The Unworthy was compelling and chilling. In the beginning, the reader feels unmoored, but as the story progresses details about this horrific convent in this dystopian world are slowly revealed. The Sapphic romance propels the story forward and helps flesh out the narrator. This would be a good read for fans of Margaret Atwood.

So, with the world going as it is, I probably shouldn't have read this book. However, I am glad I did, and while it was based on Argentina, it very well could have been the USA. This is a dystopian novel about a woman in a convent, considered unworthy. She doesn't remember how she got there, but the world outside is falling apart. When a stranger enters the convent, the two women talk about things, and the woman in the convent starts to make some realizations. This book was gruesome yet necessary. I devoured the book and may need therapy. Jk.

The Unworthy is so unsettling. The reader is dropped in the middle of a dystopian world with no real context of what is going on. Our narrator has found refuge in the House of the Sacred Sisterhood and is recording her story as it is happening. There are eerie context that something is happening outside that the Sisterhood is hiding and possibly also things hidden within. The atmosphere of the whole novel is very suppressive and there are never really any answers given as to what is happening and what is going to happen. If you are a fan of concrete worldbuilding, this novel is not for you. This novel is for a specific reader who loves the unknown and tries to find meaning in it. I loved this novel and found it was a great follow up to Tender is the Flesh.

{waiting to review until 2 weeks prior to pub date per publisher's request :) have already read though, so submitting this in the meantime so my feedback ratio is accurate. i don't want to be denied for additional titles due to the pub's specific request! will be back to review and update accordingly!}

Actual Rating: 2.75/5

Augustina Bazterrica’s The Unworthy dives into a grim, dystopian world that evokes strong reactions from the start. The narrative centers on a sadistic nun who documents her experiences with stolen ink—and sometimes even her own blood—hinting at a setting steeped in cruelty, ritual, and manipulation. The protagonist is surrounded by fellow nuns who display a similar level of sadism, all seemingly devoted to a mysterious “He”, whose identity and purpose are left largely ambiguous, adding to the ominous atmosphere.

Bazterrica sketches out a stratified order within this secluded compound, where only select young women are allowed to live in “safety” from the horrors of the decimated outside world. Divided by apparent divine abilities, the “Chosen” undergo mutilations as part of their spiritual journey. Each sacrifice underlines their mantra: without faith, there is no refuge. The ritualistic violence within the compound feels both harsh and evocative; though the book offers only fleeting glimpses of the broader world and its struggles, they often insinuate their walls offer a better place than the alternative.

There’s an inescapable sense that The Unworthy—and, in fact, Bazterrica’s work as a whole—straddles a line between dystopian fiction and a genre that challenges readers’ comfort levels. As with Tender is the Flesh, the experience of reading feels less like a journey of enjoyment and more akin to self-punishment. While it’s difficult to call the book “enjoyable”, it’s undeniably reflective, leaving readers to dwell on humanity’s darker impulses and the grim possibilities of structured fanaticism and global collapse.

The Unworthy is a short book that ends abruptly, which may leave some readers feeling that the story was cut short. While there are moments of truly beautiful writing and imagery, the stark brutality and desolate tone will make it a challenging read for many, including myself. For those seeking thought-provoking and dismal fiction, Bazterrica’s work will resonate; for others, The Unworthy may feel unsettlingly bleak without enough payoff to revisit.

This ARC book was provided to me by NetGalley and Scribner, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Incredible to be so vile and bleak while written so poetically but if anyone has the ability to do it, it’s gonna be Agustina Bazterrica in all her literary genius. For the people coming to this book after enjoying Tender Is The Flesh, you are in for a very different wild ride through a post apocalyptic religious cult society. Despite these differences, let Bazterrica keep you on your toes for this one. You’ll love it!

Massive thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for the e-ARC!

It’s been a long time since a novel tackled the “reproductive apocalypse” genre in a way that I think holds a candle to handmaid’s tale. This one for sure does that. I think it adds more humanity to the characters in examining the ways they fall
into the evil of the system they’re stuck in - hurting each other and hurting themselves. Being brave comes at a price and despite what has happened, you can still do something right worth doing. Not as gory or as fleshed out as Tender is the Flesh but I think it’s hard to hold a candle to such a strong book. Absolutely worth checking out when it releases in March.

