I enjoyed this, although I struggled to follow it at times and found the main characters getting confusing, however fully aware that is what would happen in a possession!
The imagery was wonderful and in depth, and the twists were enjoyable and became easier to follow once I got to know the characters better

This book is an absolute fever dream! I spent the first part of it desperately trying to understand what the hell was going on, but at some point I just let go of that and went whichever way this rollercoaster of a book was taking me. And boy was it a rollercoaster. I honestly don't even know how to write this review because I think this is just one of those books that you have to experience for yourself.

I still don't really know how I feel about this book. I was drawn to it because of the gorgeous cover art and I definitely did enjoy some parts of it. However, I gave it three stars because some of the gore, violence and abuse in this book was just too heavy for me. I would definitely recommend reading the trigger warnings before deciding whether or not you want to read this book!

Thank you to Dark Matter INK and Netgalley for an advanced copy of The Divine Flesh. For full disclosure, I DNFed this book at 40%, as I don't believe I was the right audience for it.

Jennifer's got too many problems to count; she's addicted to so many substances, she's trafficking intergalactic goodies, and her ex doesn't love her anymore... oh, and she's sharing her scarred, battered body with a cosmic entity called the Divine Flesh, that is constantly trying to break out of Jennifer's control (and is also in a relationship with her aforementioned ex).

This book throws you into the action right away - there are no dull moments, there is no time to gird your loins for what's coming ahead. If you're someone who needs a linear, logical timeline, I would skip this one. Huff throws us into the middle of Jennifer's woes, and pieces of the past and Jennifer's life flow organically to us. I personally loved this style, as it kept the action rapid-fire and on edge.

Where this book failed (for me, not in general) was that it was too much of everything. I think Huff took on a lot, and there's too many characters and a lot of cosmic backstory that I wasn't getting, and some of the plot was revealed through exposition (characters explaining their motivation) instead of occurring naturally. However, there is some GNARLY (positive) body horror and some of those scenes are gonna replay in my head for a while (again, positive).

This is not a bad book, not by a long shot. It's just not for me, and not at this time. I'll probably go back and try to read it again sometime in the future.

Make sure you check trigger/content warnings before you start reading! This book covers a lot of ground and much of the content could be triggering for readers.

This story follows a drug addict named Jennifer who shares her body with a being called The Divine Flesh. It was gory, violent, and everything you could want from a horror book. Unfortunately I'm not really into cosmic horror and this was too fever dreamy/trippy for me at times. I found it slow paced and didn't always have a sense of what was going on. I still recommend, just not for me.

Thank you Dark Matter INK and NetGalley for the e-arc.

This was such a weird book. I couldn't put it down once I started because I honestly had no idea what was going to happen next. I think the only thing I didn't like was just how many perspectives there was. I could've done with a few less and maybe if the book was shorter as well. The Divine Flesh was fun and k will check out Huff's other works.

Why do things have to be that way? the Divine Flesh whispered.
Let Me out. Let Me out. Yud-hey-vav-hey, I am what I am.

Unhinged body horror and gory splatter-punk a la Venom meets Jennifer's Body with a smidge of Chuck Palahniuk, this book is utterly unique and easily one of my all time faves. The variation in perspective keeps readers eternally on their toes, reminiscent of Good Omens,
and I especially loved Her narration and Love for EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. If you enjoy symbiotic, quirky cosmic gods, stories of redemption & resolution from hardship and have a gut of iron, I offer you a ticket to one wild, wild ride!

Thank you to Netgalley and Dark Matter INK for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review :)

This is a feminist cosmic horror drug trip and you will LOVE the ride.

👉"I've got a flesh-bending cosmic goddess trapped in my skin, and both of us hate each other."👈

WTF did I just read? (positive).

Jennifer has a flesh god (Divine Flesh) trapped inside her body. They are constantly fighting for who has control of Jennifer's body. When Jennifer finds a way to release the Divine Flesh from her body, there are dire consequences for all of humanity.

I can't even compare this book to anything. It is so creative and horrific and beautiful and generous all at the same time. I have over 100 highlights because the prose and word choices are stunning and I know I'll be revisiting them.

This book explores trauma, addiction, body horror and our deepest fears on a backdrop of cosmic antihalation.

Read this if you want:
🌌 God is a woman
🌌 Happy eldritch abominations
🌌 Biblically accurate angels
🌌 Splatter gore
🌌 Women hunting rural bigots
🌌 Psychotic meat god from another dimension
🌌 Flamethrowers

👉"Hold still. I love you" I ripped his chest open in one fluid motion. 👈

Thank you to NetGalley and Dark Matter INK for the ARC.

This book is best read read wrapped in an existential security blanket, while shoving your intestine back inside your torso.

Going into this it definitely reminded me of The Substance at points and as someone who loves body horror I found it to be such a fun and crazy read.

"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."
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The Divine Flesh by Drew Huff is like if Oli's Bond (from The Bonds That Tie) somehow escaped from Oli's body and took over the world. Then turn up the "horrifying" dial to 10.

Jennifer and the Divine Flesh live together in Jennifer's body. They share time with Daryl, they traffic intergalactic embryos, they do drugs. That is, until the D.F. finds a way to free herself. Then she's out there just loving all of sentient life while Jennifer desperately tries to contain that love.

It's grotesque. It's horrifying. It's a lot. I loved it. As someone who is two months away from graduating medical school and has a degree in organismic biology, I am forced to believe that Drew Huff has autopsied many bodies. The anatomical descriptions are just way too accurate. Small town America meets religious trauma meets body horror. Read it.

Thank you to Dark Matter INK and @netgalley for the eARC. Super excited to add this to my shelf next week!

