2.75 stars
This book had a lot of promise in its premise, but it just didn’t deliver. Due to the nature of the way this book is written (through essentially diary entries), the reader wasn’t really invited into the story, but rather was just being told it. Because of this, I had a hard time caring about what was happening and it all felt very repetitive.

Nothing really happens in the story until 70% of the way through the book and then it finally caught my interest. But that’s a little too late. And also due to the writing structure, it made the ending feel clunky and unbelievable.

Tender is the Flesh is one of my all-time favorite books, so this was a disappointment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for providing an ARC of this title.

Agustina Bazterrica brings us into another world of dystopian cruelty. I loved Tender is the Flesh for its bleak, cold prose and this delivers the same tone, but from a sister at a mysterious convent.

This book has little structure, but I feel that fits the weird amorphous world Bazterrica creates for us. I loved the religious overtones in this novel - this is not your typical Catholic convent, instead it is a new religion based on a bizarre and cruel hierarchy that delineates the 'unworthy' from the 'enlightened.' I loved how this concept was fleshed out, and the horrible imagery that was ethereal in the worst way

Man, okay so from the start I suspected a lot of the plot behind the cult, but honestly that wasn't even the focus, so there was no "haha this was supposed to be a surprise!" Instead all the surprises came from the between moments and the past reflections and suffering that characters endured to survive in a collapsed world.

I loved it a lot and it made me cry in parts.

One main TW that I know many people find difficult (outside of the expected body horror) is: death of a cat

In Bazterrica’s newest novel, we follow an unworthy’s story in a dystopian setting. Here, she navigates Superior Sister’s strict rules and reign in a covent after the world has collapsed. The hierarchy of their religious group is interesting, and Bazterrica does a wonderful job exploring power dynamics and structures. Why do some people (and not others) have power? How do they get power? Who is worthy? Why?

With Bazterrica’s Tender is the Flesh and Nineteen Claws and a Blackbird in mind, I was expecting this novel to deliver the same unflinching examination of humanity and the horrors associated with it and power. Bazterrica certainly delivered, echoing the body horror in Tender is the Flesh. The Unworthy is filled with body horror and violence, which, arguably, is an effective examination and critique of some organized religion. The novel reminded me of CJ Leede’s American Rapture, which also pairs horror with organized religion.

One part of the novel that I enjoyed is how it’s organized as a journal. It certainly added depth and unease to the narrator’s description of events. At the same time, though, I wish that the beginning was not as slow as it was, though I understand that it was probably structured that way to really provide the lay of the land. Overall, Bazterrica’s newest novel is a hit and I look forward to reading more of their work!

I liked this more than I thought I would -- at times it has a complex, nuanced emotional texture that is really pleasing. I found that the flashback sections and the episodes that broke the rhythm of life in this cult-convent were much more compelling than the rest of the material, which I think is because that's where the protagonist starts to become a real active character. Bazterrica's attempts to horrify and shock the reader with the physical, sexual, and emotional abuses being perpetrated in this end-of-the-world cult were pretty ineffective for me -- I think like most experienced readers I have the imagination to conjure this stuff on my own, and though her prose is good, without surprise there's not much horror. The "climactic" sequence is okay -- I preferred the earlier scenes of minor transgression where it seemed equally possible that the protagonist could get away with it or be captured. Overall I think this novel is hindered by the journal conceit -- it's already hard to believe the protagonist can get away to write at such length about her circumstances, and for me to really involve myself in the fates of these characters I think I would have needed to spend even more time with them.

Dark. Ominous. Disturbing. The Unworthy made me feel like I was unworthy of understanding what was going on until the end. And even then, I didn't hate it. (3.5 stars)

Disclaimer: I read The Unworthy via ebook from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary opinion and review.

There was a lot to like and plenty of opportunities to capitalize on them in this dark dystopian novella. It was mostly a series of hits, although there were some misses as well. I can absolutely see why this book will be for some people, and absolutely not for others.

First of all, you are thrown into a dark and desolate place that gives absolutely no context or worldbuilding, and you're expected just to go with it. Someone like myself might really enjoy that level of uncomfortability and confusion, but I know a lot of people would also like to know what's going on and will be unsettled and bewildered. There's opportunity to ascertain that the convent is clearly a product of climate devastation but it gives zero context as to why the world has become this way. I assume this was done to create an air of mystery or suspense, but since it's never resolved it kind of just felt like a missed opportunity to give more information and make this book even darker and more gruesome. I feel like it also missed an opportunity to be a cautionary tale of sorts and give more of a reason to be climate conscious.

