Hell Followed with Us (Unabridged‪)‬

I absolutely adored this book

I ended up listening to this book on a whim. I saw a girl on tik tok talking about her favorite reads from the past year and this was one of them. I completely understand now why it was one of her favorites because it will forever be one of mine.
First, I want to say that I will strive to not include any true spoilers in this review. Secondly, I want to review this first as an audiobook and then as a story.
I want to start off by saying that I really enjoy listening to audiobooks. Somehow it is much easier for me to listen to books these days than to read them. That being said, I have listened to my fair share and I have to say, the quality of an audiobook can absolutely make or break the entire experience of the book. This audiobook, in my opinion, is absolutely excellent. There are three different narrators although two of them have much smaller roles/sections. However, I felt like all three did a great job. My favorite, of course, was the voice of the main character. He did such a fantastic job portraying Benji. It was certainly more than just reading- it was voice acting. It added so much to the story. I was beyond impressed.
Next, to address the meat and potatoes here-the plot itself-I could not get enough of this story. I didn't really realize until after I finished the book and was looking at other reviews that this was considered a horror novel. Once I heard other people say it I understood why but I will say, if you've heard this is a horror novel it is NOT your standard horror story by any means. There is a disclaimer at the very beginning of the story that there is a lot of gore in the book and that was true. It is often described in extreme detail, in fact. And I think that is primarily part of the reason that this is described as a horror novel. I have to say though, as someone who closes her eyes when a movie or show gets too disgustingly gory, this book did not bother me in the slightest. I don't know if it's because I was listening and not physically seeing it on a screen but even the most horrific parts did not make me feel disgusted or overly grossed out. But if you are very sensitive to gore and such, you may need to consider this before delving in.
Otherwise, this was a story of spiritual healing for me. I feel like this is the story that every lgbtq+ kid that grew up feeling smothered and hurt by religion needs. I personally was so moved by the themes of this book and I could not believe how much I could relate to many of these characters. This book felt a little bit like the therapy I've always needed. I love the way it's written- I can say without a doubt that I will devour any more stories this author puts out. This story is beautiful and tragic and altogether incredible. Not everyone will love this book the way I did. Especially not if they are transphobic or homophobic. But I feel like there are so many other people out there that will feel as "seen" by this story as I have and I really hope that they can find the same comfort in this story as I have.
Thank you for reading my review :)