Five stars for achieving its purpose so relentlessly. This is indeed one of the most relentless and ugly books I've ever read. A book that describes a society where humans are slaughtered for meat, in more detail than I was ready for. This novel willfully refuses to allow itself to fall into any category of fiction that would make it easier to take as a reader. The flat direct style of its prose didn't allow me as a reader to classify it, as I read along, as horror, or satire, or a metaphorical representation of social injustice, or a nihilistic moral thesis about humanity. It is exactly what it is. Never boring, it managed to continue to shock me until its final pages.

I could not wait to read this novel. Utterly original dystopian read. Not the easiest book to plow through but a fascinating page turner. Absolutely recommended. Enjoy.

Holy cow.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

This book starts out with a foreign concept that took me most of the book to get used to. You think the book is about cannibalism and in a way it is but it’s so much more. This book is about love for family and taking dangerous steps to make sure your family survives. This book is about a man who is so broken that it’s almost impossible to believe he can ever be made whole again and then scary to think about what kind of man he will be when he gets there. The character arc of Marcos Tejo is unparalleled.

More than anything, this book is absolutely beautifully written and translated. So many gorgeous passages- “His brain warns him that there are words that cover up the world.” And “They watch television and wait to die.“ So profound and multi- meaningful.

The ending of this book literally shocked me. I felt a jolt and had to reread the passage because I was so amazed and surprised.

I highly recommend this one and can’t wait to see what this author comes up with next.

This is a truly horrifying book, mainly because the horror in it is plausible. Sometimes nothing is scarier than the truth and how morality can be warped. Still the story was beautifully written and I will definitely keep an eye out for more to read by Bazterrica.

This is the first book in a long time so horrifying that it made me physically ill. There were entire pages that I had a hard time facing. I assumed it would be a tough one after reading the description, but I didn’t realize just how gruesome it would really be. That said, I think the details in this story were so necessary to drive home the true horror of the situation laid out in Tender Is the Flesh. I’m glad that Bazterrica didn’t shy away from showing every grisly moment. Every moment was a wildly dark ride. The story was incredibly compelling and definitely worth reading if you’re in the mood to question every aspect of your humanity and morality!

You know what, I am going to be honest right now, and I cannot read this book. With everything going on in the world, my reading preferences have changed and they are not tending towards heavy dystopian novels. Just not the time. My apologies to the author.

A haunting and harrowing read with the current issues going on in society today. It was a great read and well written. If you're looking for a great dystopian read, pre-order this one now.