I adored this book. It reminded me a lot of The Handmaid's Tale, but way more cult-y. My only complaint is that I really want to know more about what happened to the world and why some of the "miracles" happened and just... everything! My favorite parts were learning about the narrator's past, although it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize Circe was a cat. All in all, very entertaining read, especially for one that's so short.

Thank you Bazterrica, Scribner, and NetGalley for the ARC!

I'm slightly disappointed by this. I absolutely loved Tender is the Flesh, but this book felt rambling, repetitive, and too confusing to even make me feel horror? I understand that this is supposed to be stylised as the diary of a lost woman in an unconventional situation, her painful story written out in a method that makes sense to her, but as a reader, we are dropped into the middle of the story with zero explanation.

The first 2/3rds felt like a mess of random current and past stories before "action " finally started, but even then, it didn't catch me. I wanted to like this book SO much, but it just...fell flat for me. Disappointed because I was so excited to be approved for this ARC, and it just left me feeling like I may have wasted my time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this eARC!

This is a bleak post apocalyptic dystopian novel about an unnamed woman in a convent called the Sacred Sisterhood. You follow her as she recalls the events on her journey in this convent and her attempt to document them by writing though it’s forbidden. You go throughout this novel trying to figure out what exactly is going on and what’s happened to the world and its people. As you reach the end of the novel / her journal she inevitably explains her findings and in hopes her words and experiences aren’t forgotten.

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience reading this. I love films that involve cultish-religion and once I read the description of this I knew it was right up my alley. It’s actually my first horror novel and first by Augustina despite her other book also being on my TBR, Tender is the Flesh. The writing transported me into this world and I couldn’t put it down. It kept me wondering what the heck was happening and what it all meant. I did kind of piece things together 80% through and so the secret didn’t surprise me. Despite that I still had a great time and highly recommend this read!

This was utterly compelling, bleak and sad and I could not put it down. Bazterrica is a force to be reckoned with with such beautiful and haunting prose. I believe if you are a fan of her work, you will be absolutely enthralled with her latest. I am already anticipating whatever comes next!

I have been trying to read this one for a month. I think I'm only half way and I'm not really sure what exactly is going on or what the main the plot is. I think if there were a more clear plot (or maybe one that was more clear to me) I would be able to follow it and would have really enjoyed it, but I am putting it down for now.

The narrator of the story is an unnamed woman born into a loveless, ravaged world where from a young age was left to fend for herself own survival. The story is told from her writings in The House of the Sacred Sisters where she found supposed refuge from the cruel world outside the walls of this former pagan temple. Inside these walls it is actually a cruel world of its own, a women’s hierarchy led by a man only known as Him. There are servants, The Unworthy, The Worthy, The Chosen Ones, The Enlightened Ones, Minor Saints, Diaphanous Spirits, and a Superior Sister who are all tortured physically and emotionally in different ways. The narrator has little remembrance of her past until a mysterious woman finds her way to The House that has special powers. She upsets the existing relationship dynamics and sparks old memories and new emotions for the narrator to write in her hidden journal. Memories of the past and current events cause her to question her existence behind the walls and what the world may be outside. This book provokes uncomfortable questions about identity, worth, love, male dominance, and religious extremism. It blurs the line between the human and inhuman, and has a very emotional ending. It’s a bit of a slow burn but well worth the time. I highly recommend this book for a unique take on a post apocalyptic world told by an amazing writer. The book will be released in English in the US March 4, 2025.

I enjoyed Tender is the Flesh and was thrilled to receive the ARC on NetGalley for this book! The unworthy is a dark, graphic, atmospheric, short novel about life in a cult in a post-apocalyptic world. I enjoyed slowly learning more about this world and the main characters background. The occasional incoherent, paragraphs cut off mid-sentence just added to the dread and confusion of this book.

An incredibly bleak story about a woman at a convent, going through insane amounts of abuse with the backdrop of the apocalypse. We get flashbacks of her trying to survive this apocalypse as a child, and her time in the convent, secretly telling her story. One day a woman arrives at the convent and they begin to develop a relationship in secret, as they would be facing punishment or worse if it were to come to light.

Expect to be emotionally devestated.

This one was hard for me - I really liked the concept as a dystopian speculative horror following a climate crisis. I also thought the structure of the book was incredibly interesting. Writing in a diary format always makes a book feel more "real" to me. This was a really interesting take on the questions "What happens when the world ends?" and "What lengths will you go to in order to stay alive?" given most dystopian worlds generally take more of a sci-fi approach to the "What comes after." I really like a character study, but this fell a little flat for me given I didn't feel that I knew the character well enough to root for her. As a fan of Tender is the Flesh, I was hoping to be left with some big moral and ethical questions, and I didn't feel that this gave me what I was looking for there. That said, this is a unique take on a dystopian world and the realness of it really hit home for me. I think fans of speculative fiction will find something to love in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC of "The Unworthy!"

The setting of this story was immaculate. Especially in the beginning, I really enjoyed getting snippets of this strange and unnerving world that our protagonist is living in. Around the halfway mark though, I did find the story to be dragging a bit. I wish that the actual "meat" of the story would have been presented a little bit sooner than it was. I think that because it's already a short book, and it took so long to get going, that ended with a somewhat rushed ending that I would have liked to explore more. I found this world to be super interesting and would have loved to get more from it!

