Bazterrica has somehow merged the vibes of Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, and Jacqueline Harpman along with her own unique voice in the realm of dystopian fiction. We are reading through the journals of a woman in one possible not too distant future as she has spent years trying to survive in the wasteland at the height of the climate crisi. The limits of humanity are tested and broken in the confines of a transformed monastery turned cult torture center as a group of women have turned their back on god, govt and each in a world where drinking water can drive you mad and there is no ready sustenance. How far will we go when the world is ending and will we lose what it is to see others as humans in need, what of ourselves are we willing to sacrifice to receive the glory of the deity we have created that will save us . . . Augustine is peering into the future, and it is bleak.

Thanks to Schribner and Netgalley for getting to enjoy this book early in exchange for my honest review!

I loved Tender is the Flesh so much so I was very excited to start The Unworthy. The writing was great, the story was dark and intriguing however, I felt very detached while reading it. For some reason, I just couldn't fully immerse. I loved the religious themes and the bleak, dystopian feel to everything and I just wanted a bit more.

Thank you to the publisher, Agustina Baztarrica and Netgalley for a copy of this ARC.
 
Firstly, I want to state and clarify that this book was a DNF for me as I do not believe I have the comprehension capabilities for this storyline.  
 
The premise is interesting and I felt compelled to read it as the plot is incredibly unique. I have read Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina and loved it. However, the beginning of this one fell short of my expectations and was DNF’d at 10%.
 
I do not do well with complex stories without context and the stream-of-consciousness thoughts left me incredibly confused as a reader.
 
Since this book takes place in a dystopian world and starts off with this type of treatment, i felt I would’ve enjoyed the beginning had I known more background and context of what and why things were happening as they were.

I felt like I was dropped in the middle of a dire and difficult situation in a completely different world and did not know where or how to channel my thoughts and comprehension. I was not in a frame of mind to go into it with more questions than answers so early on.
 
However, if you are a reader that enjoys this type of storytelling and dystopian thrillers, then this one is worth picking up and I encourage you to read it because Agustina is an excellent author and storyteller!

The Unworthy reads like a fever dream. It’s fast paced and has such a growing feeling of dread. The writing pulls for your attention and was good and helping me envision these women’s lives. I read this in a single sitting because I didn’t want to break the immersion.

There is a great deal of torture and mistreatment here, which may put some people off.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 🌟 Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of The Unworthy. I honestly still don’t know how to feel about this read. It was equally parts interesting, disturbing, difficult to get through, but then I also found myself wanting to finish the story. I’m landing between a 3 or 4 stars- maybe a 3.5 rating for now, which let me be clear: is not a bad rating AT ALL. Anything 3 stars and above comes recommended by me. Not everyone is going to like this book and that is okay!

This was so weird and uncomfortable but in the best way! I was cringing but I could not stop reading. I loved the writing, it felt like I was in a dream (or nightmare) I couldn’t wake up from.

Such a great horror novella! Five stars!

I received an eARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is unhinged; just what I expect from Agustina Bazterrica at this point. The narrator is part of a cult called the Sacred Sisterhood that is run by a man we only know of as called He or Him. He is very "Wizard of Oz"; the women of the convent never see him and only hear him orating from behind a wall or a curtain. Our main character is off the wall but you quickly find that the other women of the convent aren't much better. It makes you wonder how much of this behavior or these thought patterns are indoctrinated into them as part of them being in the Sacred Sisterhood. Our narrator doesn't even remember parts of her past from before arriving at the Sisterhood at first. There is another woman at the Sisterhood that as the reader you are kind of set up to think of as a low level villain but by midway or the end you realize she's just as much of a victim as everyone else (if not more so). I spent the majority of this book questioning everything that the narrator was being told; about the outside world, about herself, about what goes on beyond the black door. This novel was gripping and disturbing and I loved every second of it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of The Unworthy.