This book gets dark fast. First paragraph takes you on a ride straight to the heebie jeebies. I physically cringed at the imagery. Which I'm sure was the desired result. Mission accomplished. It was done well and I quite enjoy that type of content so this was a hit for me. But one I can imagine some not enjoying.

There are several characters that are named throughout the story, but almost no context or background is given for any of these people. You were pretty much told explicitly whether or not they are "good" or "bad" to the narrator, and that is basically all you have to go off of as far as knowing what kind of person they are. You can scrape together bits, and pieces of context for the convent that these women are a part of, but almost no context for how it was created or how it operates. And I think this is because the narrator themselves does not know. It definitely does give a haunting and Gothic experience to the thought of the covenant.

While I can appreciate a novel that leaves you confused or an open ended ending that leaves you to think, I do feel like this was a little too far into the unknown. There should've been a little bit more world building and context around some of these things and it would've heightened the enjoyment and the relatability of the book. I also feel like it would've passed along a stronger message to some of the important conversations that were happening in this novel. Whether that be about climate devastation or women in religion.

But overall, I feel like this is pretty on par with this author's other books, and I did enjoy it for the most part despite its misgivings.

In a post apocalyptic future, where plants have died and trees have long since been replaced by metallic woods, there exists a zealous cult known as the House of the Sacred Sister.

In this cult, minor saints are mutilated, their eyes sewn shut, tongues cut out, or cochleas destroyed, so that their other senses might have a purer connection to God.

Though our protagonist cannot remember her life before this brutalist cult, she finds comfort in a journal kept in secret, written by the light of the moon through a crevice in her cell. Brutal, romantic, rebellious and affecting, Agustina Bazterrica lives up to the high bar standards she has set for herself with this new novel.

Thank you to Scribner for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Agustina Bazterrica's writing is beautiful and I think fans of literary horror will enjoy this book. I found this one lacked the world building that I loved in "Tender is the Flesh". We are dropped into this world that has been ravaged, and it took a little too long to reveal what was happening for my liking. I also didn't connect with the characters in this one the way I connected with Marcos in "Tender is the Flesh". I loved how this ended, but I didn't necessarily love the journey.

Thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for the advanced copy of this book.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

if you're going into this expecting the sheer gruesome horror of tender is the flesh, you may want to look elsewhere. though this novella is horror, i found it to be relatively devoid of gore when i found tender is the flesh traumatic to the point it was nearly unreadable.

told in the form of diary entries, we're brought into the world of a religious sect. at first, it's easy to assume that it's just a convent, but we slowly start to learn the heirarchy of chosen vs. unworthy and all the in-betweens as well as a mysterious male leader that lingers behind a curtain to divvy out laws, prophecies, leaderships, and punishments.

the similarities to a convent end after that - mistakes are treated via tortures dreamed up by other convent members. needles through skin, sometimes death is even meted out.

one day, a girl appears outside. a big deal, because as we slowly learn, this convent exists on a desiccated, dying earth full of mutilated people and animals, poisonous rains, dying flora and fauna. and make no mistake - humanity was what made the earth this way.

with the new girl - renamed lucia - starts integrating herself into the convent, weird stuff starts happening and it's looking like lucia is more than she lets on.

i'd have loved to have rated this hire. i love novellas and feel as though the short length serves most of the stories told in novella form well. this is one of the rare cases where i feel as though we could have benefited from a full-length novel. ultimately, we didn't end up with a lot of answers for anything and the "twist" is something that most will probably see coming. still, it was a nice departure from the brutality of tender is the flesh and definitely a work that i prefer so much more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 4
Pace: 5
Plot development: 4
Characters: 4
Enjoyability: 4
Ease of Reading: 3

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

"The truth is changeable, it contracts, implodes, it's powerful like a bullet. And it can be lethal"

She did it again folks. An absolutely amazing second novel by Bazterrica. I debated quite hard whether I wanted to give it 4.5 or 5 stars because I am quite stingy with my 5 stars.

