Upon finding out the Agustina Bazterrica was releasing a book I wasted no time to come here and receive and arc. From Tender is the Flesh, Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird: Stories, to now The Unworthy, she continues to do it again and again for me. When it comes to the horror genre I feel as the she brings a personal tough to the scene, making it feel more personal and all the more scarier. While it is short it never felt dull and the pacing was even ditributed that at no point I felt it was dragged out - the words kept me throroughly entertained. And the characters...oh how I loved Lucia, I could not get enough of her and her journey and the relationships she formed with the people around her. All in all, the book was a beautiful book of literary horror that truly encapsulated our dark violent insticts and at times...are forced to light. I cannot wait to continue following along Agustina's journey.

Was unfortunately underwhelmed with this one after loving Tender is the Flesh.
The writing was amazing, as expected. I just did not connect with the story! I found it to be a little hard to follow & like I said, underwhelming.
I liked the flashbacks & the discussions about the world outside during the ‘apocalypse’ but there was few. Overall, 3 stars.

The world has fallen into utter chaos, cities have fallen, there is no food people are roaming trying to survive, people are killing one another, the water is so toxic. We are reading this in a form of a journal written by one women in her perspective, which she should not be writing.

The narrator herself is a little dark, a lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, who dreams about ascending to the "Enlightened" by pleasing Superior Sister. Everything changes when a stranger makes her way inside and becomes part of the "Unworthy". We have human sacrifice, turning against each other, self mutilation. There were some scenes that were very disturbing so please check the content warning. I highly recommend this novel that you can finish on one sitting.

I'm excited to read more work from Agustina, I bought the physical copy for this along with Tender is Flesh and Nineteen Claws.

Thank you NetGalley for the Ebook!

This was a bit of an odd one, but if you look through the lines of what's being told it's certainly a horror of what our world could become.

In some aspects it does become a bit repetitive because this is essentially our MC's journal. So what's happening in current day is a lot of the same thing, but we're also getting more glimpses into the monastery that she's living in and how they're being controlled and deceived. Through this she's also giving you flashbacks on how she got her and the horrors she had to endure to get to the current horror she lives in.

I think my biggest complaint is that I just wish there was more. More look back on how the world gold to where it is, more story on how our MC ended up here, more information on the monastery.

The Unworthy is a strange read that feels extremely reductive. We're dropped into the middle of a dystopian world, offering no immediate context and only slight tidbits throughout that make the process of figuring out what is going on bizarre, The story is moved forward solely through increasingly horrific depictions of whippings and torture, as if your investment is hooked simply on "oh God, how could it get worse???"

The setting of a convent isolated from the after effects of a climate crisis and disease creates a situation where the plot feels slow and repetitive, since there is only one place to be - I wish the world was a bit larger. And even in this setting, I wish I was told more so I could be invested in the characters, instead of constantly asking "wait, why is this happening? What is going on? Why should I care about this?"

It was more like this story was written with the intent of being cutting edge and aloof instead of the plot and characters creating that feeling naturally. It was like the author was trying to convince me of how edgy it was instead of it actually being edgy. That broke the 4th wall for me, like the author was over my shoulder waiting to see my reaction. I definitely raises interesting questions about women and religion, but everything else was so distracting that this one was a no for me.

I may need to revisit this at some point, but as it stands I couldn’t finish this book. I loved Tender Is the Flesh and read her book of short stories and enjoyed many of them, but this didn’t grab me in even remotely the same way.

This was too difficult for me to form an understanding of the place and circumstances. I made it a quarter through but felt very lost and not at all invested. DNF

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

If this book was meant to sway me from religion and the social order that comes with, it did the opposite. I now actually worship Agustina Bazterrica. This is a translated religious horror with EXTREME body horror set in a post apocalyptic monastery - home to the sacred sisterhood. You know the face you make when you’re white and listening to a really good beat? That’s the face I was making after every single sentence. BARS EVERY PARAGRAPH. this was just as beautiful as it was revolting. My only wish is that it were longer.

