I tend to really enjoy religion-themed thrillers and horror, so that's why I thought I might like this book. I really wanted to like it. Of course, there were parts I did like, the imagery being the main highlight. But otherwise, I just never really knew what was going on. Everything was too vague, or maybe it all just went over my head. Either way, I got to the end and I am left wanting more. It's too bad.

*Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review!*

I had been anticipating this book since it was announced. I love Agustina Bazterrica's books that have been translated. This was my third book by this author. It is very dark and brutal. The punishments and cruelty that humans can do to each other is very detailed and graphic. It was a bit confusing remembering some of the characters. There are quite a few since its a pretty large cult and they have different rankings. Love the commentary of religious horror. I thought it was a great story with a lot of dread and wondering who was going to be punished next.

I really enjoyed the flashback scenes. I loved reading how earth was slowly being destroyed by natural disasters. I wish there would have been more of that, but I still enjoyed this book. If you have an insect phobia, there's a couple of times that the scenes can be a bit triggering.

Would recommend to those that love dark graphic books with a slow build up.

this is my "third strike" with Agustina Bazterrica, and I fear her stories are just not for me. While she has undeniably beautiful (and expertly translated!) prose, I just can't muddle through being left in the dark for as long as we were in this one.

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica is a dark and chilling read that delves deep into unsettling themes of human worth, societal control, and the consequences of dehumanization. The ambiguity that permeates the narrative only adds to its unnerving quality, as readers are left to question not only the characters’ fates but also the larger societal structures that have allowed such horrors to unfold.

While the story’s tone and themes keep the reader engaged, the ending does leave something to be desired. The resolution, or lack thereof, doesn’t feel as satisfying as one might hope after such a tense and thought-provoking build-up. It feels somewhat unfinished, as though the novel had more to say but couldn’t quite find the right way to conclude. The lack of a clear payoff may leave some readers feeling disappointed, especially after investing so much in the story’s dark and complex world. While ambiguity can be powerful, in this case, it feels more like an opportunity missed for a more fulfilling conclusion.

Despite the unsatisfying ending, The Unworthy is a compelling read that lingers in the mind long after the final page. Its exploration of morality, society, and the human condition makes it a thought-provoking novel that challenges readers to reflect on the systems around them. Bazterrica’s ability to evoke discomfort and curiosity throughout the novel is impressive, even if the story’s conclusion doesn’t provide the closure one might expect. It’s a book that may not be for everyone, but for those willing to embrace its ambiguity, it’s a haunting and memorable experience.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book for review.

Having read Tender is the Flesh and feeling that story on a whole different level than most other books, I had to read The Unworthy. Like all readers and individuals in their own right, we all have our own interpretations of what we experience while reading, and I now share with you mine. This is a dystopian religious horror written from the point of view of one individual who experiences very horrific things. The story starts out in a religious cult and the narrator's interpretations of what she sees and knows of the others who share this space with her. The hierarchy, the punishments, the belief systems expected of you to follow. The belief of otherworldly beings existing inside this cult teeters her on the bring of madness, but this is later explained by exposing us to the journey she endures before finding ending up here. "Without faith, there is no refuge."
Food is scarce, water is dangerous, the animals and most all insects have disappeared. There's acid rain and spirits everywhere to be wary of. 'This filth, nesting in the servants' skin, in their cells, is the anger of the sea, the fury of the air, the violence of the mountains, the outrage of the trees. It's the sadness of the world.' - 19%. Our narrator shares her thoughts and experiences with us through a secret clutch of pages she can only write when the sisters aren't watching for fear of being punished or killed. 'But I have to because if I write it, then it was real; maybe we won't just be part of a dream contained in a planet, inside a universe hidden in the imagination of someone who lives in the mouth of God.'-42% We eventually get to learn about her existence that slowly bleeds through to her current consciousness after such a time of having forgot. A sweet mother, kind words, loving to read and compassion. None of which exist in her current state. To have these traits gives you a deficit and puts you in great danger with the other sisters. We learn that our narrator had to build these scabs over time and adjusted well enough because she endured the loss of a group she was with before. Something horrible happened and she had to move on, forget and harden herself. 'Without mercy you survive. Without mercy there's more water for the others. Without mercy there's time to read stories about women who fill candles with cockroaches.' 44% 'If you did things wrong it could kill you. Succumbing to anxiety was dangerous.' -60% We continue along the journey with Circe in tow and find out why it was so hard for her to write about Circe. These will be my 2 trigger warnings of rape and animal murder. I will say that things are written in a way for the reader to get the idea but not forced to read anything even resembling a detailed event. I think if a story has it, this is one of the better ways of having done so.
Eventually there's a new character that comes to the cult upending everything the sisters try to enforce, and it is beautiful. Truths are exposed, positive feelings are offered and experienced. They're written in such a poetic light that you can deeply feel the shift and growth in our narrator. 'I'd never experienced the pleasure of another's skin; no one had left me breathless, panting, at their mercy, my will gone, having surrendered;' -66%. 'At this moment, in this instant, like a revelation, I understand that my body will await the sound of her voice. Forever.' -68% It's just so beautiful. For someone who had endured such a horrible existence to finally experience such ecstasy and love.
I will conclude my review by saying this was a style I enjoyed and something of an acquired taste, but my goodness for this genera, the delivery was phenomenal. Bazterrica is passionate and daring in her work. Like finding someone who shares the same language and thought vein most don't understand or are aware of. Hopefully this creates exposure, entices more readers to think about the things in this story. I can't wait to share this review closer to release time and very much look forward to future publications by this amazing writer. She builds challenging worlds, but all be damned if I don't muster the courage to traverse them.

