This was not what I thought it was. Like I thought it was a girl possessed by this flesh eating parasite like something like a symbiote and that she had to cover up murders but this plot was just so out there it almost was impossible to keep up with the plot. There's this side plot with her husband and a bunch of crazy body horror scenes. Highly don't recommend reading if you have a weak stomach, this book made me a little sick sometimes. I think I was just too thrown off by the writing style and how the story went that I just didn't really like this one like some other body horror books I've read before. Still creepy and cool but maybe not for me.

A very, very strange book
I hadn’t read a lot, but I couldn’t help but dnf it. I really wanted to like it and maybe I should give this book another chance some other time. I really enjoy books with body horror and I thought this one is going to be another hit for me, but unfortunately it wasn’t. It was very underwhelming from the beginning and there was nothing that would make me want to keep reading. Maybe it just wasn’t for me. The whole concept of it is amazing though! And the cover obviously- gorgeous!

This book was quite the adventure. I love the Divine Flesh. It was kind of like a bad acid trip at times.

I really liked the premise of this novel and the cover is what drew me in, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was told through a visual medium, such as a movie, anime or manga. I love horror and unusual stories, but I just struggled to stay engaged while reading. The writing seemed very inconsistent, which made it hard to follow along, and the plot just wasn’t intriguing enough to grasp my attention.

I ultimately DNF’d at 25%, but that’s not to say that it’s a bad book. I feel like the right reader would really enjoy it, but unfortunately I didn’t. 😔

‘The Divine Flesh’ is a blend of science fiction and horror, with strong elements of cosmic and body horror. It follows Jennifer Plummer, an interdimensional drug mule and drug addict struggling with her self-destructive tendencies - oh, and the eldritch goddess called the Divine Flesh who shares her body and is in a relationship with her ex-husband, Daryl.

When Daryl is murdered by a group of small-town bigots, Jennifer and the Divine Flesh have to work together to find the culprits, but somehow end up separated at last. Now Jennifer, alongside a resurrected Daryl, is forced to reckon with the unleashed Divine Flesh and her plans for humanity…

The novel is set in Rosetown, Idaho - a small American town with a population of 5000 and a white supremacist conspiracy lurking beneath the churches. Our main character is Jennifer, but we also get a few different POVs: the Divine Flesh herself, Susan and Clay - an alien species called the Mirror People - and a couple of the townspeople. The story explores addiction, identity, justice (and how far should one go to get it), and transformation, all set against a backdrop of cosmic horror and the sheer insignificance of humanity when faced against eldritch beings. The writing is visceral and intense, with a dark tone of introspection, delving deep into the human psyche in all its gory brilliance and capacity for evil. The imagery is poetic and grotesque, and the body horror is superbly written to create a growing sense of unease as the narrative unfolds.

This is unlike any book I’ve ever read; I’m not a horror girly and this is sort of new territory for me. Fortunately, I’m pretty unfazed so I felt able to really appreciate the gory elements woven throughout. I was initially mildly confused for the first quarter or so, but I never felt worried - I always felt the author was in complete control and I would understand in time. And I did. As the threads began to pull together and the plot threads coalesced for the conclusion, I found myself fully immersed in the horror that had arrived in this small American town and desperate to see how this would end. This whole novel was a bizarre trip and I don’t think I’ll ever experience such a bonkers novel again. It is graphic and disgusting at times - but it never felt gratuitous. There was a point and a reason behind the vivid descriptions and imagery.

I’m not sure who I would recommend this to, other than those with a strong stomach. I would advise checking the trigger warnings for sure, but if you feel ready, buckle up and dive straight into the Flesh for a wild, fever dream experience that honestly I really enjoyed.

2⭐️

It’s weird and gross but kinda interesting the writing just lets it down the premise over all is great and the execution of some scenes are done well but the dialogue feels off and plots in the book don’t seem to be explored as thoroughly as they could have been, I’m sure a lot of people would find lots of enjoyment in this book and while it wasn’t for me I don’t think it was bad the writing style just didn’t align with what I like.

