I wanted to joke that this book was unworthy of my time. But I don’t think that’s particularly fair. I did like a lot about it- the writing is beautiful. But the plot just got very boring and repetitive. It wasn’t until the last 20% that it finally picked up. I’m not sure how I felt about the ending either. But I suppose it kind of fit with the book (it would have been weird if there was a happy ending.) Overall, it was just okay.

2.5/5 rounded up

This book was haunting and excellent. The clifi, religious, and otherwise dystopian points hit. It scared me. I hated it. But the journal entries made me love the MC and her poor cat.

This book keeps you so in the dark of the goings-on in this dystopian world, and by the time you grasp even a semblance of plot the book is over. I didn't understand why I was to care about this world or the people in it, and by the end I still didn't have many reasons to care.

Unfortunately, I don't mesh well with this kind of storytelling. The writing was detached, but horrific. We didn't know a lot about these characters or their motivations or the dystopian world they live in, but we did get pages and pages of them living through horrific conditions and torture.

Truly, I wanted a deeper context to the world outside their cloister and for the relationships between the women to be fully fleshed out.

For me, the only good thing I can say about this book is thank goodness it is short. I love a good dystopian book just as much as the next person. The issue I have with this one is we are plunked down in the middle of a dystopian world and given no background or insight into what has happened or is happening. The characters all seem to be horrific people and it’s a repetitive amount of brutal punishments for reasons we don’t understand.
I stumbled through it thanking my lucky stars that it was more a novella than a full blown novel.
Perhaps her next story will be more of a hit for me.
I received an ARC of this title, all opinions are my own.

The Unworthy is a piece of epistolary horror fiction following the deprogramming of a young woman from a cult that arose in the aftermath of generations of apocalyptic natural disasters. It explores themes in duality: creation and destruction, community and isolation, growth and decay. For our unnamed narrator’s every written word cataloguing a life colored by her cult—fear of being found out and subsequent mistrust of her fellow acolytes, forbidden mourning for those she loved before, desire to join the higher ranks and hatred for those of the Unworthy she feels are more likely to advance than she—there is another word she’s already burned, struck through, or forgotten in service of her safety and benediction. As she writes, the more of her past before the cloister she allows herself to remember, and though she fears retribution she also can’t stop the act of self assertion and the desire to leave a mark of her true self behind. Her ambivalence, the desire to believe the cult’s doctrine contradicting her independent thought, makes for a complex, layered narration style. She is not likeable. In turns she’s jealous, a fanatic, envious, duplicitous, and cruel. But she’s also motivated, defiant, and capable of tremendous love and loyalty. Not every character is interesting and full of enough depth to carry a story, but The Unworthy’s narrator certainly was for me.
The prose is poetic to the point of madness, though no less effective at revealing the character and her broken world to readers for that. The hints of ecological destruction are presented so matter of factly, as a mention of the weather would be in modern day, both to save the narrator’s precious paper and ink and because it’s not worth noting. The author says as much with what they leave out as they do with what they put on page. The frequent mid sentence cut-offs as the narrator must stop writing in order to not be found out maintain tension throughout the narrative and give it a sense of being just a piece of something biopsied from the middle rather than a story begun and ended wholecloth, adding to the realism of the novel’s framing structure.
Overall, I very much enjoyed The Unworthy, though I would have liked another page or so to sit with the horror of the final scene before the ending. It felt a little rushed, though it makes sense given the circumstances, and I would’ve liked to feel the stomach churning moment with a little less urgency in order for it to sink in more deeply. Regardless, I think the novel did exactly what it wanted to do, and I will be reading more from this author. I recommend The Unworthy to horror fans who like their protagonists to become as monstrous as the situation they’re in calls for, those who feel the fragility of the world we take for granted with every breath, and who like their women to come equipped with teeth that bite.

Another dystopian novel by Bazterrica. Although I still prefer Tender Is the Flesh, reading this author is always a delight. It’s just as violent as the previous one and reminded me of books like The Road by Cormac McCarthy or The Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood. But one thing is certain—I will definitely keep reading this author.

This is a short, but dense novella set in a post-apocalyptic society where we follow an unnamed woman that is part of an abusive cult-like sisterhood. This story reads like a stream of consciousness and we learn of the narrator’s past life and current situation.

This book goes into many themes that are quite relevant, especially during the current climate (no pun intended) in the US.

-Religious extremism and blind faith in everything said by them.
-Oppression
-Climate crisis (although we never learn what actually happened to lead the world into apocalypse)
-Survival

One of my favorite parts was when the narrator realizes that the sisterhood keeps saying acid rain is coming to control them, but the actions they’re told to do have nothing to do with protecting their crops and themselves from the rain. The superiors keep saying “this is a test” but nothing comes from it. I absolutely loved that!