I’m starting to realize that I really enjoy (even if stressful) books with a dystopian climate crisis/post-apocalyptic earth and this was no different.

This was sad, brutal, dark (but also hopeful) and made me feel so many things. I finished this over a week ago and I’m still processing how I feel haha.

I was unsure at first how I was going to feel but once the flashbacks started giving more context, I was sold. The religious aspects were really interesting to me, and I thought provided a fascinating setting in a dystopian society.
Thank you so much to Scribner and NetGalley for an advance copy!

CWs:
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Physical abuse
Moderate: Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault
Minor: Pregnancy, War, Self harm

Agustina Bazterrica’s The Unworthy is for the girls, the gays, and those that live in daily fear of pending ecological collapse. The Unworthy is written in a journal format from the perspective of a lower level member of a primarily female religious cult. The women of the cult engage in brutal activities daily, including sacrifices and self flagellation, in attempts to ascend to higher ranks within.

The prose is simple, but poetic, which lends itself well to the bleak, dystopian landscape. While I would’ve loved for the story to be longer (like the history of how the cult came to be?)I'll settle for every delicious crumb Bazterrica is willing to throw at her audience.

The concept of who is worthy of empathy, food, shelter, etc. is interrogated throughout the text, though never answered, and left for the reader to philosophize about, which feels eerily timely for me, as a resident of the (un)United States. My only complaint was how neat the ending felt, compared to the ambiguity of the rest of the story.

Ohhhh yesss! This was awesome, apocalypse nuns and scary cults! So good! Thank you NetGalley and publisher for arc of this book! Loved 🤩

This one nailed the dystopian, culty, weird vibes and the discomfort and I think Bazterrica mostly accomplished what she was going for. I think my expectations were a bit too high after Tender and I wanted a final something to pull it all together. While it wasn’t my favorite, I still enjoyed it and I’ll continue to read anything Bazterrica writes.

Rating 2 stars based on my enjoyment and ability to connect to the story. It is quite possible I could have had a better time with this at a different time, but it has been one thing after another this week and my concentration feels non-existent.

I always appreciate this author’s ability to write the weird and grotesque in such a beautiful way. This definitely had some gruesome imagery and scenes but to be honest it’s not as bad as some of the reviews make it seem.

I like the intent behind this, the author said it was inspired by her time in Catholic schools as a child. As someone who shares that experience, I appreciate what she did here. I just kept trying and trying to connect and get lost in the story, but never did.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Told in an epistolary/journal style, we follow one woman's journey to and life inside an unusual convent with a class system set in a post apocalyptic world. I love Agustina's work and this is yet another great novel. It's gory and yet beautiful all at once. Thank you to Scribner for the advanced copy.

3.5

One this about me is that i LOVE weird, ambiguous, fever dream books and this book is that girl (if you ignore the ending lol).

We follow the secret journal entries of an unnamed narrator in an extremely religious cult/apocalyptic situation.

This was bleak and confusing. Definitely don’t read this if you need your plots to make sense. Like i said, i love books that feel like a fever dream and this is definitely that. It’s journal entries so you’re in the mind of the narrator who’s telling her current day situation in a cult but also her past and its messy (in a good way) and not necessarily in chronological order.

My only real complaint is that I actually wish the ending was either way weirder or way more ambiguous. I feel like it was pretty predictable and not unique from most other cult stories (in my experience) which is a little disappointing. Like if you’re going to have a book as strange as this, the ending needs to be just as weird and i felt like it was just way too easy and made too much sense for how ambiguous the rest of the story was. Yes there was hints to what was going on throughout the story but I still would have preferred to let the reader make their own conclusions than basically outright explain what was happening.