somewhat brutal but i enjoyed it. fast paced and mysterious, which made it hard to put down. the narrator was intriguing. recommend for those interested in religion/cults and understanding a woman’s role within that.

First, a big thank you to Scribner and NetGalleyfor the advanced digital copy of this book.

The Unworthy delivers another unforgettable dive into literary horror, following the acclaim of Tender is the Flesh. Set in a devastated world of environmental collapse, the story follows an "unworthy" nun in a rigid, violent convent as she grapples with faith, identity, and buried memories. Through her fragmented, raw writings, the author crafts a chilling atmosphere where control and despair dominate.

The introduction of an outsider sparks questions about the convent's sinister hierarchy and the narrator's long buried past. Themes of love, survival, and humanity's capacity for both destruction and resilience shine through the grim setting, offering moments of poignancy amid the relentless bleakness.

While the book's brevity ensures a sharp, impactful read, it leaves some world-building and character depth under explored. Bazterrica's trademark unflinching prose and haunting symbolism make this a gripping but heavy read, earning 3.75 stars for its thought-provoking exploration of faith and survival.

Fans of dystopian horror will find plenty to appreciate, even if it doesn't quite eclipse her previous masterpiece.

A timely read— as odd as that feels to say. As time goes on, we start to see the gap between a Dystopian story and our reality grow thinner. The tiresome war on women’s rights, the censorship, and the suffering of many for the comfort of the few.
Bazterrica did a wonderful job crafting this story. I genuinely felt for the narrator and understood her motives. It was hard to understand the world in the beginning, but I soon caught on and appreciated the vagueness. It added to my curiosity as well as the dark and eerie vibe throughout. This is Bazterrica’s best writing so far, and I’m eager to see what they write next!
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this early!

I screamed when I got accepted for this arc. I read tender is the flesh and was so taken aback by the story but so frustrated with the ending. I could not wait to see what else this author held and I was not let down

This enchanted me. Being dropped into the story and witness the cruel and demented acts of the sisterhood left me confused but wanting more! The pace was slow but with the experiences our narrator described through diary entries made it feel natural.

Mixing climate crisis, misogyny, power dynamics, jealousy, and religious fevor made for an erie backdrop. The thought of escaping this small hell wasn’t possible knowing the world was unlivable outside of the walls.

I was happily surprised by the characters. Their resilience, their backstory,
especially Circe, the ability to form bonds and save each other despite the mistrust.

The ending was predictable but there were few options to go in a story like this. I was left just as many questions when I started but only in the details of the character, not the plot line itself.

This was a 6 star read in my book. The story was immersive, chilling, and brutal. I devored it. It haunted me when I would take a break from reading, I needed to know more.