The writing is a bit weird it just jumps straight into things which is very confusing and the back and forth between the divine flesh and Jennifer and the divine flesh and Daryl just feels weird I’m not sure why but there just seems to be something about it that just doesn’t seem to connect, the interactions between all characters just seem flat and like people having a conversation for the first time I their lives. The writing of the divine flesh in general really throws me she just kinda really annoying more than anything not even creepy or anything just annoying honestly Daryl was more creepy than anyone else in this book to me

I feel like this book should have been split into 2 whether that be 2 novellas or 2 full books I’m not sure but it felt like the mirror peoples story couldn’t be expanded on too much because the majority of the book was centred around earth and what was going on with the divine flesh making it so that that had to be the main focus making it so the mirror peoples story couldn’t be a explored as it needed to be


Thank you to NetGalley and Dark Matter INK for the digital arc

This book is an absolute wild ride, and while I can’t say I enjoyed the audiobook narration the book was such an original and fun ride to take! I mean, a demonic flesh goddess lives shares your body and has sex with your ex husband because they’re in love with you?! SIGN ME UP. It is so weird and kooky and quirky, but it definitely deserves a better audiobook! I will say the prose can be a bit confusing at times. Sometimes you’ll read something and go, “what the heck did I just read” completely confused as to what just happened or what it means. BUT I loved the road the author took us down especially once the flesh goddess was separate from Jennifer. She starts going on her own reign of terror. And the best part is that the ending is open-ended, leaving us to believe that the reign of terror and destruction will continue, which is the type of future we can all relate to in our normal lives.

This book was weirdly wonderful, exactly how I like my books! Super unique concept and I enjoyed reading this.

I really wanted to like this, the premise of it sounded so good! A woman suffering with a drug edition has to share her body with an Eldritch God?! It sounds to unique and intriguing, however I found it so hard to follow along with the story because of the multiple subplots and also because sometimes it was hard to figure out if it was Jennifer was talking, or the Divine Flesh.

The book felt incredibly slow, I kept losing interest and just didn’t want to pick it up, but I also wanted to give it a chance. I did like the premise of the story but maybe I wasn’t the intended audience, even though I do like horror books and I don’t mind gore at all, this was just too long winded for me. It was repetitive and I was confused multiple times but that could just be a me problem 😂

Unfortunately I DNFd at 30%, I didn’t want to force myself to read anymore. I will still recommend this to people that like body horror and gore.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I was so excited to read this after finding out the premise. Sharing your body with an eldritch god? Incredible. The execution? Not so incredible.

Now, I really enjoyed Huff’s writing style and I think the body horror aspects were done really well.

However, I think Huff was trying to accomplish too much at once. The plot was dragged down by a number of subplots and by the expansive cast of characters. The internal dialogue between TDF and Jennifer made it difficult to keep track of who was talking. Overall, I feel like this would’ve been better as a novella than a novel.

Well, I must say, I read the entirety of this novel with a perpetual grimace on of my face, broken by bouts of outrage at the divine flesh. I myself would want to claw and pry this cosmos deity away from my body (clearly, I’m team Jennifer). I think the inclusion of internal dialogue to depict their relationship was incredibly effective as I felt infuriated by her infestation of Jennifer’s body. As soon as I encountered the Divine Flesh’s first soireé, I knew this was going to be a messy chaotic ride that I wouldn’t be able to look away from. The inclusion of the internal dialogue between Jennifer and the Divine Flesh build an uncompromising relationship that blurs the boundary of antagonism. Due to this effectiveness, I would have to beg, do not even get me started on their other commonality, their love for Jennifer’s ex, Daryl Plummer. I fear if I begin to write of how frustrated and sympathetic I was towards Jennifer I’ll get riled up again. I feel the ire building as I write this. I tip my metaphorical hat to you Drew for your ability to make me feel so viscerally for these fictional characters.

The open descriptions of vivid body horror, constant shifting perspectives, and the tense backdrop of world, was overall extremely effective. Whilst personally I would not label this extreme body horror, for those of you wanting to fable into this genre, I feel this would be an incredible place to start (if you have a strong stomach - don’t say I didn’t warn you). However, immersing myself within this world was initially affected by the pacing, as I felt this could have been created through a layered experience, although, having said that, this overloading maximalist type of style I believe was designed the demonstrate the style of experience this novel was going to provide you with - that being of a sensory overload. What else would you expect from an interdental drug mule? This novel felt like a psychedelic trip with multiple perspective seamlessly woven throughout that work to build a horrific world of glorious fleshy chaos.

Due to the star rating system, I have rounded my rating up from a 3.5 to 4 stars. I would like to say thank you to the author, Drew Huff, the publisher, Dark Matter Ink, and Net Galley, for providing me with an advance eARC for review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc of “Divine flesh”

I’m going to keep this short and sweet. In the current market I struggle to find horror books that are for me, I have a very specific taste and this one just didn’t work out for me. Mostly, I’d like to highlight my qualms with the font and formatting of this book (it hurt my eyes). I know there’s not many ways to convey the separation from the voice in the head and the protagonist, and so I do give a little pass to the author. However, it just wasn’t satisfying to read it like that. I do think this book will be a hit and many people will like it.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me at 50%. I wanted to give this book a fair chance despite not connecting with it early on, so that I could give a fair opinion.

