I have been thinking about "Tender is the Flesh" since I read it, so I was excited to pick this up. This one didn't compel me as much as the former, but there were moments of beautiful prose. Ultimately, I found it so bleak that I didn't want to reach for it, but I was curious to see where it would go. I wish there were more romance or human connection or action, but the setting and world was extremely well-realized.

First, I’d like to give thanks for receiving a digital copy of this book. This is the second book I’ve read by Agustin’s Bazterrica, and there’s some parallels of my experience between reading The Unworthy and Tender is the Flesh. Although I enjoyed it, as it was a quick read with disturbing elements, I can’t help to think that I’m reading an outline of ideas that were not fleshed out to its maximum capacity. Bazterrica’s writing has an excellent way of expressing dystopian futures filled with desecration, isolation, and violence only to leave the reader wanting more. I wish the story would take its time exploring its timeline and elaborating on its concepts instead of springing between future/present/past scenes.
Some disturbing scenes would carry more meaning and be more impactful if it would take its time developing its climax, there’s so many parts where the writing was moving so fast that disturbing scenes didn’t affect me as much as I thought.
I appreciate short books but I think some stories just need to take its time and consequently be longer. This is exactly how I felt about Tender is the Flesh.
Sidenote: at this point, where the amount of media we are exposed to throughout the years is infinite, I think It’s time all authors hang up the traumatic dead cat/dog trope.

Final thoughts: It was a good story, but the pacing is so fast there’s no time to fully savor it. I wish this could’ve been longer, expanded on the effects of AI, pollutants, social decline, all leading to the dystopian “religious” cult where our main protagonist ends up.

Thank you Scribner and NetGalley for an eARC. All opinions are my own.

In The Unworthy, we follow the life of a woman living in a convent, secretly writing her story, after the world has been ravaged by war and nature. When a mysterious newcomer shows up, our main character suddenly begins remembering her past and everything in it, and seeing her present more clearly.

I enjoyed the almost lyrical quality of the text. I thought the author did a good job presenting the mind of someone who has bought into a cult's teachings, and has joined the hive mind. I also liked seeing glimpses of the MC's humanity and rebelliousness versus the behavior and thoughts she had learned while at the House of the Sacred Sisterhood. The contempt the MC shows for the "false god" was amusing.

I enjoyed the pacing of the book and thought the point at which the MC's past was weaved in was good timing; it was far enough in that it didn't overwhelm the story but not so far that we forgot about it.

I recommend this book. It has mild horror elements, some mystery elements, and dystopian elements.

In this new short novel we go to a different location, ruined already by climate disaster “allegedly” and where we find our main character “safe” in a refuge call the Sacred Sisterhood, where you guessed it, lives a cult of women; here’s a brutal and sadistic hierarchy where they label them between Unworthy and Enlightened, and they have to endure very strict rules and punishments.

Our narrator documents all of this in a form of diary, where she reminisces about the life she had before all of this happened, while going through this a new member arrives and with her comes a new opportunity to escape from this madness.

I loved Bazterrica’s writing style in Tender is The Flesh, and this follows that same path with all the graphic violence that characterizes her, but i would’ve love to have more of it’s background story, a lot of it is not very well explained and left to the imagination but in these kind of scenarios i feel like the world building could’ve been more detailed and of course the whole book could’ve been a little bit longer, but still i enjoy it a lot.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advance copy in exchange of an honest review. This book is out now so you can go get it and enjoy it too.

Rating: 3.5 stars

If I could rate this a 4.5 I would! The only reason why I removed the .5 was due to the fact I was left wanting more!!! I feel like this novel could eventually have a second series or a mini novella diving more into the whole Sacred Sisterhood and its true behind the scenes accounts.

I loved every second of this! As I was reading each page all I could think about was the movie "Immaculate" . Truly a mind bending horror book as we are essentially reading the recorded notes from our main character. As you continue through the story it stops and starts at different times as she needs to hid to record her life using anything as ink and hidden from view (from poisonous fruits, left over ink and even blood).

Super excited to share the short story to my friends and family! Another piece of art from Agustina! <3

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.