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.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Let me preface by saying that I love body horror novels, but this one was way different than I anticipated. I really enjoyed it, but I feel like the general public might not want to pick this one up as it's not for the faint of heart. Good if that's what you're used to reading, but make sure to read trigger warnings! A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads for release. 3.65 stars

I’ll start by saying that I don’t think I was the intended audience for this book. I read the synopsis and interpreted something different from what the story was, and now that I’ve read the book I do not think the synopsis was misleading but the book itself just wasn’t my typical preference in reading material. I loved the body horror and intense descriptions but I feel like the wording got a little repetitive and so it stopped being as impactful. As far as plot goes I think this is an amazing concept and I would love to see it come to life in a film or even as an audiobook, but it was hard to follow the format of Jennifer and TDF monologue along with the prayers and other commentary. Overall the book was interesting, engaging, and unlike anything I’ve read before - but I didnt enjoy it as much as I believe others would. 2.25 for me. Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this eBook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wild ride and a great reading experience. I loved the concept and how different it is to other things I've read.
It had lots of different plot points and elements that the author mixed together to create an interesting, fast paced story. It'd consistently moving and changing and as a reader you can't imagine where it will head next.

The book has such a specific and distinct voice that really works well with the horror, comedic at times, very dark, emotional elements. I thought the multiple Pov style also fitted with the narrative well.

This will be a book that I'll recommend to other readers, especially horror lovers who want a modern take on Eldritch horrors.

DNF strikes again! This story is very unhinged and focused on body horror, but it lacks a ton of context and explanation. This seems to be a theme with the ARCs I’ve read this year… I felt that it jumped right into the plot with no explanation, but it continues with no explanation and feels like it jumps around a lot.

While I really liked the body horror, the cosmic horror, and the Eldritch monsters, I'm not sure if this really worked out as a full-length novel. There almost felt like there were too many themes trying to be combined, where a focus on one in a smaller novella would have been more successful.

The divine flesh lives inside Jennifer and now and then she puts Jennifer to sleep and takes over her body.

She eats, sleep, loves, shags, kills and regenerates Jennifer’s body making it impossible for her to get rid of the divine flesh.

… and trust me! She does try!

And whilst living with this god like being, Jennifer tries to live her life of doing deliveries and drinking to forget, since her marriage failed and now her husband is only interested in being with the divine flesh.

But what would happen if the divine flesh would agree to release Jennifer and face the world by itself?

If you’re someone that likes to have the full picture of what’s going on this book is for you.

The amount of details in each scene makes you feel like you’re watching a movie.

Nothing has been left behind and every character has a story, including larvae.

Add to this a good amount of gore and romance. It’s almost like a match made in heaven.

This Divine Flesh is going to be released in March and if you’re into cosmic horror you better make sure this book is on your TBR.

I was really curious about this from the blurb, I thought it would be weird and it definitely was, but in a really great way. It's bizarre and different, but oddly emotional in places and funny in others. It's definitely one to go blind going into, it will be such a pleasant surprise. Excited to read more from this author

I was excited about this story and the premise sounded great. However, I chose to DNF this book because I didn't enjoy the writing style. It was unnecessarily complicated and a lot of words were used to say something short. I truly believe the story is/would be good, but the writing style wasn't for me. That being said, I'm sure plenty of others will have no issue with the writing and enjoy this much more.

4.25🌟

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc of this.

This book was weird, like the kind of weird that I eat up all day. Like what the hell did I just read weird. And then when I thought it couldn’t get more weird, it did. I can’t wait to pick up the physical copy when it’s released!

DNF @ 23% I really tried to push through and get a decent amount read but I just couldn’t get into this. The premise of this book sounded so unique and something up my alley, but unfortunately it was a miss. At a certain point we started to follow other pov’s/different events taking place, that made this feel too busy to keep up. I think part of that complaint is the pacing.

What I did love was this incredibly unique plot & the “The Divine Flesh” character (truly felt really well developed) which was my fav.

*Thank you NetGalley for providing this ARC!*