuse, violence, gore, suicidal thoughts, sexual content.

 

Posted on July 6, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

cover for My Sister, the Serial Killer

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

Doubleday, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-0385544238

Available: Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, Kindle edition

 

My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Nigerian author Oyinkan Braithwaite, is set in Lagos, Nigeria. Korede is the dutiful, protective, perfectionist older sister to beautiful, selfish, lazy, and possibly sociopathic Ayoola. Ayoola has “accidentally” stabbed three different boyfriends to death, and each time she has called Korede to help with the cleanup. According to Ayoola, each time has been self-defense, but, Korede wonders, why is she always carrying a sharp knife if it’s accidental? Korede, following through in covering up the murder, reads his blog and sees his social media. He wrote poetry and obviously had friends and family who are worried about his disappearance. He seems like a nice guy, and Korede wonders if Ayoola really had to act in self-defense.

Korede is a nurse who is very good at her job.  She has a long-standing crush on one of the doctors,  who has always been a nice guy, and thinks she is finally getting somewhere with him when Ayoola breezes through the door,  making an unforgettable impression on him.  When Korede expresses her frustration with this, Ayoola tells her there’s no such thing; even so-called “nice guys”  like the doctor are after beauty more than they care about anything else, and she’ll prove it.  Ayoola then proceeds to sweep him away with her beauty, despite her selfishness, cheating on him, and criticism of him.  Korede, worried that he may become Ayoola’s next victim, attempts to warn him and instead of taking her seriously, he accuses her of jealousy, spite, and a lack of sisterly love, confirming Ayoola’s assertion that he isn’t really a “nice guy” after all.

Flashbacks to their childhood and current family relationships reveal that their father was an abusive man who punished Ayoola for being attractive to boys and men, and Korede has been protective of her since then. What’s going on now is clearly tied to the early damage done by the men in their lives. My Sister, the Serial Killer is darkly funny, but it’s also an indictment of the horrors caused by the patriarchy and a solid response to the frequent assertion that “not all men are bad guys”.  The nicest guy in this book is completely blind to the harm he’s doing to both Korede, with his accusations, and Ayoola, with his obsession over her beauty. A compelling, disturbing, perceptive, and satirical book, My Sister, the Serial Killer gets inside your head and stays there. Recommended.

 

Contains: murder, blood, violence, child abuse, implied sexual assault.

Posted on June 25, 2020 by , Reply
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