#thedivineflesh #drewhuff #arcreview

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

The Divine Flesh follows Jennifer, a drug addict who shares her body with an Eldritch God named "The Divine Flesh" or simply she/her. They get separated as entities and it's up to her and her ex-husband Daryl to stop her from breaking the world.

Simply put, this reads like a bad acid trip.

The premise of this book is what drew me to it, it's unique and intriguing. The execution is choppy and disappointing. The writing is all over the place and the plot is practically impossible to follow without rereading massive chunks of it over and over again. The pace felt incredibly slow and too fast at the same time, which I'll give credit to the author, that's the first time I've ever said that.

This was just a repetitive, confusing mess. Maybe this would be for you if you enjoy wacky books with little substance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dark Matter INK for providing an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

Great book! It had all the fears of growing up. Make a choice. Turn the page or close the book. Enter the darkness if you wish!

Thank you to NetGalley and Drew Huff for the early read of The Divine Flesh!

I don’t know where to begin with this one—it throws you into the deep end of Jennifer’s world of drugs, chaos, and “shipments.” I was unsure at first and the writing took a bit to get used to, but once I just let myself be a part of this universe, I couldn’t get enough. It’s a love story as much as it’s a horror story as much as it’s a dissection of religion. What and who is redeemable? What is unconditional love? What is a god?

The body horror in this was the best I’ve read, absolutely brutal and visceral imagery. The characters were such a unique vehicle for this story. I want to read anything Drew Huff puts into the world!

My only qualms with this were that it probably could have been a bit shorter, some portions dragged a bit; and being tossed into the world so abruptly left me confused here and there, but part of me thinks that’s a point.

All in all, I can’t wait for this book to rock the world of many horror fans. I’ll be recommending to my horror book club immediately!

Such a weird yet intriguing book. Eldritch horror, the Divine Flesh, has resided in Jennifer's body for as long as both of them can remember. Jennifer, for lack of a better phrase, is a sort-of ex-junkie who deals in interdimensional cadavers and the eggs stuffed in them. After the dramatics of the Divine Flesh being in love with Jennifer's husband in name, Daryl, she decides to end it all and unleash the Divine Flesh onto Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Unfortunately, she doesn't die and realizes just how terrible the Divine Flesh is. Maybe there's a reason she kept Her for so long...

This book is certainly non-stop and shifts perspectives between Gods, mortals, and everyone in between. It's not quite cosmic horror but it's certainly cosmic fuckery. And I'm here for it.

Overall, this is a book that I wanted to like way more then I did. It seems right up my alley- but unfortunately it fell flat for me in a lot of ways.

I loved the body horror in this book- mutations outside of human understanding? Yes please! I also really liked the main characters, since they’re unapologetically bad people who are trying their best to claw out of the hole they’ve dug themselves into to become a better person. And, the conflict between Jennifer and the Divine Flesh was super interesting to watch develop, and I kept swapping between wanting them to join forces and having one side beat the other.

My problems lie with the execution. This book felt a bit too long, and that we could’ve gotten the same story with 50-100 pages being cut out, especially the POVs from other characters. I also struggled with the book sometimes having the characters say super explicitly what was happening instead of letting the reader figure it out.

I do recommend giving this book a shot if it sounds interesting to you as it definitely would connect with some folks more then it did for me! I will also be giving this author another shot since I feel I could like their shorter works.

I can honestly say this was the most wild ride I’ve been on in 2025 and I enjoyed every bit of it.

This book is truly beautifully disgusting and everything a horror fan wants. The sarcastic humor sprinkled in was fantastic. The storyline behind all the chaos was fun to follow.

So fun to read, honestly. Read with caution as it is definitely not for everybody!

My absolute favourite read of the year so far. As soon as I saw the book cover I knew I wanted to read this. I’ve never read anything quite like this and I mean that as an absolute compliment! Despite the subject matter, I often found myself laughing out loud and physically could not put this book down. Often I was questioning my own sanity at certain points in the book. If you’re a fan of the horror genre, specifically body horror along with any David Lynch and David Cronenberg fans, I highly recommend you read this. I devoured it within 2 days once I started. Absolute 5/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for this eARC, it was truly an absolute pleasure to read this!

While this might not be the genre for me I will say that the book was a fast paced, well written exploration into Lovecraftian love, the "charm" of small town America, family trauma, and a god named Susan that I still don't quite understand. The book was also very long but that is also probably a me thing.

While the premise was nice, the writing was... not what I expected. I wanted more from the characters because I felt that what was on the front cover and the front flap was not what we were given.

I DNF’d this after Jennifer has sex with a grieving middle aged man to spite the Divine Flesh. This book seems excessively dark, even for a horror novel. It deals with a lot of heavy topics like drug addiction in a flippant way, and has little world building or exposition. I just did not care enough about what happened to the main characters to continue reading. I’m sure a specific type of person will enjoy this book, but I’m not one of them.

This book was absolutely insane and I loved every second of it. It really jumps right into the action and the story, the book is very fast paced which really works for the whole surreal style of storytelling. I highly recommend trigger warnings…If you are a fan of graphic and gruesome sci-fi horror, body horror, or splatterpunk, then this book may be one to check out. The language is very strong and controversial, which is the main reason why I am giving it 4 stars and not 5. I do think that it added to the story and really fit the characters, but it could be a shock still for people who may not expect it.

You’re following Jennifer, a drug addict and drug trafficker who is possessed by a goddess who calls herself The Divine Flesh. Jennifer and the Divine Flesh are both obsessed with their husband, Darryl, and the outlandish plot starts to unfold when they agree to meet back up with Daryl at the beginning of the book. You WILL hate some of the characters, and still root for them. Everything was just so intentionally over the top, that I could not look away.

The cover is also absolutely fantastic, and that’s what drew me to the arc. Thank you NetGalley and Drew Huff for giving me the opportunity to review The Divine Flesh!