The book is written from the point of view of a woman who is keeping a secret diary. The entire book is read through her diary entries. I know that is already going to be a hit or miss for some people, but I absolutely adored that we got to see whether portions were scratched out and how entries would randomly stop for various reasons that were always noted in the next entry.

It gives readers an intimate look in the development and evolution of a woman who was indoctrinated into an extremist cult set in a dystopian era after the world has essential ended and is practically uninhabitable. Our narrator is obsessed with the idea of joining the Enlightened and wants nothing to do with the unworthy who are considered weaklings. However, when a stranger appears, the woman is forced to face her long forgotten past and reevaluate how she views/understands the religion she is apart of and the Enlightened that she has been so desperate to join.

If you are not a fan of books that leave the reader in the dark, then this will not be the book for you. Most questions are answered, but as it written like a diary our viewpoints are narrowed down to only what the narrator knows or feels and there are times where she states she doesn't want to write about something because it hurts too much. However, she does end up writing about it, but it does take a while to get to that point.

Something that I do wish we would see Bazterrica start to do in her novels is creating more multi-dimensional side/background characters. At times her characters do start to feel a little one dimensional if they aren't in the spotlight. Overall though, the way Bazterrica writes is something that always captivates me and I will continue to read anything that she produces.

The Unworthy is an entry point to Bazterrica's work for people who are interested, but were intimidated or put off by the content of Tender is the Flesh. Though, it is still a horror novel that is written by the same author, so being prepared for some mild gore and other genre standard warnings are in full affect.

Content warning for discussion of 🍇(grape) though it does not go into graphic detail, it is made obvious what is going on.

“You are she-wolves engendering poison, a battalion inseminated by perdition and atrocity, a sack of fetid putrefaction, a seedbed of disgraceful lucubrates. Unworthy, homicidal women.”

This book has been on my tbr since the translation was first announced, I cannot explain how ecstatic I was when I got the notification of being approved for this arc. Agustina Bazterrica is one of those authors who just never fails to deliver exactly what she sets out for in a book; The Unworthy being no exception.

Continuing to probe at the intersections of power, body autonomy, and ethics, Bazterrica now takes us into a religious convent of women set in an apocalyptic world. The Unworthy is a true look into the nature of what it means to be a woman in faith; where our bodies become the target of ideology and control, where complete and total submission is not only expected but required and enforced by all means necessary. Bazterrica’s writing style is one of my favorites; the way she can so effortlessly encapsulate the reader into the novel as if we are sitting alongside the narrator ourselves. This novel invoked a sense of unease that feels less like fiction and more like a reality.

The Unworthy is a true masterpiece and something that will linger in my mind for the foreseeable future. I cannot recommend this or any of Bazterrica’s other works enough. As always with horror novels, please check trigger warnings and read at your own discretion.

Thank you Scribner, Simon and Schuster, and Agustina Bazterrica for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Let me start by saying this is the first book I have read from Augustina Bazterrica so I didn’t really have an expectations. However, I was not prepared for her writing style in this book. I felt like I was just dropped in the middle of a wild dystopian setting with no immediate context explained whatsoever. The story felt a bit “choppy” and scattered throughout and it wasn’t until the 60% mark where it started picking up for the most part. I was confused and felt in the dark for most of the book but I thought all will be explained in the end. Unfortunately, I was unsatisfied and still not comprehending what I just read when I finished.

Thank you Augustina Bazterrica and NetGalley for the early opportunity of reading this book!

I became a fan of Agustina Bazterrica when I read Tender is The Flesh. In my mind, that book hit all the emotional cords. I had high expectations for The Unworthy, and it met them. It wasn’t quite as good as Tender is the Flesh, it still had Bazterrica’s excellent prose, characters, and haunting themes. This is an easy book to recommend to fans of literary horror or literary science fiction.

I loved this authors book Tender is the Flesh. This one for me wasn’t as good. It’s still a well written piece of work but I found it a little more bizarre than I like. It’s post apocalyptic and dark, oh so dark and eerie. There isn’t really anything good that happens. If you like dark, eerie, extreme body horror then this is for you. I’ll be on the lookout for the next book. I like her writing.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for a honest opinion. 3.5⭐️

This was a very strange book and I don't think that I liked it. I haven't read <i>Tender is the Flesh</i> -- and, quite frankly, I don't have much of a desire to do so -- so this is the first book I've read by this author. I went in pretty blindly and I am admittedly very confused as to what I just read.