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica is a deeply unsettling and powerful novel that explores control, survival, and the ways in which oppressive systems strip people of their humanity. The story is brutal in its honesty, immersing the reader in a dystopian world where power is wielded through fear and ritual. The protagonist’s perspective is fragmented and raw, pulling you into the suffocating reality of her existence and making every moment feel urgent.

Bazterrica’s writing is both poetic and unflinching, balancing beauty with horror in a way that makes the story impossible to look away from. The novel does not hold the reader’s hand, instead trusting them to piece together its world through glimpses of violence, faith, and resilience. The structure adds to its intensity, making the reading experience feel immediate and personal. It does not offer easy resolutions but instead leaves you with something deeper.

The commentary on our climate crisis and treatment of women also did not go unnoticed and I think is one of the things I valued most about this book.

Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica is a haunting, dystopian novel that will make you question everything about humanity, morality, and the value of life itself. Set in a world where human beings are reduced to mere objects for consumption, the story follows Ana, a woman who becomes entangled in a system that commodifies people, reducing their existence to nothing more than a “product.”

This is one of those books that sticks with you long after you’ve finished reading. The writing is stunningly eerie—Bazterrica’s world-building is both unsettling and thought-provoking. It forces you to examine the darkest corners of human nature and the ways in which society can dehumanize those who are considered "lesser."

Ana’s journey is tragic and beautifully layered. As she begins to question her role in a world that uses human beings as mere commodities, we witness her internal struggle. I found myself torn between feeling sympathy for Ana while also grappling with the disturbing world she’s trapped in. The idea of unworthiness is explored so deeply—what makes someone "worthy" of life? And who gets to decide?

The real heart of the book is its exploration of power and vulnerability, showing how easily society can erase empathy when the right systems are in place. It's not just a story about survival, but about self-awareness and resistance. One of the most chilling moments (without giving too much away) comes when Ana confronts the brutal reality of her situation and tries to reclaim a sense of agency. It's unsettling, thought-provoking, and deeply emotional. If you love dystopian fiction with a powerful social commentary and aren't afraid of a little discomfort, I definitely recommend this one. Just be prepared for the intense psychological journey it takes you on.

Tender is the Flesh launched Bazterrica to an auto read author for me so I was ecstatic when The Unworthy dropped. I grabbed an audio version from Libro.fm and dove in head first.

As expected, Bazterrica's imagination creates a dark and cruel world that has familiarities to our own, yet is set in some distant future that we can't quite grasp. The sky drops acid rain, the animals are nearly extinct, and food is limited to bugs and dirty water. We learn of flooding and famines and droughts. Natural catastrophes that intensified and overtook the earth and human-made catastrophes like AI that took over in another whole way.

Our narrator is in the Sacred Sisterhood - a convent, but decidedly not. The Sisters are cruel and viscous, meting out punishments and death sentences at whim. The women comprised of the Sacred Sisterhood are all malnourished, sick, and entirely brainwashed. Given new names and identities, they are stripped of their former selves and gods and must think with the collective.

Our narrator shares her story through a somewhat disjointed method of letters. Writing is forbidden but she's found a way to put pen (or coal or blood or dye) to paper or parchment or fabric, and share her history. I loved the snippets of how this world came to be and of the relationships that prevailed even in the darkest of times.

While imaginative and spectacularly written, this book was definitely no Tender is the Flesh. There was violence and gore and rape - but it felt more for shock value than to further the story all that much. The audio was well done and highly entertaining (and also bingeworthy and short).

If you go in wanting Bazterrica from a few years ago, this isn't quite it. But if you go in for a wholly new experience, you'll be glad you did.

Thank you to Libro.fm and Scribner for the copy.

I really tried with this one and made it 50% in. I found it to be repetitive and the plot barely moved forward at all. I just did it enjoy this one as much as I had hoped to.

This one went over my head. I really liked Tender is the Flesh and even though that was horror and crazy in every way i found it riveting. Somehow this book just wasn’t. I think the concepts were a bit too far out there for me.