Still trying to figure out how I feel about this book. Overall I did enjoy it. I was a little confused in the beginning only because of the writing style. Sometimes sentences would just abruptly stop in the middle but you do find out that it’s intentional and the reasoning behind it. After that it makes so much more sense and it definitely adds to the story. I felt a wide range of emotions while reading this. Ranging from sadness to anger and everything in between. If a book makes you feel things it’s done its job. My only wish is that it was longer. The ending felt a little rushed.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and absolutely did NOT disappoint! The premise is wild and the story had me hooked right away, I love religious horror and this book is absolutely fantastic. The way the story was told with both present tense and flashbacks was really compelling. In this post apocalyptic world it is important to know or try to know what happened in the past. Warning, there is animal cruelty in this story and some body horror.

Absolutely brilliant.

From the start, I couldn’t put "The Unworthy" down and found myself instantly captivated by the main character’s journey. Interestingly, we never learn her name—real or given—but it never bothered me because I was so deeply invested in her story. The pacing was wonderfully executed, keeping me hooked from start to finish. While this was a short and quick read, I know I’ll be thinking about it for some time to come.

I really enjoyed the unique narrative structure Bazterrica uses, particularly the diary-style reflective writing and the crossing out of thoughts the narrator wants to retract. This technique not only drew me in but also helped to make the narrator’s increasing uncertainty about her reality feel authentic.

Not only do I feel that Bazterrica did a fantastic job with the writing, but I also deeply enjoyed the story itself. It felt strikingly realistic in its portrayal of the human condition, especially in how people often follow what’s considered "the truth" or deemed "correct." And let's be honest, if a group of despicably evil men killed my cat during an apocalypse, I too would probably crash out and join a cult.

While The Unworthy is labeled as horror, I would absolutely recommend it to non-horror fans who are okay with a bit of gore, and I will definitely be recommending it to anyone who enjoys dystopian stories. I know I will certainly be picking up Tender is the Flesh in the near future to dive deeper into Bazterrica’s work.

Once again a winner in my opinion. Only got about half of the book so can’t leave a solid review on Goodreads yet but from what I read, I’m sold.

The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica is a riveting story about the atrocities faced by a small group of women after the world ends due to extreme climate change. And that is about all I want to tell you about this book. I encourage everyone to go into this a little blind, a little confused, and a lot curious.

This book was fantastic is the most disturbing ways. It made me feel emotions that I don’t normally feel while reading, like horror, disgust, fascination, and apprehension. Not to give too much away, but the creation of a new religion in order to control and take advantage of vulnerable women does not feel to far from reality these days.

If you’re someone who enjoys somewhat disturbing stories that feel real, and absolutely plausible, I would encourage you to pick this up. I cried, I gasped, and I left this book feeling fearful for our future. But also seen in a way only another woman can see another.

I would caution those who need to, please check out the trigger/content warnings. There are some tough scenes, and some difficult implications surrounding sexual assault and death/mutilation of a cat that I would warn you about.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know how I feel about this book. Truthfully, the first 2/3rds of it were a STRUGGLE to get through. It was very detached and confusing. Then I hateddddd the ending with Circe (trigger warning for dog death, fully knocked a star down for that one) and then the ending was just really heartbreaking to be honest. This was a sad one from start to finish. I’m grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this before it’s publish date but PHEW at what cost haha.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the whole end of the world aspect about it. I wish it was longer just so I know what had happened to the two characters at the end. The survival aspect of this book is just well written if you ask me. I do love how everything came to together at the end. It just felt well put together.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book immediately throws readers into the dystopian world created by the author. This coupled by the way it was written (as journal entries from our main character) make the story immediately immersive. I did appreciate how the author wove such brutal acts (please check trigger warnings!) with moments of love and clarity for the main characters. Although I went into this knowing it was a short read, I still finished this wanting something more as it felt like readers saw a small snippet of a world that was so much bigger than the characters we were introduced to. Overall though, a solid horror book with a unique concept.