The pros: Pretty much the only thing I enjoyed about this book was the concept. The book is told from the writings of a woman trapped (not that she thinks she's trapped -- kind of) in a violent, religious cult while the rest of the world is ravaged by the apocalypse. It's a fascinating premise and I enjoyed this aspect of the book. I also liked piecing together the protagonist's scattered writings to try and put together a story; while confusing, it fits in well with the general vibe.

The cons: I wanted to know more about the setting but you don't really get any answers as to why things happen. You get a few tidbits, but it's not enough to satisfy any curiosity as to why the world is the way that it is, what's really going on, etc. Instead, there's a seemingly gratuitous amount of graphic depictions of torture and violence. I found myself skimming past those portions quickly (or the best I could so I wouldn't miss parts of the plot). I truly don't even know what happened in this book. As other reviewers have said, for the most part, nothing at all happens, and then a rush of action happens in the last 10% or so. I personally wasn't a fan and just wanted <i>more</i> of everything that wasn't violent depictions of torture, which I definitely wanted less. If there's a message to this book (relating to women and religion), it didn't come through clearly enough for me.

The Unworthy
Agustina Bazterrica

ARC courtesy of Scribner and NetGalley.

In a dystopian world besieged by plague, climatic disaster and death, this novel is about a Sacred Sisterhood, in whose chapel we are witness to the Unworthy, the title given to the lowest members (akin to novices or initiates) seeking entry into the sisterhood. An even darker setting in the midst of a dark, bleak outside world. This is the mood that Bazterrica sets.

That being said, this novel is not for everyone. It is not plot driven. If you are looking for a formulaic work of fiction, with facts, a neatly progressive plot and a clear cut denouement, then you may be disappointed. It is a literary work. It conveys mood and feeling, dread and darkness. Prayer and punishment, violence and gore – successful in its shock value. I myself prefer some questions left unanswered at the end, as it keeps me thinking, as this novel has.

Dark and dystopian are two of my favorite things in a book and this covered both. The Unworthy made me cringe at times but o my because the author is the can describe some of the most grotesque things in the best way.

Agustina and I have a checkered past; she writes something - I love it - she writes something else - I make a face 🥴 - She writes something else - I'm obsessed again...but one thing remains true...
I͟'͟m͟ ͟g͟o͟n͟n͟a͟ ͟r͟e͟a͟d͟ ͟w͟h͟a͟t͟e͟v͟e͟r͟ ͟t͟h͟i͟s͟ ͟w͟o͟m͟a͟n͟ ͟w͟r͟i͟t͟e͟s͟. 🤣🥰

The Unworthy was stunning. I was so excited and grateful to receive this as an ARC from @netgalley and @scribnerbooks (don't worry it comes out in a couple weeks!) and I wholeheartedly recommend it to all of you.

Be forwarned - there are no chapters here - it's just a single stream of consciousness; a hidden journal penned from the perspective of one young woman; one of The Unworthy. This book is going to seem absolutely bonkers the first time you try to read it - but if you stick with it, the further you go, the more you'll sink in.

The writing is full of rich descriptions and heady dialogue which makes you feel as if you're reading about a different planet altogether at times. I went back and forth contemplating so many options: Is this story being told from the perspective of an asylum patient? Is this a story being told by animals? Is this medieval times? Is this a glimpse of the future? Is this even on Earth?

Although you never learn her name, you'll become drawn in and emotionally invested in our main character, how she came to be a part of a post-apocalyotic cult, why she remains there, the people she loves and the ones she loves to hate (Lourdes, ya salty bitch)

The story really picks up in the last third and I was glued to the book for a whole day, devouring every page of this confession, needing to know the truth of it all - and the closer I got, the more I suspected - but in the end it was still a shock to me how quickly it was all over and how much I want to read it again.

I mean this in the best way possible: Augustina Bazterrica is insane.

This book is so beautifully grotesque, I couldn't look away. I never thought a book with so many in-depth cockroach descriptions could make me cry, but here we are.

There's so much said in these pages about religion, cultism, fanaticism, climate disaster, and female love and hate in its many forms... and she somehow does it in less than 200 pages. Bravo.

And also how dare you with the cockroaches...