This was fantastically eerie, and a great use of the epistolary form reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale.

I was first introduced to Agustina Bazterrica in 2022 when I picked up her novel Tender is the Flesh. While it was so vivid that it was often difficult to stomach, it remains one of my favorite novels and the ending was so powerful it still haunts me nearly two years later. Needless to say, I was so incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to read her latest novel, The Unworthy.

The Unworthy follows a young woman who writes in her cell in a convent in the (maybe not so distant) future where climates have soared and natural disasters have destroyed the earth as we know it. This woman, afraid of the repercussions of being caught sharing her story and the story of the treatment of these women in the convent, writes in the dark using whatever methods she can, sometimes even using her own blood.

As the story unfolds, we get small glimpses into the brutal and abusive religious cult she is part of, bits and pieces of her devastating past that led her to the convent doors, and her relationships with some of the other women.

I really enjoyed this novel. It did not hit me quite the same as Tender is the Flesh, but I absolutely love how Bazterrica looks at the most depraved, but also most inspiring, parts of humanity. I loved seeing the main character get bolder and bolder over time as a woman. This is beautiful, feminist work of literature.

The only gripe I had with the text was that I kind of went into it blind and felt the story was a little confusing at the beginning. Largely, this was because the text sometimes stops abruptly. As time passes, I learned these sections of the novel were like journal entries, which made so much more sense and made my reading experience more enjoyable. Had I read the summary of the text more closely, I would have been a lot better off.

I cannot wait to see what Bazterrica writes next. Rest assured, I will be lining up to read it!

The Unworthy was brutal in the best way possible. I went into the novel fairly blind as I saw it was written by Agustina Bazterrica and knew that I needed to read it immediately. She is one of my favorite current authors. I absolutely loved The Unworthy, but I can see it being a bit divisive when it is released to a wider audience.. There is Bazterrica's typical commentary on the state of the environment, but also feels a bit more hopeful than the commentary presented in Tender is the Flesh. I was fascinated by the Sacred Sisterhood and want to know more about the organization including how it was founded and various women who were chosen as the Enlightened and the Chosen. These are questions I know I will never have answers about, but I can't help but wondering. I highly recommend it if you enjoy unsettling dystopian novels.

This was like reading a nightmare, and I was unsettled and anxious the entire time (a good thing!).
But the feeling I came away with is hope, because ultimately, despite experiencing terrible loss and cruelty, and despite her own viciousness, the narrator was a young woman who chose to love, and love again, and love again, at the end of the world.
This wasn’t the story I was expecting, and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time. I’m looking forward to sharing this with customers and coworkers and friends alike.

Agustina Bazterrica’s *The Unworthy* is a dark and haunting novel that plunges readers into a dystopian world where a woman lives under the suffocating control of a violent religious order. The story is narrated by a lower-ranking member of the Sacred Sisterhood, who writes her tale in fragments, using whatever she can find—ink, dirt, even her own blood. While the world outside the convent crumbles due to environmental collapse, the narrator is preoccupied with pleasing the order’s harsh leaders and dreams of ascending to a higher rank.

The arrival of a stranger disrupts her already fragile reality, forcing her to question everything—her past, her faith, and the secrets behind the convent’s inner circle. As the story unfolds, Bazterrica masterfully explores themes of power, control, and survival, blending a dystopian backdrop with psychological horror.

With shades of *The Handmaid’s Tale* in its exploration of extreme ideology and the abuse of power, *The Unworthy* is a gripping and unsettling read. Bazterrica’s writing is taut and atmospheric, drawing readers into the tense, claustrophobic world of the narrator. For fans of dark, thought-provoking horror with a dystopian twist, *The Unworthy* is a compelling and unforgettable novel.

Unfortunately this one didn’t work for me since I felt like I spent all my time reading just trying to get a grasp on the narrative. By the end I felt like I didn’t gain as much clarity as I hoped for and the ending left me unsatisfied. It had a strong beginning but overall, I just couldn’t connect to it. Not sure that fans of Tender is the Flesh would necessarily enjoy this one but maybe those that enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale narrative style?

I also feel like this didn’t have commentary on climate or religion like I assumed, even though it dealt with those themes. I don’t know. Honestly, I struggled to understand most of this book. It may have just completely went over my head.

Oh God was this book gory and gross and also amazing! I love a horror novel! I felt genuinely so disturbed by this book and the desolation all these characters feel.

The Unworthy is Agustina Bazterrica follow up novel to Tender is the Flesh. This is a dark tense sliver of a book, told in stolen moments by our narrator. She lives in the cloistered secretive, ultra-violent religious order as the rest of the world is in chaos due to climate crises. I found myself drawing comparisons to Margaret Atwood''s The Handmaid's Tale throughout, with similar themes of ideological extremism and the abuse of power. I would recommend this book for those wanting a dark horror novel for the twenty-first century.

Wow, a truly terrifying, engrossing, and rich nightmare of a post-apocalyptic world. Couldn't put it down!

Immaculate prose. Beautiful, mesmerizing sequence of events that leave a sense of melancholia and horror. I adored it. 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was super interesting! I loved the prose and premise of the book (weird nuns!!!) and as it explored deeper, I got really invested in the post apocalyptic setting. Very neat read!