What an incredible, haunting, fever dream of a book! I went into this book blind as this was my first of Agustina Bazterrica’s titles, but it most certainly won’t be my last. I requested this because the description hooked me in and because it was reminiscent of such powerhouse authors as Mariana Enriquez (Our Share of Night).

The story is from the point of view of an unnamed woman, a member of the mysterious Sacred Sisterhood. She is writing about her life - using whatever materials she can cobble together, berries, old ink, her blood. As the story starts, the reader is in the dark about much of the narrative but as the story continues to unfold, clarity arrives. We go from the quite often hurried or panicky present, in which the main character is attempting to organise her thoughts, to moments of her long-buried past where more information about her life slowly reveals itself.

I really enjoyed Bazterrica’s writing style and the description was exquisite. I am not a highlighter at all, but I had to highlight some of these descriptions, the words just give a completely vivid picture of what the author is describing and what the protagonist is going through.

This book had me hooked from page one right up to the end. The sense of impending danger and haste that emanates from our main character, was reflected in my reading - I had to keep going to find out what would happen!

This was everything I wanted it to be! It was weird, dark, thoughtful and intriguing. I loved the writing, the absence of dialogue, the lack of explanations and the general intelligence that went into crafting this text.

From the first page, you are hooked. Taken into a dystopian universe where you are no longer the master of your domain. Everything you believed in, had faith in and even hoped to become is now the very nightmare you tried so hard to escape. Unexpected wonders intertwined with heartbreaking moments will keep your eyes peeled, your mind running and your hope teetering on the edge of your soul.

There is so much to like about this book. It's unsettling, and you feel like Bazterrica is constantly trying to knock her reader off kilter, which I really enjoy from my novels - I like not knowing where things are going to go and how the story is going to end. The atmosphere is also well established, and her descriptions of the punishments experienced by the Unworthies are visceral and will leave most readers feeling extremely uncomfortable. This is a book that you are going to feel physically as you read it.

The one thing I felt was missing was character development - I felt like I could never really get under the skin of the narrator, but this is a short novel and it seemed to me that this was the area that was sacrificed as a result. The flow of the story also felt a little disjointed, but this could have been intentional due to the fact that we're reading it through someone's clandestine note taking, but it could also be from the fact that it has been translated. This definitely worked itself out in the second half though, which is why I've given the novel 4 stars rather than 3. It read more smoothly as it went on and the ending is impressively jarring.

I felt slightly underwhelmed by The Unworthy mostly because I had such high expectations of Agustina Bazterrica after Tender is the Flesh. The first few chapters set the tone well and the writing style flowed beautifully (big props to the translator too) but it felt quite rushed in the end, especially towards the last two/ three chapters. I enjoyed the post-apocalyptic landscape but the characters felt undercooked and at times repetitive. Bazterrica is such a talent and you can see her explore new territory here while old themes (dystopia, gore, absolute authority, faith) still resonate. Overall enjoyed but greedily wanted more, 3.5 stars!

Bazterrica's writing is the star of this show: she creates an intense atmosphere of dark shot through with the red of blood as female bodies are tortured, mutilated and killed.

While the setting is vaguely post-apocalyptic with ecological disaster and everything poisoned, there's a strong sense that this is not just a potential future but is also a twisted version of our present: the structuring of power, the dictatorial hierarchies, the injustice upon which these are built, the complicity and fear, and the sacrifices of resistance as well as the leveraging of organized religion based on mystery are all familiar.

In fact, this is almost too familiar. There's almost a mythic sense of knowing what has to happen with tropes of love, revelation and sacrifice. A bit Handmaid's Tale without the foreground of plot or extensive world-building, this feels too long for the lack of development - but the writing is lush with its uncompromising imagery of brutality.

OhmyGod. What did I just read? This book is horrifying from the very first page and kept me hooked till the very end. I knew Agustina Bazterrica was a star when I read "Tender is the Flesh" and was expecting something like it but this book breaks boundaries of comprehension! It's terrifying to read and you still won't be able to put it down because the story keeps your trapped throughout. And the more you read, the more you learn about the House of the Sacred Sisterhood. The more you unravel the lies and the horrors of the place. The more you realise how the protagonist got to this God forsaken place! But you'll be left in awe throughout. That much I can promise.

