I recently received a book for the holidays that is probably the weirdest conglomeration of themes that I have come across recently. It felt like it was a combination of Christian, LGBTQ+, and horror, which I have to admit was a very unusual combination to read. The book in question is Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White. It tells the story of Benji, a young trans man who lives in Acheson, which I think is in Massachusetts but I am not entirely sure. Benji is trying desperately to escape from a group known as the Legion, a group of Christian fanatics who released a horrible disease that mutates people into what are known as Graces. These graces are essentially a deformed and barely intelligent creature that can only vaguely be recognized as human. The Legion, having made themselves essentially immune and functioning only as carriers of the disease, have also created a strain of the disease known as Seraph that they purposefully infected Benji with. This strain allows Benji to control the Graces mentally but turns him physically into something very similar. Having lost his father trying to escape, Benji runs into a group of teenagers who are living in the local LGBTQ+ shelter in Acheson who are fighting back against the Legion when possible and trying desperately to survive in the meantime. Their leader, being aware of Benji having Seraph, works with Benji to use his control of the Graces and the disease in general to fight back against the Legion and Benji’s mother, a rather influential member of the Legion hierarchy.
The book is the first book by this author and is actually pretty good overall, despite the relatively weird storyline. I was disturbed by the idea of a world where a fanatic Christian cult had released a killer disease in order to cleanse the unworthy from the Earth. That being said the author did a good job of telling the story of how Benji works on accepting his lack of faith, his broken ties to everyone he formerly knew, and his being infected with Seraph and the resulting side effects. I wasn’t a huge fan of the story as I don’t like thinking about the world ending up like that but it was well written and created a very vivid picture of what it might look like. The one thing I really did not like about the story was the relatively vague timeline that was provided for what had happened. It implies that this disease had been released some time ago but also implies that it had happened sometime during Benji’s lifetime but never specifies when it happened during his lifetime. Tying into this it also never specifies how widespread this is. It implies that this disease is worldwide but also implies that the Legion wishes to use Benji and Seraph to essentially take over and cleanse the rest of the world outside of Acheson. Ultimately, I am not sure about the timeline of when the disease was released in relation to the events of the book or about how widespread the effects of the disease are. This doesn’t detract from the story too much as you can still read and understand the story without these details. I just feel like it could have been fleshed out a little more so I would give it four out of five stars.
This is tricky book to discuss when it comes to recommendations. I think it was a good book but it is probably not something I personally will read more than a handful of times. If you happen to be fan of horror or post-apocalyptic stories then you might enjoy. As you have probably gathered though you should be careful going in. The book is marketed as a book for teens, especially as the main characters such as Benji are all teenagers. However, I would suggest it is for primarily older teens and young adults than for younger teens. It would also appeal, possibly, to adults who are horror fans. I would not recommend it for younger teens if they are not aware of what the book is about. If you happen to be familiar with this book let me know what you think in the comments as always. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about such a weird book.