Gripping, mysterious, and beautifully crafted, The Divine Flesh is a darkly captivating journey into faith, flesh, and the unknown. Drew Huff’s prose pulses with intensity as he blends horror, mythology, and philosophical depth in a way that keeps you on the edge of your seat. This is a story that questions everything — from the body to the soul — with power and precision. Unforgettable and thought-provoking.

This book is a fever dream wrapped in cosmic horror, and I mean that in the best way possible. If you're looking for something that will shake you to your core and leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about love, then this is the book for you. It’s equal parts disturbing and beautiful—gruesome yet oddly mesmerizing.
Thanks netgalley.

The story was unique and engaging. There were slight pacing issues in the middle but otherwise, I liked the writing style and the way the ending unfolded seamlessly

DNF at 25%.

I hate DNF-ing, but this just wasn’t for me. I can see why some people would enjoy it - the concept is interesting and the writing is rich with detail - but the prose was a bit bloated for my liking, with too many narrative threads too early on, and it was becoming a bit of an effort to keep track of everything. Also, despite the warnings, I didn’t quite anticipate just how extreme and graphic it would be, which pushed it out of my comfort zone. Definitely something to be mindful of if you’re thinking of reading this!

I’m giving 2 stars for the creativity and the layered character work. The author is clearly talented, but I don’t think I’m the intended audience for this one.

This weird horror novel was, admittedly, not usually the type of story I find myself drawn to, but I couldn't put it down.
The story revolves around Jennifer, a woman who struggles with substance abuse. self-hate, and sharing her body with an eldritch abomination named the Divine Flesh. Right away Jennifer's character caught my interest. She's an unlikeable protagonist who spends much of the story fighting the urge to self-destruct and the desire to be a better person, if not for herself than for her husband Dale. But Dale doesn't love her, he loves the Divine Flesh. This is a book that it, at its heart, a love story. A dysfunctional love story, but a love story nonetheless. Huff's story explores what it is to love, in all its horrible, wonderful glory. There's also a murder mystery, a sub plot involving interdimensional aliens that lay their eggs in human bodies, and a whole lot of sex, body horror, and violence. Reading The Divine Flesh felt like a fever dream, or a bad acid trip, and it was hard to make sense of what was happening at times. The writing sometimes seemed to be all over the place and moving at a fever pace, whole at other points it dragged and went off on tangents. This book won't be for everyone, especially people who want likeable characters and a straight forward story. If you've never known someone who struggles with substance abuse it may be hard to relate to Jessica or understand her decisions. But if you’re all for gray morality, the weird and grotesque, and storytelling that pushes the limits of good taste definitely give The Divine Flesh a try.
Thank you to Dark Matter INK and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The book has a wonderful cover; I love the pink representing femininity and a heart in the middle, and then in representation of "the other things" in the book, there are the mouths that seem to be taking over.
When it comes to the book itself, I could not bring myself to enjoy it. I tried many times, and even went back and restarted it, but it just did not work out for me. The story tries to take up too many elements, and it becomes convoluted, only for there to not be much that matters in matters of plot. I consider this to be a very original concept for modern times (older eldritch horror but mixing modern women), but the story did not manage to make much sense and it was very frustrating.

This novel is a lot, but that is by design. If you read the description and the content warnings, and then look at the cover, well, you should have an idea of what you are getting into. With that said, there is some order to be found in this obscene, fleshy chaos. The writing itself is very visceral, it brings you in and leaves you slicked with sweat and other secretions. It moves quickly, and as the narrative goes deeper it moves across a few different character POVs seamlessly. This, combined with the fact that there is a good deal of internal/telepathic conversations means it is constant work to know where you are, the narrative is slippery and moves around. This isn’t to say confusing, but feverish and disorienting in ways that serve the story and the experience. There are a number of narrative twists and turns, as described in the jacket copy, but it does a sensational job of confusing the ideas of protagonist and antagonist. Within that vibrating, maximalist narrative there is strong world-building, what small-town, rural Idaho looks like, especially the view from a trailer that sits in front of another burnt out trailer. The environment and the characters populating it feel real, or as close as they can in this story. Nominally our central character is Jennifer, but the Divine Flesh and Jenifer’s ex Daryl are equally important pivot point the story rotates around. All of them feel robust and exciting. Obviously The Divine Flesh doesn’t feel “real” in the sense of being a character you can relate to, but the depiction of the whims and intentions of eldritch deities is explored in interesting ways. Both Jennifer and Daryl are broken, complicated messes, but from that damage they are trying to find themselves however they know how. They are trying to find themselves and each other, and learn what it might mean to be human in a world that has been almost nothing but pain for them from their traumatic, damaging childhoods up until the present. The pace of the story never slows down, so we don’t spend too many contemplative moments with the characters as I would like, but they are still developed, and they have satisfying journeys to go on throughout the story.