Another dystopian novel by Agustina Bazterrica - this time rooted in climate crisis and religious trauma. It fits the bill - just like what we’re experiencing in America today. Great book.

Thank you netgalley, the publisher and Agustina Bazterrica for this e-arc,

This book was an interesting premise with such eerie, atmospheric writing. I found myself confused at first, feeling thrown into a completely dystopian world with no context, but as I kept reading I was left immersed and with a greater understanding of the world/ characters. The atmosphere was so perfect, very dark, bleak and eerie, yet there were moments of love, care and passion. Overall, I enjoyed more than I thought I would!!

This book follows a woman writing her experiences living in a convent in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian world. It is dark with a lot of scenes of oppression and torture. This book explores the dark sides of how far things can go amidst a group of women trying to survive.

I like weird books and this one certainly qualifies. However, the book didn't become interesting to me until we started to learn more about her past and about her early days surviving in the dystopian environment with her family and gang of friends. The second half was much better than the first half....and that's strange to say for such a short book. While I think the story was fine, I wasn't gripped early on with the mysterious people, place, rules and hierarchy. I wished the story were laid out and executed slightly differently. I loved Tender is the Flesh by the author and was excited to read another dystopian book, however, I did not enjoy this one as much.

This fell pretty flat for me overall. The author packs so much worldbuilding into a short novella, but though this piqued my curiosity, it's not followed up with satisfying answers and a fully developed world. A final reveal of the convent's activity was quite predictable and given no additional context that might have helped it seem like a more satisfying resolution.

The writing is often disjointed, but purposefully so. I appreciate moments of the text being interrupted as the narrator must hide her diary to avoid punishment, but some poetically fragmented passages became stumbling blocks. Having to reread just to ascertain the basic facts of what is happening crosses the line from thought-provoking to unpleasantly confusing.

The sinister atmosphere of the convent is well depicted, but plentiful flashbacks to the narrator's climate refugee lifestyle are stuffed with brutality for the sake of brutality and didn't add much value to the story for me. These could have been fewer in number to allow more time for uncovering the full story of why the convent operates as it does.

In the end, I've been left without a strong emotional response.

CW: rape, animal death (dog), body mutilation, torture including whipping, death of children

They say religion is the opiate of the masses; and I guess if you’ve got nowhere to go, nothing to eat, and are on the verge of dying, something that might create a sense of complacency might just be welcome.

In other words: Bring on the quiet, furious, violent dystopian nuns. I’m here for it.

The Unworthy, beyond what you can read in the blurb, is best gone into blind. Written like a memoir, with all the roughness of a beginning writer without an editor on their first draft, our unreliable narrator documents the day-to-day life of the Sacred Sisterhood and the cloistered life they live within the walls of a former monastery. The passages sometimes don’t run linearly, and sometimes they cut off suddenly in the middle of sentences. I loved the intimacy of the writing style, imagining myself enclosed in the narrator’s cell as she tries to write down as much as she can by candlelight each night. There may be no more books, but there will be her history.

The dark and dirty motivations of organized religion and patriarchy linger even after civilization has come to an end in this book, and that makes dread and horror linger in the background of our narrator’s story. That even though there is only one male living within the walls of the Sacred Sisterhood, he’s the one they all venerate and serve. Even though they’re all women, they’re still stratified as if they have different values attributed to them, especially his right-hand woman. This inequity only stokes divisiveness and cruelty among young women who are already disenfranchised and enraged over the world that has been taken away from them.

It’s a bleak, yet engrossing read; a very full story that you wouldn’t know is a novella unless you looked. The story feels much more epic than you’d think 198 pages could achieve, engaging you and compelling you to come along and experience what the world after looks like when you reluctantly accept succor. 4⭐️


I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Dystopian Fiction/Horror/Literary Fiction/Novella/Sapphic Romance/Satire/Speculative Fiction