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica - A Test of Reader's Patience

While "The Unworthy" presents an intriguing premise about societal collapse and human nature within a cultish group of nuns, its execution proves challenging. Despite being only 192 pages, the novel feels significantly longer due to its meandering prose and frequent diversions from the main narrative.

Those unfamiliar with Bazterrica's "Tender is the Flesh" may find themselves particularly tested by her writing style here. The prose often feels like wandering through a linguistic maze, with paragraphs stretching into philosophical musings and tangential observations that interrupt the flow of the central story.

The narrative's momentum is constantly undermined by these stylistic choices. Just as the plot builds tension, readers are pulled away into lengthy passages that seem to exist more for their own sake than for advancing the story. For readers who prefer their dystopian fiction to maintain a clearer sense of purpose and direction, "The Unworthy" might prove to be more exhausting than enlightening.

I desperately wanted a review copy of this book because of how much I loved Tender Is the Flesh. And while I did not love The Unworthy as much as that one, it definitely stands on its own amongst its dystopian peers.

Ecological disaster has caused humanity to fall and those who have survived are seeking protection and solace anywhere they can. Our protagonist scribbles out her story using anything she can find - ink, dirt, her own blood - in the hopes that someone may find it in the future and understand what she and the other women cloistered away with her in the Sacred Sisterhood had to endure for their continued survival.

As an Unworthy, she witnesses and is sometimes forced to participate in unspeakable religious rituals that are meant to cleanse, humiliate, torture, and (when push comes to shove) unalive others under the supervision of The Superior Sister and some mysterious man they hear but never see. She does her best to fly under the radar, generally avoiding the wrath of her peers and the ultimate bodily mutilation when one is chosen to ascend into the higher ranks.

Yet when a stranger claws her way through the convent walls, our narrator willingly puts herself at risk in the face of their growing friendship, and begins to seriously question the things that are going on under the roof of the Sisterhood, most especially with what's taking place behind the locked door where the Enlightened are kept.

A bleak, bizarre, brutal, violent, cultish religious existence in which everything is worse than it first appears, The Unworthy pokes and prods at you, testing your tolerance. It starts off rather curiously, and once it has your attention, begins to dig its nails in, pinching and scratching, relentlessly picking at the sore spot, watching patiently until you begin to reach your breaking point, and then it pounces, going straight for jugular.

This novella was incredibly raw and beautiful. I loved that though it was about the social effects of a sort of apocalypse, it wasn’t the center of the plot. Instead the plot focused more on the characters, which made the character interactions more impactful. I was incredibly impressed with this book!
At first i didn’t know if the words struck out were on purpose, or because it was a “rough draft” but as the book went on i understood more. I think i would’ve been less confused had i been reading a physical copy, that the strikes would have translated better.
Highly recommend!

I was excited to get this ARC even though I did not read Tender is the Flesh, I know of all the hype and around it. I will say I enjoy the authors deeply descriptive writing. Though the story did not keep my attention, and it seemed disjointed. It was a quick read but was left with many unanswered questions.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.
3 star

Look, sometimes the world really really fucking sucks when you're reading a book (see, a good chunk of my near future reviews are going to reference the fact these were read around the aftermath of the 2024 election), and you just need a glorious nightmare fever dream with nuns, lesbians, possible post climate apocalypse, religious ecstasy with a side of sadism and glorification through mortification. This has been a saving grace and a sanity marker through the last few days, and my god, I can't wait to share this with folks when it comes out Stateside. Pick it up, get your thorn shirt and flogger, and fucking enjoy the ride.

Wait. I'm kind of obsessed with this.

It's an apocalyptic, dystopian, queer horror that has body horror, gore, and grit, but also unexpected heart and romance. We're following a woman who secretly writes the story of her life while in a convent, sealed away from the uninhabitable outside. The convent has bizarre and grotesque practices, all meant to keep its followers safe from harm. When a stranger comes into the convent, our main character's life is upended as she reveals her past and questions her current situation.

Although it is set in the postapocalyptic future, this felt very medieval (one of my favorite settings to read about). I loved the ranking of members, the rituals, the nonsensical nature of the convent's rules. I loved that everything is a bit mysterious and not overly explained. The romance was unexpected but appreciated. There's a bit of magic/witchiness that reminded me a bit of True Blood (in a good way). This is a book that I would want to re-read.