This is a short but very dark and violent novel from the author of Tender is the Flesh. If you read that book, you know what to expect here. This is another apocalyptic tale, but the apocalypse itself is told only in bits and snatches, whereas the story focuses on a small commune that can only be described as an extremist religious community, and they do unspeakable things to punish and keep followers in line. It is a sad and brutal story that has just the faintest glimmer of hope at the end.

Nobody does dystopian horror like Augustina Bazzterica! With The Unworthy, she delivers yet another dark, thought-provoking story that explores themes of religious corruption, environmental collapse, and societal decay. The writing style is one of the things I love most about the author’s work. While bleak and unsettling, it immerses the reader in the text, transporting them to her carefully crafted dystopian world.
While the story took some time to connect for me, the ending tied everything together beautifully, leaving me with a message I won’t soon forget. I enjoyed Tender Is The Flesh, and this book is another excellent showcase of Bazzterica’s unique prose and skill. This is a truly gripping read that will impact you long after you’ve finished it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Wow, where to start. I was super excited to jump into this novel since I have read Tender is the Flesh. I have to say though it was a bit confusing. It took me a little bit to grasp the writing and once I did I enjoyed most of it. It could get a little repetitive and I feel as though we never get a full picture of the main character. Either way I found some part of the writing amazing and enjoyed the book overall even though it left me slightly confused. I just have to say if that’s the apacolypse this world is heading towards…count me out.

Oh where to start!
So much outside of the norm - postapocalyptic down to the new words for Christianity, the prose formatting, women seething with jealousy and judgement. A constant competition of sadism, selection process to elevate women, isolation and total disregard for humanity.

After enjoying Bazterrica's 'Tender is the Flesh', I was excited to dive into this novel, but unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. The character development was lacking, and I never felt like I had a deep understanding of the main character or her world, despite the details provided. Additionally, on a personal note, I have an intense phobia of roaches, and the vivid, disturbing descriptions of them throughout the story really detracted from my experience.

While I'm not entirely sure I can recommend this story due to what I previously mentioned and also the occasionally confusing writing style, the majority of readers have given it high ratings, so it's worth checking out if the synopsis appeals to you.

In The Unworthy, Bazterrica’s prose remains sharp and unflinching, capturing the bleak and oppressive atmosphere of a world where humanity has been reshaped by unimaginable horrors. The story is both chilling and disturbingly introspective, it dives further into the characters’ struggles and their quest for meaning in a world where cruelty has become the norm.

What makes The Unworthy so compelling is its ability to provoke uncomfortable questions about identity, worth, and the lines between human and inhuman. Bazterrica’s exploration of these dark themes feels even more intense in the sequel.

Rating: 4.5/5
Recommendation: Perfect for readers who appreciate deeply unsettling, thought-provoking fiction with themes of identity, morality, and human dehumanization.

I’m very curious to see what the response to this book is when it releases in March. I’m not sure of what my own thoughts are. It was meandering for a significant portion of it, but with grotesque and somewhat captivating imagery.

In parts I found the writing beautiful, others repetitive and meaningless.

I don’t think the character development is particularly strong and I feel like we hardly know the main character and the world that she inhabits, despite the details we’re given.

I didn’t enjoy the novel very much, but it felt wrong giving it 1 star, since I believe there is so much in theory that is good, but falls flat on execution. I wish this same story had been told in a completely different manner.

A huge step down from Tender Is the Flesh, but I will probably continue to give Bazterrica more chances despite not enjoying both of her two follow-ups so far.

This book throws you into a vivid and grotesque post-apocalyptic world shaped by climate disaster and human desperation. Written in a found-diary style, the narrator’s fragmented memories and unreliable perspective add a raw, emotional layer to her life within the harsh and controlling Sacred Sisterhood.

The worldbuilding is both a highlight and a downside—it’s hauntingly detailed and immersive, but sometimes it overshadows the plot. There’s not much explanation for why the world fell apart.

I was excited to review the Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica as I enjoyed her work Tender is the Flesh. The Unworthy is a novella under 200 pages that focuses on a climate crisis and religious horror. The novella is written diary style, where each entry is part of the MC's diary. There are no organized chapters or marked timelines so its unsure of how much time is passing from when the MC was part of the contaminated earth vs. when she was in the monastery. It would have been interesting to learn more about the background of the Water Wars and how the MC got to the monastery before being dropped into the middle of the story. 3.5*

Tender is the Flesh got me back into reading in December 2023. As much as I love her dystopian stories, this one felt a bit short for me. The religious aspect of the whole thing wasn’t my favorite but overall I did enjoy the book. The whole thing is like a fever dream and I wanted more explanation as to why the world fell apart.

I like that the woman is a bit of an unreliable narrator. The way she only sees a portion of what’s happening while fearing for the future. Her recollection of memories really brought it nicely together. But at the end I felt like I need more from her story. Having gone through all she did to survive, the ending left me wanting more. The unsureness of it all made it suspenseful. Overall I love her writing and style for description. That’s what kept me intrigued in this story. I think it’s fitting that I end 2024 reading this book. It gave me the sense that 2025 will also be a good reading year.