The dystopian world described and the many, many torments faced by The Unworthy and the others in the House of the Sacred Sisterhood is so close to reality, it opens your eyes to real horrors of the world.

By the end of it, I was crying ugly tears and could feel my heart beating wildly, praying for the protagonist to escape.

Agustina, you never fail to amaze me with your work. I'm speechless after reading this and yet am somehow capable of penning down my thoughts for this review.

This is a must-read for all dystopian horror lovers and I'm really really grateful to Pushkin Press for having given me the opportunity to read and early copy of the book.

I could not bring myself to read anymore! I enjoyed Tender Is The Flesh, however this book felt empty of any real plot. The writing was eerie but it just didn’t lead to anything. I was bored and didn’t care about anything happening. There was just no plot!!

I loved it, this was right up my street. Dark and bleak, I enjoyed how it didn't feel the need to over explain the world the author created. I'll definitely be checking out her previous work.

The imagery was cursed and excitingly weird, and I thought that the ending was string in that in all came down to man's baseness and hunger rather than any supernatural rebirth - just the same old people using fear and power for their own ends.

4.75⭐️

I devoured this book. It was absolutely as horrifying and strange as I hoped it would be!

The indoctrination and religious manipulation aspects were so well-written and so disturbing - creating a horrifying and bleak atmosphere that worked so well for the book. The violence within the Sacred Sisterhood and the constant fear and paranoia felt by everyone within captured the sense of isolation and hopelessness perfectly. I think it was the ideal setting for this sort of story.

The entire world that Bazterrica has created of a dystopian wasteland suffering a climate crisis was fascinating, and I enjoyed getting insights into how the world functions, both inside and outside of the Sacred Sisterhood. The world-building, especially within the religion, was amazing and really unique and I loved reading about the narrator's changing feelings about the world she lives in and her place within it.

The sapphic rep was really great as well! I was a little sad that the love interest/catalyst for the book's main events (Lucía) wasn't introduced until so late, but with such a short book and so much world-building to do I understand why that was the case. Once Lucía does arrive, however, the narrator's newfound desire to survive and her questioning of everything she had previously accepted was great and I definitely felt like the book was at its most engaging and impactful once Lucía was involved.

This was just a well-written story set in a desolate world about what inspires people to keep going even when faced with impossible odds, all told in a creepy, bleak, and powerful way.

The only reason I can't give it 5 stars is that I don't think it quite had the same shocking and gut-wrenching impact of Tender is the Flesh. I know it might not be completely fair to compare the two but I feel like the commentary and messages were conveyed more powerfully in Tender is the Flesh. Even though I loved this and am ecstatic that Bazterrica has written sapphic characters (I very much hope that she continues to do so in the future!), for me Tender is the Flesh was just a little stronger in its themes and overall impact.

Thank you to NetGalley, Pushkin Press, and Agustina Bazterrica for providing me with an eARC of this book in return for an honest review.

If you thought you heard a tinny scream in the distance a few days ago - you did. It was my squeal of utter pleasure after Pushkin Press approved my ARC request on Netgalley. I had been doing (impatient) dances of joy ever since I saw that the translation of a new Agustina Bazterrica was forthcoming, and it did not disappoint. The novel is as merciless as Tender Is the Flesh, offering a terrifying vision of a post-apocalyptic future that only Bazterrica could create. The bleakness in The Unworthy is cumulative, so I won't give away any details, but the less you know, the harder the blow when you start to understand the relentlessness of the horror in the world of The Unworthy. The novel could easily be read and dismissed as a post-apocalyptic cli-fi or whatever other genre fiction, but that is where Bazterrica's genius lies: she describes the horrors that are just around the corner and asks us to think about what is being done in our name and how we came to live in (a slippery step away from?) the worst of all possible worlds.

Having recently devoured Tender is the Flesh, I was desperate to get my hands on this new novel, and it absolutely didn't disappoint. Dark, seductive, and truly haunting.