Yam Cake reviewed Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White
Become the weapon
4 stars
Content warning Here be spoilers
A coming-of-age transmasc story about escaping from home, except in this case, home is also the ecofascistic doomsday cult that helped raised our main character, Benji.
This mostly fast-moving YA novel also covers abusive relationships, neurodiverse friendships, queer rage, ecological collapse, body horror and the idea of heaven being a shared state of mind (more on that later). I like to think of Hell Followed With Us as a YA revenge novel where the "monster" fights back and reclaims their agency from the edict of an absent or straight-up cruel god—by becoming the weapon they were always supposed to be and using their monster powers for good.
HFWU imagines a post-apocalyptic world where civilisation is all but eradicated, not because of nuclear winter, but because of biochemical attacks. In this scenario, collapse came by way of religious extremists and not by directives issued by warring world leaders. The Angels, an ecofascist cult, believe ecological collapse is coming because of overpopulation and that they must save the earth before that happens by... genocide. So the Angels created The Flood, a quick-acting virus that causes grotesque deaths through gruesome bodily transformations. Victims die or become Graces, lethal amalgamations of flesh, bone and teeth. They engineer mass infections that wipe out entire cities and then send death squads with Graces out to murder survivors. HFWU is set after the end of the world, where Acheson, Pennsylvania has already been conquered by the Angels.
We start off by Benji running away from everything he's ever known: the cult led by his mother, who issued the order for his father's execution. His betrothed, a member of a death squad, who may or may not love him more than he loves god. Somehow, Benji finds his way to the ALC (Acheson LGBTQ+ Centre), which is still rife with life and battle-hardened queers of all sorts. Here, there's the potential for a whole new way of living not centred on death, along with new allies, friends and maybe more....
Here's my favourite quote from the book, who touches on the ALC and transness:
"In a place like the ALC, after Judgement Day, it's easy to forget you're trans. Or maybe a better way to word it would be, it gets easier for me to forget the pain of being trans. Being transgender is who you are, and the pain is what the outside world does to you. The pain is what happens when you and the world go for each other's throats. In the ALC, I almost forget being trans can hurt."
Back to that heaven being a shared state of mind... Those infected with The Flood get access to the hive mind, where you can speak directly to other infected in the area. Benji inexplicably gets teleported to what he thinks is the Angels' culling fields a few times through HFWU. As it turns out, this interdimensional place is the closest thing to heaven. There, he appears as he views himself, not as he appears to others. Any injuries magically disappear in this strange place. He's also able to speak directly to others there, though it's unclear if all infected get access or only VIPs like Benji. It's a unique take on the concept of heaven and the fact that Benji's epic tussle with Theo lands him there makes me wonder if he got close to death? What does it mean that Nick's voice managed to call him back to the real world, back on the PCU campus?
It's one of the biggest questions left unanswered, along with, "Do Graces think about their past lives and dream of peanut butter sandwiches?" and "Do Graces argue with themselves because they are a composite of different individuals?". I don't mind not knowing, because it gets me thinking and because our world is full of mysteries too.