Do you like cosmic horror? Are you into the most horrific body horror imaginable? Do you want to be engrossed in the most descriptive and otherworldly story possible? Then you must read 👏 this 👏 book! A big thank you to Drew and NetGalley for this advanced read 🖤

Such uniquely captivating descriptions of the most disturbing and mind-bending body transformations, along with witty lines and a suspenseful plot that keeps your eyes glued to every page. While I found the writing style took some getting used to, the moment I was in the depths of the story, there was no turning back until I finished the book. I also appreciated the transparency of all TWs (so please check before reading ⚠️)

Cannot wait to see what Drew comes up with next 👀

Thank you to Dark Matter INK and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

How to best describe this novel... Well, I think another reviewer's statement that it is a maximally body horror text is extremely apt. It reminds me of the series Parasyte drenched in meth addiction. It is weird fiction Miltonian eldritch abomination meat-cute from a MORK-BÖRK lens. It is any and every Content Warning splattered in bubble gum pink pestilence. It is a God's purview made of INSIDE, Slither unblinking foul realness eucharistically taken to its reality-bending conclusion by way of Troma film. It is all this and more and I guess this is a way to say that it might not be for everyone, but all told, I had a good time.

I thought this novel did a mostly effective job of exploring the themes it was delving into, with some of the middle bits muddling and slowing the pace down. The medium of body/extreme horror to discuss religious trauma, bodily autonomy, trust, and consent was a daunting task, and at a certain point, the unindation of violence and bodily decimation (as Susan put it, "annihilation") goes from overwhelming to desensitization wherein potentially more impact full moments are somewhat deadened by the horrors already experienced. I'm not sure if this was the authorial intent, but it was my experience of the work. I did appreciate the copious references and allusion to other works of such as The Inferno, Paradise Lost, and stories of Promethian challenges to the gods. I felt these moments were some of the strongest, and it should go without saying that the descriptive acumen is impeccable. I could see this work possibly being discussed in a class about extreme or religious horror. All told, it is a story trying to tell something, and for extreme horrorlit, that should be acknowledged, even if aspects of the B and C plots left me feeling as cold as... well, you'll see.

This was a really interesting idea that I feel had a lot of potential. Unfortunately I don’t think it worked very well for me. I am a fan of horror but I felt that this was confusing to understand, and not in a way that felt intentional. Sometimes a reader is meant to be confused and then more information is naturally revealed later, but here it just felt like it was assumed the reader already understood and context was only given in crumbs. I think the cover art is really cool and definitely drew me to to this book, but overall it was not my cup of tea.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy.

This took to about the 30% mark to catch up with the blurb and that´s pretty long... It is very violent, very gory, so not for the squeamish but I also found the description of the violence and gore to be a bit long and I got bored a bit by them? I do like fictional violence but there are only so many ways organs can be taken out and rearranged that hold my attention tbh.
I am not sure whether I liked the stream of consciousness-y style (still need to think about that) but I did enjoy the use of the parenthesis and italics, that was clever and well done. Having two different characters 's PV in first person was a bit confusing at times. Not too bad because they were distinguishable, though. I loved D.F., btw. Great character. Everybody else was very unlikeable to me but also nicely fleshed out and believable, down to the many side characters.

I am not convinced the mirror people storyline was needed as their contribution to the story could have been done in another way and I took nothing away from their being there. Might have gotten a little too long through that?
At some point I thought, I reached the big finale and then saw I had another 50% left. Our MC's getting caught, running off, making a plan, getting caught etc... could maybe have been cut a bit?
Do prepare for lots of theological discussions, it might be that the word "god" was used as much as the letter e. Also lots of futile relationship discussions and self analysis for the MC's.

I was expecting to have more fun in a psychotic, manic way, this was not the romp I was hoping for but overall I did enjoy it.

This book took me by surprise almost the entire time after looking at the description beforehand I was expecting a lot but boy oh boy was I still surprised. I enjoyed it because of how the writing was not afraid to get unhinged for the subject that it was portraying in the story. It was a little too graphic for me but overall an enjoyable read for a newish horror reader like myself.

The divine flesh - Drew Huff

Where to start, the book was chaotic and messy at first, took me a bit to get
into it as the pacing started off a bit slow, expecting you to stay interested
because of the world and the body horror, which were enough for me. The world
also is a bit supernatural coded which i quite liked.

