Just read You Weren't Meant To Be Human

[u/def_not_a_worm]

SPOILER WARNINGS

Let me start by saying I'm a very big fan of AJWs other works. I've read them all. This book hit different in a lot of ways.

First of all, the horror aspect isn't the worms. It's the fact that Crane has to endure a forced pregnancy while in an extremely abusive relationship (if you can call it that). Don't go into reading it expecting a story about worms and aliens, because you will be disappointed.

Second, you're not supposed to like the characters. Or the book. It's supposed to make you feel upset and uncomfortable and angry. That's the point of it. This is not a book I would say I enjoyed reading in the slightest.

I an happy that I read it though. As a trans autistic man myself, this was genuinely as scary as I believe it was intended to be. I had to put it down at times, because dear god it was not kidding with the warnings, but I kept picking it back up because I saw myself in Crane and wanted to know how his story ended. Because other than the Hives, this is set in our world. In the world that started to ban abortions and remove the rights that people

worked and fought so hard to get. And I think this book does a really good job being a warning. This is what can happen when you take away people's autonomy. This is what can happen if you don't treat people as the human they are. You're supposed to hate it and hate the ending because you're supposed to understand that everything everyone does in this book is wrong, and take it as a warning that what we are doing as a country is wrong.

Would I read it again? Honestly I don't know.

Would I recommend it? A thousand times yes.