I really enjoyed all the cult stuff and I also enjoyed the horror parts, sadly it's a bit short and you don't really learn anything about what happened before the sacred sisterhood

now why does Bazterrica tend to soil her stories like that.. sci-fi and religious rites from hell didn’t have to go into forbidden love story with the Matilda of the Wormwoods!…let’s make love with nature instead of making love with AI…real eyes realize real lies… it’s silly and I’m aggy because it was enjoyable until it nose dived. three stars for halfway there!
Thank you Scribner & NetGalley for the e-arc!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 STARS ⭐️
I was really excited for this book because I loved Tender is the Flesh, but this really fell flat for me. The author doesn’t give us a whole lot of info about what is going on: the who, what, where, when and why are all pretty vague and it’s up to the reader to infer what is happening. With the premise of a mysterious convent in the middle of an apocalypse, this had the potential to be a really good story yet it had no semblance of a plot and was highly repetitive. The parts of the book I enjoyed the most were of the narrators flashbacks from before she found the convent (the narrator also remains nameless for the entire book), and I was pretty surprised when it’s revealed that Circe is an animal (what kind, we don’t know) and not a human. The reveal of “what was going on behind the black carved door” was pretty easy to guess and anticlimactic, but I did like that the ending implied that the letters are being found at some point in the future. All in all a weird little book that (although written beautifully) tried to evoke religious and apocalyptic horror and kinda failed at both. I could see how some people would REALLY like this, and it’s so short you might as well see for yourself.
Song pairing is AmEN! by Bring Me the Horizon ⛪️☄️

PUB DAY: MARCH 4TH 2025 🥳

This is a deliciously strange, twisted tale, with an immaculately crafted world. If a violent cult residing in a convent that seems to be a better option for the women residing within than the outside world intrigues you (it should), then this is exactly the book for you.

I couldn’t imagine what a follow-up to Tender is the Flesh, an iconic novel, would look like but The Unworthy delivers. Agustina Bazterrica continues in her apocalyptic style of creating an alternate universe where we are forced to atone for our treatment of the Earth. It’s challenging to divorce yourself from Bazterrica’s reality check because the aftermath she creates is eerily similar to what’s happening all around us. Bazterrica is hauntingly descriptive in her portrayal of the future and leaves you feeling unsettled in the best way.

Thank you Agustina Bazterrica, Scribner, and Netgalley for early access to The Unworthy!

I'll read anything Agustina writes.

The Unworthy was equal parts harrowing and addictive. I loved the world-building and everything that isn't being said. Literary horror is one of my favorite genres, and Bazterrica is a force. Shout out to translator Sarah Moses whose translation reads like liquid.

Despite a slow paced story, I still had so much trouble following the plot of this one. We're following an "unworthy", in some sort of cult/community in a post-apocalyptic world. We only get bits and pieces of what happened to the world, hearing briefly about metal trees or the final blackout. Yet nothing we learn made me get gripped into the story. While the ending picked up, I don't feel as if there was enough character/world development along the way that made me want to care what happened.
As of right now, I seem like the outlier, and I am conscious of that. Not every story is going to grab ever reader.

This was such an incredible, atmospheric, terrifying, trippy, and meditative ride through a post-apocalyptic world. We read the diary of a member of the House of the Sacred Sister who recounts wandering through a scorched earth, but now wonders if staying in this monastery is safe, especially once ‘she’ arrives.

Thank you so much to Scribner and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for my review.

My feelings about this novel are conflicted. I feel if you've seen any horror media featuring a cult or people trying to survive post-climate-collapse, this book won't bring anything new to the table. It's also epistolary, and I kept getting stuck on how our protagonist was able to keep finding paper and keeping her journal hidden. I wondered if the story might be better off as regular first-person instead.

And yet... I finished this book before going to bed and I dreamed about its imagery. I didn't think it was scary in the moment, but clearly this book got under my skin. I found it to be oddly beautiful? I liked how our protagonist developed a stronger personality as she regained her memories from before she joined the House of the Sacred Sisterhood, and her goals also shifted accordingly. I actually really liked the way things shook out in the end.

While it didn't give me the "creepy evil nuns" vibes I was looking for, I'm still glad I read it.

Creepily immersive, and a story that leads you along a dark hallway by torch light. Following the Narrator through their journal entries, allowed the dystopian world to feel imaginable which heightened the horror of this fictional world. This is a must read for dystopian and religious horror fans.

Thank you so much to Scribner for the earc, all opinions are my own.

In a dystopian world in the far off future we follow the journal ramblings of a member of the Sacred Sisterhood. There is different levels to this cult, and our narrator is in the lower levels. It is confusing, and that’s the point. We hear about her mother, her time spent alone after her mother dies, and how she is surviving the cult on her own. This book gives me similar chills as Tender is the Flesh. Agustina really pulls in the real issues going on and turns them in a true horror.