I do wish the author gave us more into what happened to cause this apocalypse and maybe just make it less ambiguous because it was a very dense read.

Agustina Bazterrica is a wonder. THE UNWORTHY, in my opinion, does so much more than TENDER. It's an incredible book.

Thanks to the publisher for the e-galley.

this was a bit off the mark for me in comparison to bazterrica's past releases. the first half felt very repetitive and slow so it was hard to stay interested in the story. but that second half? it almost felt like i was reading a totally different book, everything came together out of what felt like nowhere and i couldn't put the book down! overall, i have very mixed thoughts on how i felt about this.

This book is everything I wanted from a new Agustina Bazterrica. It's horror, insane main characters, and unsettling at times.

Obsessed with this book! The writing is phenomenal and the story is so original. I absolutely loved it.

The pacing felt incredibly slow, and at times, I found myself feeling lost in the narrative. While I appreciated the eerie atmosphere and the author’s ability to craft unsettling themes, the writing style just didn’t click with me this time. I kept hoping for that gripping intensity I loved in 𝚃𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝙸𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚑, but it never fully delivered.

That said, I can see how this might work for others who enjoy a more abstract, slow-burn approach to horror. Sadly, it just wasn’t for me.

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I loved Tender is the Flesh and had high hopes for this one, but it was a DNF for me. There wasn't enough context and I tried to push through to finish it, but ultimately found it too boring.

Wow. I will never sotp thinking about this book. Agustina Bazterrica is a true master of the craft and I'm deeply unsettled after finishing this.

With Tender is the Flesh in her rearview, Agustina Bazterrica has created enormous shoes to fill, and unfortunately, it seems as though she may not be ready to fill them.
The Unworthy is unique in form and content, though perhaps too ambitious in scope for its length.
I was more than excited to get my hands on a copy of The Unworthy, but it took me over a month to make my way through less than 200 pages, and that is not a good sign. The plot itself was meandering and slow, written in a stream-of-consciousness style, leaving readers removed from the poorly constructed dystopia. I was not even remotely interested in the protagonist until the last 20%, when the story finally begins to develop and the protagonist's past unfolds.
Overall, the lack of worldbuilding led to a shallow and disappointing reading experience.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for this ARC!

*I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
Actual rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Review:
I loved Tender Is the Flesh, so I was excited for this book and truly intrigued by the premise, but I was ultimately disappointed. The book is only 175 pages, but for about 120 of those pages I was confused about what was going on. I get that the story is told in a journal style, so the narrator jumps around a lot, but it was mainly confusing because you never know if the narrator is being honest and if you should care about her. The world has essentially ended and our narrator is in this supposed oasis (cult), but things are confusing. I don’t understand how this oasis exists, it’s confusing to go from present to past with no indication of it happening until you’ve read it. There were many times I was reading and didn’t know the narrator was talking about the past till I went back and reread past entries.
I like the idea of this story, I do, but I think the execution could have been better. I’m not sure how, but I have read some good journal entry type stories that I loved.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm not gonna lie, this did take me a bit to get through. The beginning felt really confusing in a "whole lot of different things happening but somehow nothing to move the plot along was actually happening" kind of way. The 2nd half of the book really picked up though but the last quarter of the book is really where EVERYTHING happens all at once? I didn't really like the formatting, maybe the published version is different, but the sentences that were crossed out and the random cutting off of other sentences really had me stumbling to follow along. I know that it's intentional to show how the MC writes whenever she can spare the chance and abruptly stops so not to get caught but it took me way too long to finally get it. Honestly I'm still kind of confused about what happened. I would've liked more world building to set up how we got here, how the future ends up like that and how this cult was formed. The ending where it's revealed who is behind the cult felt really lack luster. Like that's it? It was just disappointing. I liked the story overall, but I just didn't get it.

The writing is beautiful, but the story is depressing. Someone described this as a kind of "torture porn" horror and I can't disagree with that.
In our current times I find myself gravitating toward dystopian fiction, especially when I'm really wanting to rot in hopelessness. This is a good book for that.
This might have gotten four stars if it had been longer, or they had done something more with the love interest, Lucia. However, the sapphic love story in the midst of a convent was surprisingly engaging. The scenes between the two of them felt vivid, more so than the multiple parts where the main character was talking about roaches. (Gross.)
I hate asking, "But what did it all mean??" at the end of a book. But also...what did it all mean? What's the point. Life is miserable, then you die. Oof.

A haunting dystopian read. For a short one, it packs a tragic and heartbreaking punch.

eARC on Netgalley

Dark, violent, haunting. Most striking is the power of fear and hatred between people in the same group relying on each other to survive. "The Unworthy" certainly isn't a story with a straightforward narrative or clear conclusion, but provides plenty of thought-provoking content.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.