Firstly I really appreciated the very unique premise of this story, which is the thing that drew me to this book. The idea of a young women, suffering with drug addiction, sharing her body with a murderous goddess sounded so much fun! I honestly don’t think I have read another book with this concept, so hats off for the originality! I also very much enjoyed the body gore horror element, Huff did not shy away from writing very graphic and visceral scenes.

However, the reason why I had to DNF this book was because of the writing style and execution. I found it very difficult to follow the story, as there were various subplots being introduced, with very little context given. I think I would have enjoyed this more if it just focused on one subplot (specifically the love triangle between Jen, DF and Daryl). Characters were also being introduced, again, with very little background information, leaving me to try and cipher, who they were and what their relevance was to the rest of the plot.

I would still recommend this to someone who is looking for a cosmic horror story, with messy morally grey characters, toxic relationships and body gore, which also reads like an acid trip! It just unfortunately wasn’t for me…

Thank you NetGalley and Dead INK for providing me with this E-arc to review.

I am a huge fan of extreme horror and I would say this is definitely more of an extreme horror book. This book actually exceeded my expectations. I did read the synopsis before reading, however the book was so much better than I thought it would be. This book is unserious, gory, disgusting, unhinged and filled with body horror. I would definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings, unless you’re a degenerate like myself. I will definitely be checking out more work from this author.

Honestly, this was way more hopeful than I was expecting for a book that leans hard into the Cronenbergian gore and wanting to be assimilated into a giant pulsating flesh goddess. For a book that starts out about an addict who's acting as a drug mule for interdimensional gods and her ex only wants to be with the Divine Flesh (aka the parasite goddess inside her), this has a lot of (positive!) things to say about recovery and addiction and the possibility for new starts. Doesn't entirely land the landing for me (it feels a bit like wishful thinking on Huff's part), but is still worth a read this spring.

The Divine Flesh revolves around Jennifer who shares her body with an eldritch God named The Divine Flesh, also referred to as She or Her. Through various circumstances they get seperated as entities, and it is up to Jennifer and her childhood friend Daryl to stop Her from breaking the world.

"They'd ask, Jennifer, what's wrong?
I'd tell them: I've got a flesh-bending cosmic goddess trapped in my skin, and both of us hate each other."

I DNFed The Divine Flesh at 50%. Very early on I felt this novel was not for me, but I wanted to give this book a proper shot so I'd have a good amount of information to write up a fairly well informed review. Sadly my gripes with it stayed the same throughout.

First of all I think the premise for this novel is amazing. It is the whole reason I picked this up. Sharing your body with an eldritch entity? Pure nightmare fuel. However the execution of this was not for me. While I like horror, I am more of a fan of the psychological aspects of it, and expected that to be a big part of The Divine Flesh. The focus though was moreso on body horror. It felt written to shock and disgust. This might work very well for a certain audience, but not for me personally.

Secondly I would have preferred this novel to be a lot shorter. Maybe even a novella. The writing style is overly descriptive, especially when it comes to the body horror, but also in its overly bloated cast of characters. There are too many storylines that all start up in the first (out of four) parts, which make this a very confusing read. This leads to it all feeling very slow paced. I would have preferred if Huff had mostly focused on the main storyline.

"Some people have mommy issues, some have daddy issues, but everyone has God issues."

While the characters in this novel are wholeheartedly unlikeable, I do have to say that they have interesting aspects to their personality that suck you in at times. The messed up three way relationship between Jennifer and Daryl and The Divine Flesh is a highlight of the story.

The Divine Flesh might be for you if you enjoy extensive descriptions of body horror, a dash of existential horror, messy characters with messy relationships, and descriptive prose.

Extremely gross and full of gore, Drew Huff's novel "The DIvine Flesh" sets out to be the most it's title can be. Think of the average Hannibal episode, multiply the budget by 10, add aliens and this is that novel. Everyone you meet is morally gray at best and unreemeable at worse, so when they are suddenly at the mercy of a newly freed God can they survive? I never knew where the plot was going, so many twists and turns. Huff scares me with creativity and I kinda want more.

As much as I wish I didn't I chose to DNF this. The extremely descriptive writing and pacing made the plot feel incredibly slow, like walking through sludge. I keep picking it back up only to get through a chapter and put off coming back. This is not to say I don't recommend this, just not for me. Two books I would compare it to is "The Library at Mount Char" and "Maeve Fly". If you love gore, lore, and Americana this should be right up your alley.