I'd recommend this for fans of horror, post-apocalyptic / survival stories, dystopian settings, and for fans of queer stories. It is graphic in the rituals and mutilations, so I wouldn't recommend it for non-horror fans. This felt a bit like if you mixed The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Matrix by Lauren Groff.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Like all of Agustina Bazterricas writing. I’m left sitting here with so many questions. This was brutal yet beautiful. The prose was descriptive and vivid. My only issue with this book is the length.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc

The Unworthy is as bleak but beautiful as you’d expect from Agustina Bazterrica.

We are reading a journal, written by an unnamed author. Earth had a devastating climate event and there are barely any animals or people left. The narrator lives in an extremely religious, torturous, evil convent and has to endure physical and psychological torment. However, she also has to participate in the grotesque culture of the convent for her own survival. We get some back story of her life before finding the convent and experience just how barren the planet is. I truly don’t understand how anyone has the will to live in this place.

The writing is horrifying but eloquent, brutal but at times empathetic. If you’ve liked any of her other writing, you will definitely like this! It is a bit heavy so just be prepared for that, check trigger warnings!

“She was the one who taught me that disaster means living without stars, or celestial bodies, or comets, without the light of night, in complete darkness. (In the mouth of God?)”

Set during a post-apocalyptic world that has been destroyed by climate catastrophe, “The Unworthy” is an epistolary novel that follows an unnamed narrator as she writes about her life in a violent and mysterious religious covenant.

This is a novel that begs to be dissected and discussed. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a physical copy so I can reread this and fully annotate it in the future.

Bazterrica’s prose is stunning, though it is repetitive at times. The pages are chock full of vivid religious imagery, gore, body mutilation, and descriptions of a ravaged earth, all of which are sure to satisfy fans of dystopian horror.

The narrative is bleak, yet tender. It’s also mysterious, and compelling — I never wanted to set the book down. My biggest complaint as a reader was that I wanted more of everything — I wanted a little more character development, a little more description of the Sacred Sisterhood, a little more details about the ending. I wish “The Unworthy” was more of a traditional novel length, but ultimately for a novella it was satisfying and an enjoyable read.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A full review will be posted to Goodreads and Instagram closer to the release of the English translation, as requested by the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for an eARC copy of The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica.

Bazterrica has a way of making you feel her writing - in the best and worst way possible. Between the body horror and the terror of both a dystopian world outside and within the cult, it was extremely detailed.

I did feel as though there wasn’t a very defined plot. While I enjoyed the way it was written, I felt empty at the end, wanting more from the book than I got.

Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for this ARC of Agustina Bazterrica's 'The Unworthy.'

I'm not entirely sure what I just read. It's like a mix of 'The Handmaid's Tale' gone to the furthest extreme and a post-climate apocalyptic 'The Wizard of Oz.'

Women make their way through a weather-blasted landscape to a convent-like Sacred Sisterhood where mention of the Christian god is verboten. There they're overseen by a mega-Aunt (the Superior Sister) and. unsurprisingly, there's an omnipotent male figure who, the Wizard of Oz, is behind the curtain and also like the Wizard of Oz, we eventually get to witness him.

There's brutality, mutilation, self-harm, demeaning rituals and the normal human traits of jealousy, love, envy, hate, distrust, greed, etc., etc.

As the book unfolds we learn about the climate change that led to the current status quo and some parts of the key characters' lives.

The writing's the star, very evocative and unyielding but, for me, it's not enough to carry an unfocused narrative.

Starting with what i did think was good about this book: Bazterrica's writing was so immersive that i felt such visceral reactions to the horrific things that happen in this book. It was definitely descriptive, and i felt myself shudder at some of the things that were described.

That being said, i was not a fan of this book overall. Once the initial shock wore off about the scariness of this cult, nothing really changed as the book went on. There was very little plot, and i felt both disturbed and also bored at the same time somehow. It ended up not being my kind of book at all; i probably would have not finished it if it had been any longer than it was.

Bazterrica has such a talent for writing horrifying dystopian stories with the most compelling characters. This might be the most unique dystopian story I've read, combining the eeriness of a somewhat mysterious apocalypse just outside the walls and an equally disturbing environment within them. The world-building was detailed and immersive. The blending of the "old" Catholic culture with new vulnerabilities created a cult-like situation that made my skin crawl. Still, the story is imbued with hope and love and strength, even if they're not shown in the clearest or most virtuous of ways. The ending was incredibly satisfying and this book has solidified Bazterrica as an auto-buy author for me.