Halfway through the book it dawned on me that the chaotic messy style is on
purpose and perfectly fits jennifer and the story. The gore and body horror is
beautifully described and the characters are very realistic. They don't always
make the smartest choices and you'll end up feeling bad for them which is what i
quite enjoyed.

The only thing id say i enjoyed less about the book was the subplot with the
mirror people, id loved to have that wrapped up a bit sooner and focus more on
the divine flesh

If you like messed up things happening to characters and described in a
beautifully gruesome way, with characters who are awful in the best way, with a
hint of jennifer's body, you'll like this one.

Drawn to this book by the cover and the title.... and boy did it not disappoint. top tier body horror written with sharp prose and never gets away from itself with the grossness.

Unfortunately, I did not connect with this book. I found it impossible to keep track of what was happening throughout the book. This may be because of the way that the e-book was set out, sentences being disjointed to the point where I had to back track and re-read things. I did however really appreciate the way that Drew Huff had a story to tell that was so different from anything I’ve read before. I will continue to look out for their work in the future.

The Divine Flesh tells the story of Jennifer and “Divine Flesh” who is a cosmic goddess that shares a body with her.

“This is not my body. I’m not burning”

The world is filled with cosmic creatures, gods, mirror people, and so on. Our poor girl has to share a body with the Divine Flesh, and apparently lost her lover to her as well. Daryl is a jerk, tbh, I didn’t like him from the start. The author keeps the characters grey throughout the story anyway. It’s good, but it also kept me out of the story.
The writing style is literally “alive and breathing”. It’s fast, descriptive but also leaves enough room for the reader to fill in the gaps which adds a new color to the reading experience.

Still, i felt like the action could be written better. I didn’t feel like the balance between action and emotion was present in the book. Something kept the characters emotions vague.

I give this book 3 stars, because i loved the creative aspects of it, but the reading process wasn’t as smooth as i’d like it to be.

This novel has a very interesting premise, but the execution is lacking. So many main and side characters get introduced without explanation, and the details of their lives just leaves one confused. This novel almost reads like a sequel with the characters discussing events that have taken place prior, but don't ever get explained to the audience.

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up this book. All I knew after reading the synopsis was I was going to get a weird book, and I love weird books. The book is unhinged and chaotic, to say the least but it was fast paced (although too fast at times for my liking), full of body horror, and I felt like I was the one on meth reading it, which means I loved it!

The unhinged mayhem of this cosmic body horror is absolutely mad in the best possible way.

"𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗙𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀. 𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱, 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗵-𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸-𝗜-𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱-𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗵."

And that deliriously capricious cosmic god/entity/living nightmare, Divine Flesh, shares a body with the unwilling young drug mule and addict, Jennifer Plummer, who deals in weird alien eggs and just wants the body interloper/hijacker 𝗼𝘂𝘁. And just when she thinks she's found a solution to her problem, it all gets rampantly worse. Jennifer-Baby just might cause the end of the world...

There is a lot happening in this novel and yes, admittedly parts of the plot are a little hazy. Like a gonzo Hunter Thompson writing eldritch horror with a dash of Tarantino. But somehow this chaos ultimately didn't bother me. Even those distracting side stories and characters were interesting in their own equally bizarro way. The writing is snappy, sharp, beautiful and at times positively dreamy in the most disturbing way. The grotesqueries on offer here are sublimely alluring.

Everything about this was like a drug-induced deranged Cronenberg nightmare. It's an absolute wild ride, and although I found the ending a bit drawn out I still really enjoyed this book and look forward to more of this author's work.

Ever wonder what you get when you put cenobites and Marvel's Venom in a blender then sprinkle in some meth?
The Divine Flesh!

Jennifer and The Divine Flesh share the same body. Neither of them wants this living situation, but both of them want to be with Jennifer's ex-husband, Daryl. The problem is, Jennifer is a self destructive addict drug mule for aliens. And The Divine Flesh is a deity whose idea of love is tearing apart the bodies of people and reassembling them as her sycophants. So let's find out how they deal with being separated for the first time after taking a magical drug? Separation anxiety or...mass killing spree?

This is a fast paced, high energy story with lots of narratives and dialogues and the inner thoughts of people due to telepathy. So I had to take a break from it because I found myself losing the thread a few times. But I'm also ADHD. So there's that. But it does take some focus to get on board with this wild ride. The characters are fun, there is gore and guts and drugs and mayhem. I thought of Venom and Hellraiser but also Critters (the movies from my childhood). Once I got back into it, I enjoyed myself. Wild ride, this one.