I gave this multiple tries and could not finish it. Jennifer and Daryl are not main characters I can root for. The Book is well written and features The Divine Flesh's dialog interspersed with Jennifer's. The body horror is also very well written and descriptive.

I understand Jennifer's self destructive nature is part of her characterization, but wow, she's bad. I also can't completely fault Daryl for loving DF, however, I hate how much they rub their relationship in Jennifer's face. Hopefully, this book reaches its intended audience.

I was very drawn in by the cover art and thought this would be a fun, campy detour from my typical genres. I was very impressed by Huff's prose, and I admired the writing style, detail, and characterization. She effectively built tension and some really intriguing monsters. The Divine Flesh herself alone ~almost~ kept me reading. However, I chose to DNF this book approximately a quarter of the way through. I couldn't connect with any of the characters or the plot; the twists, turns, and terrible decisions were confusing and stressing me out; and I found myself only picking up the book to read in order to review it.
Here's the thing—this is absolutely going to be THE BOOK for a lot of people. I am not a SciFi reader, but there is enough aliens, Eldritch monsters, and Lynchian quirkiness going on that I suspect SciFi/horror readers will be more interested. I am torn when it comes to giving a starred review, as I typically star low for DNFs. However, I think Huff deserves a higher score than that, as I think that she has crafted a book that will be compelling, exciting, and readable for a lot of readers. Giving three stars as a compromise.

I nearly DNF’d this book multiple times. I’m not a huge fan of trailer trash Americana writing and horrible people being horrible to each other as a plot, and the violence and despairing slog of living was a lot to read through. So I put it down. And then I picked it up. And put it down. And picked it up. And then I got it. I couldn’t eat while reading it, especially if I was having a breakfast smoothie because it was a little too pink and fleshy for comfort, but there’s other times to read. And I wanted to. Because now I understood how little my aversion to the content mattered, in fact it was part of it. And there were more important things going on than just my discomfort. I was plopped into the middle of a rollicking reeling screeching and screaming roller coaster ride that didn’t let up, only demanded that I run to catch up, and disoriented and nauseous I could only obey.
This book is literally called The Divine Flesh but I had to be bludgeoned over the head with various representations of how people relate to god and religion before I worked out what was going on. There is a line I wrote down - “every motion eliciting pain aching knees exhaustion every pain a work of love and the labours became a sacrament.” This is the line where I started to truly feel like I understood what was going on, or at least started to get something. All gods demand something from us, whether our pain or our love or devotion. The lord your god is a jealous god, eat of her and become. God can save you but only if you become something other than yourself in the process. Religion is a comfort and a shield and a drug. I know many queer people who have (or had) a complicated relationship with religion, and whether you believed or not, the belief of others, especially close family members or local community are still thrust upon you. You are made into something other.
This concept of the other is explored strongly throughout the horror genre and The Divine Flesh is no different. In a small town who is else is there to other than those who most commonly are deemed dangerous to the social order? Immigrants and junkies and queers. Yet the point of view character is Jennifer, a junkie struggling to make right before falling off the wagon again and again, partly due to the fact that she shares a body with the godhead Divine Flesh herself. And the white members of the small town who decry any upheaval of their social order are murderers and accomplices to atrocities. Injustice has been done and it will be rectified through whatever means necessary. Within this, so much flesh and viscera and rot are described in loving detail to render terrible scenes both abject and compelling, nauseating and arousing.
Having been dragged through the entrails of this book all the way to the climax, the relative softness of its ending felt strange and unsatisfactory, though I don’t really know how I would have changed it. I spent so long wanting the best for Jennifer, but when she got what she needed the only way she could have, it felt rushed and sudden and confused. I had to go back over the last pages a few times. It made sense given the themes of the book but maybe it could have used another page or two. I’m not really sure.
There are so many things I liked about this book. The characters were extremely compelling and I loved Jennifer and DF’s relationship and I thought Susan was very cool and the concept of the mirror people as a whole felt imaginative and original. The exploration of different types of godhood, of ways to be a god and be worshipped compared to the different types of worship to make, and how most of it comes down to wanting to love and be loved in the end is maybe the reason I continued to read despite the initial aura of desolation and despair. It is not a book for the faint of heart, it is not a story to read while you are eating, especially if it’s something soft and pinkish. But maybe you have a stronger stomach than me, in which case good luck and enjoy as you wish.